Employment legislation and conditions in the hospitality industry: what's going on now?

In the hospitality sector, we feel the effects of labour market shortages every day. Although the tightness has been decreasing since Q3 2022, the demand for hospitality employees remains high. Branch organisation Koninklijke Horeca Nederland (KHN) supports entrepreneurs in the search for good employees - among other things by enthusing people for a job in the hospitality industry with the campaign 'Working in the hospitality industry, surprisingly versatile' launched in April. The industry association also helps to ensure that working in the hospitality industry is really attractive, for example through good terms of employment. What is currently going on in this area? KHN takes you through the state of affairs.

Working in the hospitality industry is fun, educational and versatile, but of course that is not enough. Good working conditions are crucial to making the industry an attractive employer. The hospitality industry collective labour agreement defines the basic working conditions. In addition, there is plenty of room to make additional agreements. The CAO expires at the end of this year and KHN is therefore working on new agreements with the unions on attractive terms of employment.  

Obviously, the level of the (minimum) wage is an important issue in the talks. In the past year, the legal minimum wage (WML) has already risen sharply. First on 1 January by over 10%, then on 1 July by over 3%. This will not stop there, as the WML will rise further from 1 January 2024. At that point, the WML will be the same for everyone, regardless of the number of working hours per week. This means that employees earning the minimum wage will earn 5.5% more from 1 January 2024. To that will be added the six-monthly indexation. 

These increases are very nice for full-timers on the minimum wage, but do not apply to employees earning more. And surely that is a large group in our industry. As a result, in some cases there is no longer any difference in pay between different jobs. This, of course, is not desirable. KHN's aim is to make good salary agreements with the unions for this group, so that their pay also remains in line with function and inflation. We are also going to work on renewing the job structure. This is a reference file of common jobs in the hospitality industry. Over the years, this has become outdated. 

Labour legislation has been amended several times in recent years to create a better balance in the labour market. Karien van Gennip, outgoing minister of social affairs and employment, recently announced new changes. These changes will not be implemented until 2025 at the earliest. For example, the outgoing minister wants to abolish zero-hours contracts and replace them with a basic contract. The chain arrangement will also change. You may only offer an employee another temporary instead of a permanent contract after three temporary contracts after five years. That is now six months. Exceptions will apply to schoolchildren and students. It also involves the implementation of a new crisis regulation and criteria for distinguishing between self-employed and employees. 

A lot is also going to change in terms of pensions. From 1 July 2023, new pension rules came into force that also affect the hospitality industry. For instance, from 1 January 2024, employees aged 18 and over will start building up a pension, where previously this was from 21. Not every employee understands or needs this. After all, there will be less left on the pay slip. So this requires proper explanation. The social partners in the hotel and catering industry are agreeing on a new pension contract required by the new pension law.

KHN is happy to help - There is a lot going on in the field of labour legislation and working conditions. The industry organisation is committed to influencing legislative plans in such a way that it remains workable for hotel and catering entrepreneurs. KHN members can contact the sector organisation for information and advice.