Which agreement to use for which kind of work, what a sensible default employment contract contains, and the Dutch legal limits that catch small organizations out. Read it when a candidate has said yes and before anyone opens a template.
A nonprofit with fewer than 30 staff usually has no HR department and a contract template inherited from somewhere. Three things go wrong: the wrong type of agreement (a freelancer doing an employee's job), an offer letter that promises something the contract does not, and a missed statutory deadline that costs a month's salary. Most nonprofits in the Netherlands fall under no collective labour agreement (CAO), so the terms below are choices, not obligations, and the law is the only floor.
- for ongoing work under your direction. The default for staff.
- for bounded, specialist or temporary work where the person controls how and when. If they work your hours, use your tools and report to your roles, it is employment whatever the paper says, and the tax authority will treat it that way.
- for staff in another country. Local law sets probation, notice and leave; your internal terms apply where they exceed it.
- for learning-first placements tied to an education programme, with a learning plan and an allowance, not a salary.
- for unpaid work, with an optional expense allowance within the tax-free maximum.
- Long enough to judge, short enough to correct. Say the intention in the offer and the contract, and schedule the conversations that decide it (see below). Chaining fixed-term contracts to avoid commitment damages trust and, after three, is illegal anyway.
- at the legal maximum for the term: one month for contracts of six months up to two years, two months for two years or more and for indefinite contracts, none under six months. In writing, identical for both sides.
- : 32–40 as full time, stated per role. Everything below scales pro rata.
- as monthly gross plus the position in your salary framework, so a step is a letter, not a new contract. See Open Lanes .
- : 8% is statutory; pay it in May or monthly.
- : the statutory minimum is four times the weekly hours (20 days on 40 hours). 25–30 is common in the sector; whatever you choose, state whether days carry over.
- : no obligation without a CAO or sector fund, but expected for staff roles. Employer contributions in the sector run from 8% to 13%; the social-work collective agreement is a usable benchmark if a funder or candidate asks what "normal" looks like.
- : statutory is one month for the employee and one month for the employer in the first five years. A fixed-term contract cannot be ended early by either side unless it contains a written early-termination clause. Include one.
- : short clauses, no non-compete.
The offer letter lists the same items in the same words. Any difference is renegotiation after the fact, and the candidate will notice.
- For a fixed-term contract of six months or more you must tell the employee in writing, at least one month before the end date, whether you continue and on what terms. Miss it and you owe up to one month's salary, even if you do renew. Put the date in the calendar the day the contract is signed.
- After three consecutive fixed-term contracts, or three years in total, the next one is indefinite by law. Gaps under six months count as consecutive.
Pair the contract term with a fixed cadence of clarity conversations, so the aanzegtermijn letter confirms a decision already made rather than forcing one. A mid-term conversation at six months and a decision conversation at least three months before the end date is enough.
- : from around €25 per employee per month, more with HR software attached. See Payroll in the Netherlands .
- to review your template once and any deviation after that: €150–250 an hour, two to four hours for a template.
- : often included in your document or payroll tooling, otherwise €10–20 a month.
- : see Contract templates .
- Written contract before the first working day, stating employer, employee, role, start date, term, hours, salary, holidays, notice and probation.
- Terms may differ by role and scale, not by contract type, hours, nationality or any protected characteristic.
- Identity check and payroll tax registration before the first salary run.
- Contracts and personnel files are personal data: restrict access to the roles that need it, and set a retention period (seven years for payroll records, two years after leaving for the rest is the common Dutch default).
Record for your own organization:
- Your default first-contract term and probation
- Full-time hours, holidays, and whether days carry over
- Pension contribution and provider
- Who prepares contracts, who reviews deviations, who signs for the organization
- Who owns the aanzegtermijn calendar entry