UNEXPECTED WORK CULTURE SHOCKS IN THE NETHERLANDS | from an Australian expat

Everyone already knows about the work/life balance, the flat hierarchy, and the cheese boterhammetjes (sandwiches). But I'm here to share with you the OTHER work-related moments that took me by surprise. Curious about your thoughts!
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Intro
00:43 - #1: Temporary job contracts
01:47 - #2: Sick leave
03:39 - #3: Pronouncing Dutch names
06:26 - #4: Summer vacation
07:50 - #5: Maternity leave
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tags: amsterdam, amsterdam expat, working in the netherlands, working in amsterdam, dutch workplace culture shocks, surprising things about the netherlands, living in amsterdam, living in holland, working abroad, dutch work culture

[@Some2else]

Small addition to #1: employees rarely report sick for the common cold. The flu - yes, but just a cold is considered not done. For office workers there usually is an option to work from home when the have a serious cold, just to protect your fellow workers.

[@LeesaYu]

Yep, I rarely take a day off even when I'm a bit sick. We are lucky that working from home is now a common practice. The only good thing to have come out of COVID!

[@autohmae]

@@LeesaYu before Covid the Netherlands had the highest rate in the world of people who had worked from home at least ones per year.

[@MissBTarot]

The reason they give people a temp contract at first is because indefinite contracts give employees so much protections it's difficult to let someone go. So they want to test the waters first with new employees to see if they think it's worth the risk

[@richardoffermanns2743]

Paid maternity leave is 16 weeks minimum. The duration of maternity leave for the birth of twins or multiple births is 20 weeks. In the event of a premature birth or hospitalization of the newborn, the duration of maternity leave is extended. In addition to maternity leave, parental leave can also be taken. That is 26 times the number of hours the parent works per week. The father can also take parental leave. The first two months of parental leave are paid (70% salary). The parental leave can be spread over a longer period from birth until the child turns eight. Since fathers can also take parental leave, this gives parents more flexibility with childcare. You can choose to temporarily work less while maintaining the original contract hours.

[@annekekramer3835]

I got a second child, as a father, about 1.5 years ago. I took 17 weeks (partly) paid time of. But yes, maternity and paternity leave is too short in the Netherlands. That's what we get for over a decade a Liberal party in the government, as they are very pro-employers.

[@LeesaYu]

Thanks for sharing!

[@kevonvideo]

@@LeesaYubtw the comment refers to the liberal party VVD. ‘Liberal’ in the Netherlands is actually on the right side of the political spectrum, as opposed to in the US. I don’t know how it’s defined in Australia though.

[@JulesStoop]

3:34 If I (dutch) were to come to work feeling like you describe, I would be sent home. Not just for my own sake, but also for the sake of not infecting anyone else in the building 😅

[@LeesaYu]

I think thankfully since covid, people are much more sensitive and aware about how germs spread!

[@Marloes_1358]

Right, maternity leave... in the Netherlands its quite normal to go back to work after 3 months, but a lot will reduce their workweek to parttime, that goes for the mother as well as the father. In my case I went back to work for 3 days, and my husband for 4, so our baby went to daycare only 2 days of the week, it was a nice balance, I went stir crazy to be home all the time and not in a working environment..

[@LeesaYu]

Thanks for sharing your experience and perspective! I like that both you and your husband worked part-time and found a way to share the load of parenting!

[@rikayangu3833]

Thanks so much for sharing, although i have visited the Netherlands several times in the past, it`s different seeing somethings from a tourist point of view. Having said that, I migrated to Switzerland long ago, it was a real culture shock.I`m glad to know that not only people from Africa get culture shock when they arrive in Europe,

[@emilyannfrancesmay3919]

A small addition...Women who want a home birth are, according to videos from expats I've seen, supported. They can have a mid-wife at the house. After birth, the Kramzorg, a post-natal care nurse, comes for two weeks to help the new mother and baby. I think that is a unique feature of the Dutch health care system. I have not learned of such post-natal care elsewhere. If my Mom had received such professional care, she may not have had a post-partum slump (a/k/a the baby blues).

[@boosbeest1146]

#5 Having three kids I can say daycare is amazing. True that bringing your kids for the first time is hard but the first time after 2 years is hard too. Maybe even more so. And woman (and man) work part-time way more often then in other countries. So it's not like you bring your kids to daycare 5 days a week. For us it was three days, both working 4 days a week. With my oldest son we also had two grandma's helping out. So no big deal. And honestly. It gives you a break as well. Going to work and leaving the care of your child in the loving hands of a daycare worker, (they are amazing!) can take the pressure of for a while. And last, daycare is made fun.A lot of love, games, cuddling, playing, exploring.

[@LeesaYu]

Nice to hear you had such a positive experience with daycare! I know it’s great for the kid too, to socialise and learn to be more independent. But I’m not looking forward to the inevitable cycle of my kids picking up germs from daycare!

[@MeriaDuck]

They will get I'll anyway, as we Dutch day: it is good for their resistance ( resistance against getting I'll easily)

[@MarjoleinNoyceBellingaMobiel]

@@LeesaYu If you don't get it from day care you will be hit full force when they go to school so you're just postponing the inevitable :)

[@MaartenRobijn]

Thanks for sharing your insights. As a Dutch person, I find a view from 'outside' alsway interesting. Some replies / additional information....: On #4: small shops that don't have employees (only the owner) do shut down if the owner really chooses to go on a holiday. Although, the pressure for this shop-owners is pretty big to keep the shop open (to keep the business running (commercially viable). Not all small shops (can) do this, so they stay open and never have a holiday. Larger shops dont close during holidays, as are most other companies. But indeed, there is a form of mutual agreement to shut down a lot of business (especially building companies, industry), because other companies are closed and business is so low during that period, that sending your own employees on a holiday is the better option. On #5: the maturnity leave is the legal part, so arrange by law. Women (mothers) that want (or need) a changes work situation after maturnity leave, can request that and usyally there is a lot of possibilities. Some want a longer (unpaid) leave, some stop working for a few years and then return (maybe witht the same employer). Others change their work schedule (less work days), as mentioned in one of the replies already. It would be good to have a longer period to be able to let the baby grow up a bit longer before sending it to child care, for sure. I think the current situation is because this way, the break is relatively short, meaning that the employee can return and continue 'as before', while after a year break, that is usually not the case (nearly a fresh start). Arrangements and policies are changing so a bit more social arrangement.

[@angelat8667]

#4 sounds delightful! Just another perspective on #5 borrowing from Annabel Crabb - 12 months is actually a really long time, and in her opinion the long maternity leave in Australia can entrench looking after babies and young children as women's responsibility. And the paid portion is 20 weeks at minimum wage, which is a big drop in salary for many women. Of course women need time to recover and to be able to feed the baby if breastfeeding, but I think there's something to be said for both parents sharing care in those first months/year - which I believe can be done to some extent in the Netherlands with partner leave and parental leave, albeit with some of the time unpaid? (Unless I'm getting totally mixed up!!)

[@LeesaYu]

Thanks so much for sharing this perspective! That’s a really good point that you/Annabel Crabb made (PS are you are Chatter by any chance 😇) and one that I hadn’t considered before. In that sense you’re right that the partner leave and the culture of ‘papadag’ probably does encourage more equal parenting. And of course shorter mat leave means less time away from the workforce. I think in an ideal world, women could be given a choice - take the 16 weeks paid mat leave at 100% salary, or a lower mat leave allowance but longer time off? Since I haven’t gone through this process myself yet, it’s quite possible 3 months is plenty of time!

[@angelat8667]

@@LeesaYu Indeed I am a Chatter - they're so ace! I think that's the thing - living abroad gives you another perspective and shows you the way things are done in one place isn't necessarily the way things are - rather, that each place makes a choice about how parental leave (or whatever it is) is going to work. And the beauty is that knowing more than one perspective gives you an opportunity to think about what you really want and what will work for you, rather than simply accepting what everyone else is doing as the norm, and the chance to try to put in place a suitable arrangement for you (within the constraints of the place you live, of course). On a more practical note, quality of care matters a lot - putting a small baby in high-quality care with loving carers and a low carer to child ratio is very different to lower quality care and a higher ratio. FWIW 8 months parental leave was too long for me - I reckon 6 would've been perfect :)

[@huubeijndhovenvan7177]

Great video. Dutch father here. Just a bit of additional info on your item #5 about maternity/parental leave: net to 16 weeks of payed leave for the mother around birth there is: for both parents: 9 weeks of 70% payed leave in the first year, plus 19 weeks of unplayed leave to be consumed anywhere in the first 8 years of the child.

[@LeesaYu]

Thanks for adding the additional important info!

[@Taru_FinnDutch]

#3 is so relatable haha! Dutch names and words in general...not the easiest ones to deal with😂

[@LeesaYu]

Definitely NOT easy! I feel like I know the Dutch alphabet quite well, but I do still struggle if I’m hearing a new name (also street name) for the first time!

[@peterkralt2478]

Haha besides hard to pronounce Dutch names can be hilarious too for English speakers, i used to have a collegue that in the past sold flowers from a truck to shops in England. His name was Cock and his co driver his name was Dick, now imagine being a distinguished elderly English lady and these guys enter your shop introducing themselves like that, you either have to be a good sport and laugh about the hilarious name combination or you call the cops on those weird perverts intruding your shop.

[@eightiesinsane]

love the way you say dutch names

[@LeesaYu]

I'm sure there is still an accent but I try my best :)

[@gusvanwes6192]

The one year contract is a legal thing. I'm not sure what the law around firing employees is in Australia but in the Netherlands the employer has to prove that there is nothing else they can do but fire someone if they are on a permanent contract. On the other hand, if you are on a 1 year contract they basically can't fire you until the contract is ended.

[@LeesaYu]

Yes I do feel that employees in Australia have less protection, in the sense that firing someone on a permanent contract in Australia seems easier than it would be in the Netherlands

[@MeriaDuck]

My current employer typically starts with a 7 month contract. The reason is that a trial period of one month is impossible with shorter contracts ( in the trial period there is no reason required to end the contract). And a single month is also too short to do proper evaluation.

[@kiragajjar3324]

We arrived during the summer - roamed around wondering why it was so quiet, it was summer after all! I agree with your comments on leaving baby so soon. In South Africa the maternity leave is the same as NL - financially it can also become a strain, particularly on single parents. The informal childcare is a thriving industry though, and should be as regulated here, but is sadly not - sheer demand and low level of income makes it almost impossible to afford formal daycare options. Any possibility for a hairdresser /personal care video!? 😄

[@LeesaYu]

Terrible that daycare is so expensive. I’m not 100% across all the ins and outs of daycare subsidies in the Netherlands, but have heard it adds up. Tough for people who don’t have other family to turn to and yes definitely tough for single parents. Haha I hadn’t thought about a personal care video - I don’t know if I’m well equipped to do one but I’ll try to have a think! I can recommend two hairdressers which I’ve been to and liked a lot - Wild Romance (I think Australian owned) and Assort (I think Japanese owned). ☺️

[@noyota]

South Africa just outlawed maternity leave, late 2023.

[@dianailieva3309]

#4 is a shock for me, too. Where I come from, the maternity leave is 2 years. Some women choose to send their kids to daycare when they are about 19 months old. Others use their entire 2 years of maternity leave.

[@LeesaYu]

Wow, 2 years!! Is any of that time paid? I think it’s nice to give people a choice, so that those who want to delay daycare can do so easily and the same for those who wish to return to work earlier :)

[@dianailieva3309]

@@LeesaYu The 1st year is for sure paid. I think mothers receive around 70 to 90% of their gross pre-pregnancy salary. I'm not a mom, so I cannot be sure if mothers receive the same money after the 1st year. Maybe they receive less, but they do receive some money. The reason behind the smaller amount of money at the end of the maternity leave is to stimulate them to return to work after those 2 years. It's not uncommon for women to choose to be stay-at-home moms till their kid/s turn 6 or 7. Unfortunately, those moms find it hard to return to work after such a long period of being at home.

[@thepianoman5757]

May I ask you where you're from. Is there besides the maternity leave also parental leave for both mother and father( it's also his child)? Are the other four things also arranged that much better?

[@mcarlogm]

As a filipino expat living in the netherlands I can confirm everything here is true..😂 #4 was my biggest culture shock at work too. As someone who is used to to the hustle culture in asia when it comes to work. Any project / work should continue even if its summer vacation. So on my first summer here, it was super surprising to me when suddenly deadlines/milestones got moved because of summer vacation. 😂😂 Another thing would probably dutch directness. Its refreshing to me to immediately get a feedback (good or bad) on work stuff/proposals/activities. 😂

[@LeesaYu]

Yes I was also so confused during my first summer here! Good one about the Dutch directness and nice to hear that it’s been a positive change in your work interactions with your colleagues!

[@geeache1891]

Shops that close for 3-4 weeks are really exceptions in the Netherlands as well. Two weeks, I 've seen that but 3+ hardly.

[@LeesaYu]

Quite a lot of shops in my local area were closed for 3 weeks during the break, but perhaps that's because it's a residential area rather than a busy place!

[@the_wolak1489]

In Poland we also has paid leaves due to health state, unless you are employeed on mandate contract or freelancing

[@LeesaYu]

That’s great!!

[@ronnie9187]

With holidays it works like domino stones. Eventhough my company ( US company, sales office in Switzerland) will require always a workforce all year through, in summertime many go on holiday including customers. So even if you are working, there is still not much going on since many customers may be on holiday, making it less productive to have full staff in summermonths. Same is in February here in Switzerland where many people have "sports holiday" and go for wintersport in the mountains.

[@markusmayer7956]

I was quite shocked to hear that there is only about 3 months of maternity leave in the Netherlands! I grew up in Austria where parental leave is 24 months. In Canada, where I live now, it is 12 months, similar to Australia.

[@LeesaYu]

I didn’t know that parental leave is 24 months in Austria!

[@xFuaZe]

Do men also get 2 years maternity leave?

[@dianakuipers3765]

Maternity leave in austria is also about 16 weeks. Parental leave is something else.

[@meekema3353]

The situation is more complex, there is also parental leave that can be taken by both parents in the first 7 years after birth. It's maximum 6 months per child per parent. The pay for this leave depends on the company you work for.

[@noyota]

The woke South African govt just revoked maternity leave.

[@Yvolve]

For number 3: The hardest part of the Dutch language is the hard G. Most try to produce the sound from their throat, but you can't maintain that. The sound is made by pushing the back of your tongue to the roof of your mouth and start pronouncing the H as you would in English. The small space between your tongue and the roof of your mouth creates speeds the air up, making a rushing sound, like high winds coming off a corner. It's tricky, but you'll save your vocal chords.

[@JessyJansen]

😂😂😂😂 I tried doing it like you explained but no 🤣😂 to me it was more like a cat hissing. a tiny cat hiss to start geest😂

[@Yvolve]

@@JessyJansen It takes a lot of practice, even for Dutchies. It's a short, strong breath, otherwise it's like a hiss. You'll feel the back of the roof of your mouth vibrate, which is what makes the hard G sound.

[@JessyJansen]

yeah I guess it comes naturally to us you don't even think much about what all your mouth is doing@@Yvolve 😂

[@Yvolve]

@@JessyJansen It's weird once you start to really think about the movement of your tongue and mouth to speak. Especially the harder sounds in Dutch like the G, T, K and S. You have to move your mouth a lot less when speaking English compared to Dutch.

[@chrislaarman7532]

The hard "G" is regional, roughly "above the rivers" (North of where our major rivers flow East to West). To hear all pronunciation differences clearer, compare Dutch national television with VRT (the public broadcast of Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. (There are differences that you won't hear. And there is the matter of regional languages inside the Netherlands.)

[@Gee_Jay]

#5 - Maternity Leave - Can Always be exended by up to 2 years, by simply reporting (partially) sick after the initial 16 weeks. If you are indeed Rated to some percentage of Disability - a post-natal depression for example - you could then gradually return to working part-time, to your level of capability - as judged by the independent UWV / Arbo-doctor - and the Remainder of your Original contract Hours will Continue to be payed at 70% or 75% - either by UWV, or by your employer ('s insurance).

[@LeesaYu]

That's a good point, although I don't plan on claiming sick leave unless I actually need it. In an ideal world, I would have the freedom to take more time off during maternity leave without it being because of post-natal depression/other health struggles!

[@Gee_Jay]

Hi@@LeesaYu- #1 I'd obviousy wish you that as well !! -- #2 I didn't want to suggest Holland being ideal at all -- But at least, for this Particular situation, if you need more ( Paid ! ) time to recover after childbirth - regardless whether mentally, and/or physically - Netherlands labor protection laws have you covered for up to 2 years, without your employer severing your contract - and other state-based social safety-nets after that !

[@aneeshkk2515]

Hi Leesa.. How are you going? After a long time i am here... Now i am in Dubai. Reached here in last month...

[@parmentier7457]

I don't know if Australia also has Papa Dag (papas day). After the birth of the child, the partner also receives paid parental leave. Or five weeks off, or the days off spread over six months. My experience is that most fathers works one day less per week in the six months, we call that a daddy's day. And I think that many mothers temporarily do not work full-time after their maternity leave. Both mother and father spend one day during the (working) week with their child and then two or three days at a daycare center.

[@LeesaYu]

Nope, papa dag doesn't exist in the same way that it does in the Netherlands! I think it's a beautiful part of the Dutch culture, and I should have mentioned it too in my video. Thanks for sharing!!

[@gerhard6105]

Nice video. I do not know if you talk some Dutch already but try it. Remember that it is not a Language from some far country somewhere in Europe but it is like English a Germanic laguage. So it is family and if you watch it closely, many words are the same. 1% of all English words are Dutch. You can also whats a movie or show here on tv that is in English and then there is subtitling and with reading that, you can learn Dutch. That how we Dutch get familiair with English: we hear the original English in the movie and it has Dutch subtitles. Words like , water, light/licht, berm, stone/steen, stranded/gestrand, way/weg, sail/zeil, horn/hoorn, table/tafel, grass/gras, reed/riet, door/deur, book/boek, pijp/pipe, stick/stok, floor/vloer, you/jij, how/hoe, go/ga, house/huis,hall/hal, sand/zand,glass/glas, come/kom, here, hier, etcetera...

[@LeesaYu]

Yep learning Dutch, though at beginners level :)

[@omervandenbelt]

How about the boss in the Australian supermarkets/grocery stores. Here in The Netherlands I saw an employee handing over carton boxes with dairy products from the pallet to his boss, who put them in the refrigerated place in the shop. How is that in Australia?

[@LeesaYu]

???

[@omervandenbelt]

I mean does a manager of a store also work like the other employees? @@LeesaYu

[@marcusfranconium3392]

The one year contract works both ways . 1 the company wants you or doesn't want you after the year , or you want to stay or do not want to stay at the company after that year.. I like that option , as not only it opens up possibilities for both you can also renegotiate your contract . As its hard for some one or the company to hide their true face more than 3 months. The same with the 1-3 month probation period they can terminate the contract with in this period but you can also do this . The same with a job interview , the introduction talk , you dont like it you can say sorry not interested . and move on. An option i often used my self . Dont like what i hear iam gone .

[@JakobFischer60]

I work as a german in a german company, but as we have so many foreigners, I am used to be called with an english pronounciation. We also have a belgish guy named Jeroen, and I struggled to how to pronounce in the beginning.

[@bikeamour]

Jürrúhn

[@gerhard6105]

Auf Deutsch: Jerun. Der e wie in begriffen, bestanden, befahren.

[@gerhard6105]

​@@bikeamournee, niet zo.

[@LeesaYu]

Haha yes and I continue to learn new Dutch names even to this day!

[@mrtnsnp]

Fun with Dutch names: Maarten, Marten, Martin, Martijn, Martien. (All male names). And yes, asking how to spell a name is fine.

[@LeesaYu]

😂

[@MeriaDuck]

My name being Merijn falls squarely between those. And is genderneutral.

[@mrtnsnp]

@@MeriaDuck To be fair, Martien can be both male and female as well. As are perhaps other names, i try to avoid to be judgemental. Martine, Maartje, … if you want to add more to the spectrum.

[@annekenabuurs881]

The summer holiday, is because you’re not aloud to keep your kids at home between the holidays. It’s forbidden, you if you want to have holiday with your kids you have to go in summer 6weeks or Christmas 2 weeks. (1 week in autum, 2x 1 week in spring)

[@LeesaYu]

Yes makes sense that you take a long break if you have kids!

[@annekenabuurs881]

@@LeesaYu and if you have friends/ family who work as a teacher or in the housing construction because they have holiday in these weeks as well.

[@autohmae]

4:54 at least you can play the 'foreigner card', I wouldn't worry about it.

[@LeesaYu]

Hahaha true :) :)

[@chrislaarman7532]

Combining numbers 1 and 2: I was born in 1956. My last job started with a six-month contract in January 1991. The employing family and I tried our best, but we were counting the days. When the end date approached in July 1991 (and I had some holidays to spend), I went on sick leave. Quite some money has been spent on my mental (and later physical) health, but I have never been employed since, and now I'm retired. (I have had occasional hours of work as my own boss until August 1995. I have always tried to be involved in "doing something in return for my money".) I should note, that I would have been far worse off if my events should have happened just months later. But that is a political story.

[@KESipples]

I’m surprised by the short maternity leave too and I wonder what your Dutch viewers’ opinions are on it.

[@LeesaYu]

Yes I would love to hear more opinions on this too! I guess most people wouldn’t know any different, and so would just accept the situation for being what it is.

[@sntxrrr]

Yes, maternity leave in the Netherlands is I believe one of the worst in Europe. Since I don't have children it doesn't bother me personally but I do sometimes wonder why mothers and fathers (to be) don't revolt in the streets. Maybe they are blinded by the best bike infrastructure in the world, I don't know....

[@addylandzaat8080]

There is more discussion on paternity leave then on maternity leave. Dutch maternity leave is better then the EU directive on pregnant workers. Parents can also opt for parental leave, that is a right that allows employees who have a child or children under eight years to take unpaid time off - but often the CAO (collective bargaining) makes it a 50% paid. The Dutch system is fine for most people, I feel. Of course there are people who want longer maternity leave, but I also know people who were really happy they could start work again after 16 weeks. I noticed the Australian Maternity leave is 18 weeks of paid parental leave and 52 weeks of job-protected unpaid leave - that is not that different I think (16 or 18 weeks paid is not a huge difference. Regarding baby showers - depending on the workplace, it is normal to have a small office baby shower. I don't know why your colleague thought it was inappropriate.

[@LeesaYu]

@addylandzaat8080 thanks for sharing your knowledge on this matter! As I said in the video, I didn’t feel equipped to outline the exact details of mat/pat leave since I have not gone through this process myself. All I’m saying in the video is that culturally, it is presumed in Australia that a woman will want to take much more than 3 months off work after giving birth. So it was weird for me to see people back so soon. As for the baby shower thing, I guess people earn quite average salaries at my workplace, so buying gifts and getting cake etc is seen as a bit over the top? My colleague didn’t seem disappointed/upset, she seemed to not expect anything beyond the standard ‘good luck and see you later’ goodbyes 🤷🏻‍♀️🙂

[@addylandzaat8080]

@@LeesaYu We are cheapskates 😜we only take the paid part. Office babyshowers are a thing, but not in every organization. Apparently not in yours.

[@timw9745]

As a dutch person its so weird for me to expect people to restraint the days they are sick. It doesn’t work like that..

[@timw9745]

And the maternity leave is paid, you can add more time if you have the money.

[@LeesaYu]

I agree with you, it’s great that sick leave is flexible and generous here. Maternity leave is only paid 100% for 3 months, and 70% paid for 9 weeks within the first year. So I can understand why people go back to work already at 3 months, but this is just way too soon for me 🥲

[@y.v.l.]

Where maternity leave is concerned; a lot of women in the Netherlands work part time and some women actually like being "out of the house" for a while instead of being cooped up at home with the baby because it can be overwhelming. And they are only gone for a little while. Other than that, like you mentioned, we have ample vacation time and plenty of paid sick days and lots of possibilities to go home for emergencies or even stay at home for emergencies for a few days. In other words it is all very flexibel.

[@LeesaYu]

Thank you for sharing your local insights and the additional information! All very interesting to read and useful to keep in mind :)

[@Apoz]

Must be very difficult as an ISTJ

[@ronaldderooij1774]

I have to correct you slightly on the pronounciation of Dutch (names in this case). Suzanne, Janne and Elke all have the "schwa" sound at the end. In fact the "schwa" sound is the most commonly used sound in Dutch. It is NOT pronounced as an "a" but as an "uh". So it is "Suzannuh, Annuh, Jannuh, Elkuh".

[@LeesaYu]

Thanks for the additional input! Yes upon reflection, ‘uh’ is a more accurate way to describe the sound than ‘a’. In my Australian accent, that sounds the same but ‘uh’ is clearer :)

[@gerhard6105]

Like the e in the English the. And like the e in Father.

[@captainchaos3667]

Most important rule for the Dutch language: ij is a vowel.

[@chrislaarman7532]

"IJ" even counts as one character in capitalization, like in "IJsselmeer". The pronunciation shifted from a long "i" (as in English "to be") to its current pronuncation during the 19th(?) century, with the exception of the word "bijzonder" ("special"). Roughly East of the river IJssel, people may still pronounce "ij" as a long "i".

[@iamsuzanne73]

Fully Paid Sick leave is no longer 2 years but 1 year. The 2nd year you’ll get paid 70% of your salary.

[@LeesaYu]

Yes that’s true - but 70% is still incredible to me! In Australia you would get nothing

[@back2nature608]

I'm Dutch and i cant remember my own name.

[@willpotter22]

You can take your sick days in america, but you might lose your job

[@LeesaYu]

It’s very sad how little protection there is for employees in America!

[@dutchgamer842]

Doesn't it depend on the where/what?

[@willpotter22]

@@dutchgamer842 company? Sure but good luck

[@dutchgamer842]

@@willpotter22 You can answer normally on a genuine question instead of being rude

[@willpotter22]

@@dutchgamer842 just being straightforward

[@rulifaller8474]

The maternity leave is also a matter of personal perspective. Plenty of women are actually happy to go back to work after three months instead of spending 24h a day with their baby all the time. A lot of women also work parttime, so even if they go back to work they still have 3 or 4 days at home, plus fathers might have days off as well, plus the grandparents that help out, so the tiny baby will actually often not go to daycare at all. Plus when the new mother is really not feeling well and ready yet after three months, see your culture shock 2: they can actually call in sick and a lot of employers will be sympathetic to their situation. And then there is always culture shock 4, using up a number of the pile of days off paid holiday leave. And then there are the unpaid leave legal obligations. All of this in most situations adds up to women actually having quite a lot of freedom in how long they want to not work. Of course there are also work environments and employers that are not like that, but in most cases I think it works out just fine.

[@LeesaYu]

Thanks for sharing your perspective and thoughts! Having not gone through this personally, I won't really know how I will feel until I'm in that situation myself.

[@rulifaller8474]

@@LeesaYu No worries. You will probably feel all kinds of things that you did not know off in advance😉.

[@sheesh7719]

Sick leave doesn't apply for 90% of blue collar jobs in The Netherlands.

[@LeesaYu]

Sad to hear :(

[@christi6934]

That's what I was thinking too. Almost no one with a low wage would take a long sick leave or extra parental leave if it's unpaid or at 70% of their wage. Would make it hard to survive.. I don't earn much and am single and if I would ever get ill for a long time I would be unable to stay home at 70% of my wage... and there are many like me Not to mention that often the working environment is not very positive towards actually taking sick leave.. so even though you'd get paid, your colleagues and boss will not look favourably upon you..

[@noyota]

English being not phonetic, doesn't afford the speaker a pronunciation rule set. Anglophones, for this reason, generally fail at pronouncing names. Yes, I am Peter, not Peda. My car has a motor, not a moda. To Anglicise generally ends up quite wrong, and may even cause offense. Better to ask, always.

[@dutchyjhome]

FYI, did you know that Dutch, German and English all originate from 1 Germanic mother language and that out of all languages Dutch and English are most related? Yeah, how about learning the Dutch language..? Thoroughly obviously... In a way you are no longer to be that silly foreigner who still has got to learn Dutch! After all, you live here, you work here, you take place in this Dutch society, people speak Dutch here...so what's keeping you from learning the compulsory Dutch language? And no, not just names or not just our Alphabet, no The complete Dutch language!

[@LeesaYu]

Oh my god. Please calm down… this ‘silly foreigner’ is learning Dutch already 😞😞 comments like these are not very encouraging though

[@aardbei07]

the sick leave is lso abused much,it cost the company extra cost to hire a extra worker

[@LeesaYu]

I think it’s really good for employees to be given space to heal and recover when they need it. I don’t think people take sick leave unless they need it (physically or mentally).

[@annekekramer3835]

No, we don't.

[@user-xi6nk4xs4s]

In all my years in the work force, I've only experienced 2 cases of abuse, so abused much doesn't seem right.

[@rustug75]

@aardbei07 You might be abusing the system, but in general people don't abuse the system. We have the numbers to prove this. These made-up stories of mass fraudulent behavior leads to stricter, harsher rules and witch-hunts, and that leads to things like the "kinderopvangtoeslagen" drama. So please think and research before spouting baseless nonsense.