Employment conditions note

'An agreement on working smarter in every collective labor agreement'
Every new collective labour agreement must contain an agreement on working smarter. Working smarter, improving labour productivity, can be achieved by organising work better, making agreements on employee development, combating mental absenteeism with employees and involving employees financially in the company. By making productivity growth the most important collective labour agreement theme, companies become stronger and more room for wage increases is created.
This is what AWVN, VNO-NCW and MKB-Nederland write in the 2025 Employment Conditions Memorandum, their annual advice to collective labor agreement negotiators. They warn of a loss of prosperity if labor productivity does not increase.

Losing a competitive battle

In the report Werk maken van slimmer werken. De productiepuzzel (Working smarter working. The productivity puzzle), the joint employers' associations state that the average collective wage growth of 5.3 percent in 2024 will again be very high. The resulting growth in wage costs is unsustainable for many companies and sectors, the employers state. Dutch wage growth is the highest in Europe, while we are actually lagging behind in terms of productivity development. The first signs that Dutch companies are losing the competitive battle are now visible, especially in industry. Ultimately, this will mean a loss of prosperity for the Netherlands, predict AWVN, VNO-NCW and MKB-Nederland.

Companies stronger

With their proposal to improve labor productivity through collective labor agreement negotiations together with the unions, the employers are choosing a positive direction. If the yield per hour worked increases, companies become stronger and there is more room to let the employment conditions grow, the three associations write.
In order to increase labor productivity by working smarter, the joint employers outline four lines of thought. The first is remuneration. When agreeing on wage increases, the prospects of the company or sector must be leading. Employees can benefit from the increased labor productivity by involving employees financially in the company, for example through profit sharing or employee shares.

Better organization

The second line is better organisation of work. This can be done by optimising schedules and involving employees in the implementation of (technological) innovation. Continuous learning is the third line of thought. Employers mainly want to make learning and development less optional and invest in basic skills such as reading and writing. The fourth line is investing in the health and vitality of employees. Employers want to make agreements about, among other things, reducing the workload in order to prevent mental absenteeism.