Although employees are indeed entitled to part-time work according to the law, the practice can be somewhat more difficult. Not all jobs are suitable for part-time work. Moreover, there are rules associated with working less. The employer determines that.
Most women in the Netherlands work part-time
Part-time working is very common in the Netherlands. Especially for women. Of these, ¾ work part-time. She is followed by Germany. There, 45 percent of women work part-time. Yet more and more Dutch men also have a part-time job. At the beginning of 2001, 12 percent of men worked part-time, by the end of 2012 that number had risen to 17 percent.
You can always request a reduction in working hours
The law indicates that an employee has the right to request a reduction in working hours. However, someone who does this must meet certain conditions. These are:
- The person in question must have worked for the employer for at least 1 year
- A written request must be submitted 4 months before the effective date
- A request for adjustment of working hours may be submitted once every two years
- If you work at a company that employs fewer than 10 people, there are often even more conditions attached to a reduction in working hours.
Employer must respond
The employer must respond to the request to work less no later than one month before the effective date. If this does not happen, the employee can simply adjust the working hours themselves and therefore work fewer hours.
Part-time work should be possible, unless there are reasons that make it impossible
If the conditions for a reduction in working hours are met, an employer must in principle grant the request to work less. There is an exception and that is that there are compelling business interests not to do this. These can be a variety of issues related to production problems due to the shortening of working hours, safety problems due to the shortening of working hours or if there are simply too few staff on the work floor. This can often be resolved in the long term and it is still possible to work part-time.
Function not suitable
But there are also positions where part-time work is simply not possible because the position does not allow it. For example, some people know that they must always be present, every day. That cannot be changed. If the person in question has urgent matters that require part-time work (such as illness, birth or death of someone in the area), it can be checked whether another position is vacant in which he or she can work. This often means that someone gets a less good position and therefore gets paid less.
Right to work less, but not the right to decide when
In principle, every employee has the right to work less if the position allows this. But what the person in question cannot and may not do is determine when less work will be done. Someone who always wants to be free on a certain day can request this, but is not always right about this. If there are important matters on that day, the employee must accept that he or she cannot get time off that day or can work less.