As remote and hybrid working have expanded dramatically
during the pandemic, the legal framework regulating them in the
Netherlands has lagged behind and employers may need to fill the
gap with their own policies.
As a result of the sudden and unprecedented lockdown at the
beginning of 2020 in one country after the other, most employees
had to rush home and work from there. In the Netherlands a complete
lockdown started mid-March 2020, so we have now been working
remotely for over one and a half years. Most employers' concern
in the beginning was: how will our staff keep this up?
As it turned out, most employees did manage to keep it up, and
did so quite well. In fact, the lockdown has clearly showed the
possibilities and advantages of remote working (no more time wasted
commuting, more opportunity to organise one's own working day,
etc.). But there were also concerns, for example, about employee
wellbeing during long periods of isolation, not everyone's
