Duty of care is one of the requirements if your company is a recognized sponsor for the Dutch immigration services IND. Being a recognized sponsor is a requirement in the Netherlands to employ non EU citizens on a local contract. Duty of care sounds good, but what does it actually mean?
Careful recruitment and selection process
Dutch alien law says that duty of care starts with a careful recruitment and selection process. What this is remains unclear. I would say the process in which you determine whether the candidate is the best for the job. In case of an international relocation it is also important to know if the candidate and his/her family can adapt easily.
The recruitment process has changed dramatically in the past decade. Most new recruits today were approached by their new company. They often did not take the first step themselves. Moreover, the selection process is automated in many cases. If a resume contains the right words the software will make a positive selection. It is my personal experience that in many cases IQ, EQ and the character of the person define the potential success in a job more than an exact CV match. Digitisation is good yet sometimes oldfashioned reading is even better! Define the three to five absolute must-haves to prevent yourself from personally reading all the reactions.
Information on immigration conditions
The second expanation of ‘duty of care’ is that the future employer has to inform the new recruit about the immigration process. This is especially important to non EU citizens. If Anywr Netherlands handles your immigration cases, we will inform your new employees on the immigration requirements before we start up the application. We will ask you or the employee to share certain documents with us so we can prove that your employee is welcome to work and reside in the Netherlands.
Missing in the duty of care definition
In the definition of duty of care I miss some things. What do you think of the onboarding process in the company? Or the mentoring in the first months? Clear expectations of what the newcomer has to achieve in the first three/six/twelve months? These may be crucial for the success!
With these advices I trust that you will be perfectly able to offer the ‘duty of care’ to your employees. If we can be of assistance you are very much welcome!
