The Netherlands asks something of employers that few countries put so heavily on the company: up to 104 weeks of continued wage payment during illness, plus much of the occupational health and reintegration chain — while the medical reason stays with the company doctor and is legally shielded from the employer.
That is not a LinkedIn myth. It is how the system is designed. In Germany, after roughly six weeks, social insurance largely takes over; Belgium and Spain move far earlier than two years. In the Netherlands the bill stays with the employer longer — including occupational health services, case management and reintegration — with the employee insurance agency (UWV) judging the file afterwards. Weak compliance can mean a wage sanction and, in the worst case, further extension.
The incentive works: who pays for two years has a reason to reintegrate seriously. The weight is not equal for everyone. At 800 staff, a long-term sick employee is a case file. At eight staff, it is a financial shock. Regional and firm-size differences in absence show up in statistics; insurance makes costs predictable, not free. The premium is the bill, smoothed.
That is one reason many entrepreneurs hesitate on permanent contracts. Not out of dislike of people, but arithmetic: permanent employment means long sick-pay risk plus a formal reintegration dossier. Policy notes have long acknowledged that this duty can deter SMEs from offering fixed contracts. Process rules may get lighter; the 104-week core remains the system’s baseline.
What this does and does not mean
Yes: employment in the Netherlands combines long income protection for workers with long private risk for employers. Medical privacy is deliberate; the tension of “pay and steer without the diagnosis” is structural.
No: the employer does not literally fund the entire medical care system (GP, hospital). What hits hardest is mainly wages plus occupational health / reintegration machinery. And “the employer decides everything in the dark” is too sharp: the company doctor advises, the employer owns the plan of approach, UWV reviews later. The real issue is asymmetric information plus asymmetric money.
Also no: hiring freelancers to dodge the law with a sham arrangement. That is exactly what ZZP2ZZP is not.
The positive turn: project work belongs on a mature labour market
If permanent contracts are heavy — rightly so, from a worker-protection view — the market still needs a clean second track for work that is not a job. Not “cheap staff without rights”, but genuine client–contractor relationships: defined scope, a result, a self-employed professional with multiple clients who decides how the work is done.
That is not a loophole. It is the point of distinguishing an employment contract from a contract for services. Done properly, freelance work is:
- Project-first — what must be delivered, by when, to what standard.
- Without subordination — no fixed office days “because we always do that”, no hierarchy dressed up as collaboration.
- With real entrepreneurial risk on the freelancer — sales, rate, insurance, idle time — and without 104 weeks of sick-pay duty on the client.
- Honest about employment — structural work, authority, organisational embedding: that belongs on a payroll or a proper agency route, not a freelance label.
That opens capacity the Dutch market needs: companies that can bring in specialists for migrations, campaigns, integrations, audits and builds — without every need becoming a permanent FTE (and its absence risk). And freelancers who get assignments that match entrepreneurship, not “sit in the chair of someone who is ill.”
Why this matters now
The sick-pay debate runs in parallel with enforcement on false self-employment. Some clients feel a double bind: permanent is expensive and risky; freelance is unsafe if it is really a job. The healthy answer is not panic or sham contracts, but conscious choice:
- Structural work, direction, a fixed place in the team → employment (or clear temporary staffing).
- Defined project, result, independent way of working → real freelance assignment.
- Doubt → official tools and advice, or choose the heavier form. Doubt must not become “freelance with mandatory office days.”
ZZP2ZZP is built for option 2. No hybrid “two days in the office for team spirit”, no recruiter margin on your day rate — direct contact between adults. See also our line on no hybrid gigs and disguised employment.
For clients: what you gain with real freelancers
- Predictable project cost — rate and scope, not an open-ended two-year wage file.
- Specialists on demand — people who have done this migration or campaign before, without opening an FTE for a peak.
- The right tool — freelancers fix project peaks and expertise gaps; they do not replace structural staffing.
- Less grey area — result and independence, taken seriously, fit the intent of the law better than fake flexibility.
This is not anti-employee. On the contrary: where employment is needed, take the protection (including 104 weeks) seriously. Where a project is needed, take the self-employed professional seriously — fair rate, clear scope, not a junior on the bench.
For freelancers: this is your story too
If the market only knows permanent or panic-flex, freelancers lose work to client fear. A clear narrative helps: you are not a “cheap sick-cover” and not a disguised employee. You deliver a project result. Clients who understand sick-pay logic also understand why they must buy you differently — and why they should not demand every Tuesday in the office “because the rest does.”
Your side of the deal stays firm: insurance, buffers, multiple clients, refusing sham setups. Entrepreneurship is not a meme; it is the price of the freedom employment deliberately does not have.
Conclusion
Dutch sickness rules are strict for employers and protective for employees. That combination helps explain caution on permanent hires — especially in SMEs and high-absence regions. The productive response is not cynicism about “the system”, but choosing the right instrument: employment where employment belongs, and real freelance assignments where project work belongs.
ZZP2ZZP exists to keep that second route clean: direct, project-based, without recruiters, without hybrid theatre. So permanent stays permanent — and freelance stays freelance.
This is not legal or tax advice. Rules on continued pay, gatekeeper duties and false self-employment are fact-specific; when in doubt, consult an adviser or official government information.
Want to view or post assignments? Sign up and confirm your email first — no exceptions.
Leave a Reply