The Dutch Senate is set to vote for final approval of a Dutch bill that would make working from home a legal right, meaning the Netherlands would be one of the first countries to stamp this measure into law, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The lower house of the Dutch parliament approved an amendment Tuesday to the Netherlands‘ Flexible Working Act of 2015, which would enable employees to ask for alterations in the number of work hours, their schedules and their work location, The Wall Street Journal reported.
#Netherlands proposes to make work-from-home a legal righthttps://t.co/7mgQojLJYb
— Zee News English (@ZeeNewsEnglish) June 24, 2022
This new legislation would make employers consider employees’ requests to work from home and to provide a reason if they choose to deny any requests, according to the outlet. (RELATED: Crime In Seattle Leads To Amazon Telling Employees They Can Work From Home)
Steven van Weyenberg, the bill’s co-author, said, “For employers, this is also a good law. Because a happy employee is a happy employer,” the outlet noted.
Senna Maatoug of the GroenLinks party and co-author of the bill called the bill an “important step” for workers, The Wall Street Journal reported. “It allows them to find a better work-life balance and reduce time spent on commuting.”
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home was already popular in the Netherlands, with 14% of Dutch people working from home in 2018, according to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency.