Choices Within Collective Labour Agreements à la Carte in the Netherlands

Abstract

In recent years European employers, unions and governments have developed initiatives that offer employees the right to exchange certain items within an agreed package of employment conditions. So far, the available evidence on the use of such 'cafeteria systems' is largely based on survey data rather than on actual choices. We analyse the actual choices made by the employees of Radboud University Nijmegen in the years [2002][2003][2004]. The results cast doubt on the efficiency and the effectiveness of employee choices within collective agreements, contradict the unions' push for working time reduction and question wage moderation and policies on work-life balance.

Does the Life Course Savings Scheme Have the Potential to Improve Work–Life Balance?

“…2005; Keuzenkamp 2004; MinBZK 2006; Plantenga and Remery 2004). This is in line with Dutch experience with offering choices in the collective labour agreements à la carte (Delsen et al. 2006) and in the individualized SSS (CBS 2005, 2007; De Mooij and Stevens 2002; Kösters 2007).…”

“…Because most part‐time employees have voluntarily chosen the number of hours they usually work, they will not have a high tendency to increase or decrease their number of working hours. Furthermore, for part timers, the cost of any choice they make is relatively higher because they have less salary and fewer days off (see Delsen et al. 2006).…”

Do New Production Concepts and a New Management of Employment Relations, Yield Higher Employee Performance and Lower Job Strain?

“…We did not examine to what extent this is the outcome of differences in access to employment relations 'á la Carte' (cf. Delsen, Benders and Smits, 2006). It might lead to segmentation tendencies in the (internal) labour market, also as a result of their increased bargaining position, gained by their high performance.…”

Negotiating Individual Employment Relations, Evidence from four Dutch Organizations

“…Employees can put together -on a voluntary and yearly basis -their own package of employment terms and conditions in terms of wages, number of working hours, number of holidays, extra (long term) leave, training and pensions (cf. Delsen et al, 2006). 11 The second question on the actual use has been investigated by interviewing our respondents in the cases.…”