Dutch workers get €500 for not being sick

Some 5,200 Heineken brewery employees in the Netherlands are to get a one-off payment of €500 next January, if the level of sickness absence is below 4.9%.

Under the terms of the pay freeze agreed by Dutch unions in October 2003 - which they are still observing for this year although not for next (see Workplace Report July 2004, page 8) - no overall pay increases are possible. However, one-off payments linked to specific measures, like that at Heineken, can still be agreed.

The unions described the Heineken deal as "a good result".