Solving staff shortages

Hiring salaried staff

Do you expect to have too much work permanently? Then it may be time to hire (more) salaried staff.

There is a lot involved in hiring staff. For example:

• concluding an employment contract
• agreeing on terms of employment
• paying wages and other personnel costs
• drawing up a health & safety policy

Read about what hiring staff for the first time involves. Or take a look at the step-by-step plan for hiring staff.

Is it difficult to find new employees? Read tips on finding staff. The Staff adviser tool (Personeelswijzer, in Dutch) shows you which personnel matters you must and can arrange.

Hire temporary staff

Do you temporarily need extra staff? For example, to replace a sick employee? Then hiring temporary staff is an option. For example, through secondment, a temping agency, or payrolling. Then the staff member is not employed by you, but does work for your company. Different rules apply to different forms of hiring. Such as for the notice period.

Read more about the difference between scondment, temping, and payrolling.

Do the Waadi check

If you hire temporary staff, you will have to deal with the Dutch Workers Allocation by Intermediaries Act (Waadi). Under this act, you must check if the organisation that is hiring out personnel (the lender) is registered in the Business Register. You may be fined if this is not the case.

So, it is important to always do the Waadi check.

Getting staff to work extra or differently

Do you already employ staff? If so, you can ask them if they can work more hours to accommodate any extra work or a staff shortage. For example, someone working part-time. You can also ask employees to retrain in the field where staff shortages exist within your company. That way, you will not have to hire new staff immediately.

Also, see what you can do to ensure that your employees continue to enjoy working for you.

Hiring foreign staff

You can also look for staff abroad to solve your staff shortage. You should first do so within the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland. Can you not find suitable employees there? Then you may start recruiting in other countries. You need to check if you need to apply for a visa or work permit.

Check in advance what is involved in hiring foreign staff.

Do you arrange accommodation for your foreign staff? Then you may no longer deduct the cost of this accommodation from the minimum wage from 1 January 2026.

Hiring on-call workers

Does it vary per period how much work you have? And you cannot predict when it will be busy? Then hire on-call workers. An on-call worker is an employee without fixed working days or hours. On-call employees work when you call them. You only pay a salary for the hours worked.

There are different on-call contracts with different rules. Such as a zero-hours contract and a min-max contract.

Read more about the rules for on-call workers.

Hiring a freelancer

Are you looking for temporary help with an assignment or project? Then you can also hire a freelancer. For example, because you are looking for someone with specific knowledge and experience. A freelancer is not employed by you, but will work for you until the assignment is finished.

Draw up an agreement together. For example, about the hourly rate and the number of hours needed for the assignment. You do not pay any personnel costs for a freelancer, such as payroll taxes, pension premiums, and holiday pay.

Hire an intern

Interns or trainees work in your company as part of their education. With an internship, a student gains work experience. For you, an intern can be a way to train future staff, as the intern may later join your company as an employee. This allows you to invest in future solutions for a (potential) staff shortage. There are rules for interns. Such as for the internship agreement and compensation. An intern is not the same as an employee. Take a look at the checklist working with an intern.

Hire family members

Your family may also help with your business. If your partner works in the business, you may get co-working partner tax relief (meewerkaftrek). You can then deduct an amount from your income tax return. Your children may also work in your business.

Read more about partners or children working in your company.

Hiring holiday workers

You can hire young people, minors, during school holidays or outside school hours. This is cheaper than hiring adult staff. Do take into account the rules for employing minors, such as the minimum age of young people. For example, children aged 13 and 14 are not allowed to do industrial work. That means they are not allowed to work in a factory. And they are not allowed to work with and/or near machines.

Collaborate with other entrepreneurs

Are you busy, but do you not want to hire staff? Or do you not have enough time for a new, big project? Then consider collaborating with other entrepreneurs. You can

• outsource work, such as maintaining your website. For example, through contracting.
• work together with other entrepreneurs in a (temporary) joint venture. For example, for a large assignment.
• set up a company together. Such as a professional partnership (maatschap) or a general partnership (vof).