The employment agency offering you work is certified by the ABU. This means the agency undergoes independent audits to ensure correct compliance with laws and regulations. The ABU-certified agency also ensures you receive clear and accurate information about working and living in the Netherlands. They do this in cooperation with the recruitment agency in your home country. Besides adhering properly to laws and regulations, you can expect the following from an ABU-certified employment agency:
Recruitment and selection: The employment agency ensures that the recruitment agency in your country of origin complies with the guidelines set out in the ABU Fair Recruitment Charter. Your recruiter will share this charter along with the relevant information and informational materials.
Contract: the employment contract and related documents are available to you in both Dutch and your native language.
Remuneration: compared to Dutch flex workers, you get equal pay for equal work, according to the rules of the collective bargaining agreement (CAO).
Registration: The recruitment agency and the employment agency will explain the registration requirements in the Netherlands to you. Dutch law requires you to register correctly in the government’s basic registration system. The recruitment agency will provide you in your country of origin with initial information about the two registration options in the Netherlands: registration as a non-resident (RNI) and registration as a resident in the Personal Records Database (BRP). If you meet the RNI requirements but prefer to register as a resident in the BRP, please inquire whether this is possible in the municipality where you will live. Not all municipalities allow this. The employment agency can assist you further with the registration requirements.
Housing: the recruitment agency will give you the first necessary information about living in the Netherlands. You will also be shown an animated video about this. Your recruiter will tell you about the housing options. You will also receive information about the conditions if you choose to have the agency arrange housing for you. You can also look for housing yourself. If you ask the employment agency to arrange housing for you, the following information is important to you:
Housing arranged by the employment agency is certified with the organization SNF. This means that the housing is checked for important components. The following website has information about the SNF certification and the SNF complaint portal:https://www.normeringflexwonen.nl/information-for-residents
The employment agency may charge you for the use of accommodation. These costs will not exceed the actual expenses of the accommodation. The agency is allowed to deduct a maximum of 25% of the statutory minimum wage from your payslip for this purpose. If you wish to have the accommodation costs deducted from your payslip, please provide the agency with a written authorization. If the accommodation costs exceed 25% of the minimum wage, the portion above this amount may also be deducted but only from the part of your wages that exceeds the minimum wage. You will be informed of the accommodation costs in advance.
If the company you work for terminates your contract early, the employment agency will offer you the opportunity to rent the accommodation for at least five more nights. You can ask the agency if it is possible to extend your stay, but due to the housing shortage in the Netherlands, this is not always possible. ABU-certified employment agencies active in municipalities with housing shortages request the local authorities and housing organizations to build more certified accommodation.
You can always ask the employment agency for general information about other housing options in the area.
Fines and damages: The employment agency is only allowed to deduct judicial and administrative fines from your payslip. An example of this is a traffic fine issued to you personally. Deducting other types of fines from your payslip is prohibited. However, you can be held liable for damages you cause intentionally or through conscious recklessness to the employer or landlord. Compensation in such cases is limited to the actual repair costs of the damaged property.
Information: the employment agency, together with the recruitment agency, ensures that you are informed about working and living in the Netherlands before you sign any contracts or pre-contracts in your country of origin. The recruitment agency will follow the guidelines in the attached ABU-Fair Recruitment Charter.
Language and integration: During your initial period in the Netherlands, the employment agency will inform you about the available options offered by the municipality for language courses. Please note that not every municipality provides language lessons.
Complaints: the employment agency must provide you with an accessible complaints procedure. Does your recruitment agency and/or employment agency fail to honor a commitment made in this document? Then you can file a complaint about this with the employment agency. If the complaint is not resolved, you can also submit it to the ABU hotline. Send an e-mail to: complaints@abu.nl. Mention in your report the name of the employment agency and describe your complaint. The ABU will then address the complaint as soon as possible.
If you want to read the code in your own language, that is possible. Various landing pages have been developed by the ABU for this purpose. Surf via the links below to the appropriate page.
Bulgarian: www.abu.nl/добре дошли
English: www.abu.nl/welcome
Hungarian: www.abu.nl/udvozoljuk
Latvian: www.abu.nl/laipnilugti
Lithuanian: www.abu.nl/sveiki
Polish: www.abu.nl/witamy
Portuguese: www.abu.nl/bem-vindo
Romanian: www.abu.nl/bunvenit
Slovak: www.abu.nl/vitajte
Spanish: www.abu.nl/bienvenido
Czech: www.abu.nl/vitejte