Working in Rotterdam (2026): jobs, agency contracts, your rights and what to do if you are dismissed

Employers in the Rotterdam region still have far more vacancies than there are people looking for work in the short term.

• Where jobs grow and shrink. UWV expects more jobs in care and welfare and in specialist business services, and fewer in the agency sector and wholesale. Self-employed jobs fall because the Tax Administration checks harder for false self-employment (UWV); see our freelancing guide.
• Looking for work? The city sends jobseekers to Hallo Werk, its platform that puts them in direct contact with employers (City of Rotterdam).

Through an agency you sign with the agency, not with the warehouse, terminal or company where you actually work.

• Your rights. You have almost the same rights as someone in a regular job, and your terms must match those of permanent staff at the company, but you can be let go more quickly at the start and get no wages without work. Check that the agency is registered with the Chamber of Commerce; from 2028 only approved agencies may supply workers (Work in NL).
• The first 52 weeks may be on a zero-hours or on-call contract; after that the agency may give you 6 more contracts in 3 years (Work in NL).
• The uitzendbeding. With this clause your work and wages stop, without notice, when the client ends the work, and also if you fall ill (Work in NL). The usual written notice 1 month before a contract of 6 months or longer ends, the aanzegtermijn, does not apply then (Rijksoverheid).
• Permanent. More than 3 temporary contracts, or more than 3 years of them, with the same employer, including an agency followed by the company itself, make your contract permanent, with gaps of at most 6 months; a collective agreement can set other rules (Rijksoverheid).
• What changes. The Senate passed the Flexible Work Act on 7 July 2026, and it applies from 1 January 2028 (Rijksoverheid). It puts equal terms for agency workers into law and shortens the agency phases in which you can be let go any day from a year and a half to 1 year (Rijksoverheid).

Contract ended or overtime unpaid? Our Rotterdam agency contract guide goes through your options, and our guide for Polish workers covers agency work and housing in more detail.

When a Rotterdam job ends, the WW application, the court deadlines and, on a permit, your right to stay all start running at once.

The court. The kantonrechter of Rechtbank Rotterdam sits at Wilhelminaplein 100-125 on the Kop van Zuid (Rechtspraak.nl). For the full picture, start with what to do when you are dismissed.