Flexible work and flexicurity policies in the Netherlands. Trends and experiences

Abstract

Increasing the flexibility of work and working life has been high on the agenda of Dutch public debate for at least 15 years. Resulting policies have been guided by the aspiration of combining flexibility and security, or of achieving adequate ‘flexicurity’, as the combination of these goals has come to be known. This article describes and analyses Dutch flexicurity policies of recent years, as they have been adopted in the fields of part-time work, social security, labour law and the work-care combination. It shows that the government has made it easier for employers and employees to choose part-time work as a strategy for increasing flexibility. In the field of social security there are numerous problems, especially for ‘flex’ -workers (not for part-time workers as such), but little substantial improvements have been implemented. In labour law important flexibility and security measures have been adopted, but here government has been rather slow in taking the lead. As regards the work-care combination, new policies have improved conditions, but the Netherlands still lags behind other European countries.