Remote Work & Unfair Performance Reviews: When Expats Are Judged by Dutch Standards
You are logging in from your home office. Maybe you are in London, New York, or Cape Town. Your employer is headquartered in Amsterdam. You work hard and try to stay connected. But lately, the silence from headquarters feels heavy.
When you finally have your video call with your manager, the news is bad. They tell you that you are not meeting expectations. They mention “visibility” or “alignment.” They might even hand you a negative evaluation or put you on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP).
You feel confused. How can they accurately judge your performance when they barely see you?
This is a growing problem in the modern workplace: cross-border performance disputes. Dutch managers often apply local Dutch office standards to employees working in completely different environments. This mismatch leads to unfair assessments. If you feel you are being set up to fail because of your location, you are not alone. Under Dutch law, distance is not a valid excuse for an unfair dismissal.
The Core Conflict: “Out of Sight, Out of Mind”
Working remotely for a Dutch company can be a dream, but it often turns into a logistical nightmare. The conflict usually starts with simple geography.
If you are in a different time zone, you are naturally out of sync. While your colleagues in Amsterdam are having their morning coffee and making informal decisions, you might still be asleep. By the time you log on, you are playing catch-up. A manager might perceive this as being “reactive” or “slow,” while in reality, you are simply living in a different longitude.
Furthermore, communication delays create friction. If you have to wait 24 hours for a reply to a simple email, your output slows down. Comparing your speed to a colleague sitting next to the boss in Amsterdam is inherently unfair.
Dutch Culture vs. Remote Reality
Dutch work culture relies heavily on the “Polder Model”—lots of consensus-building and informal checking-in. In a Dutch office, being “proactive” often means walking over to someone’s desk to chat.
When you are remote, you cannot do this.
You have to schedule formal calls. To a Dutch manager, this might look like you are distant or passive. They might write in your review: “Employee needs to be more visible.”
This is a cultural disconnect. They are judging you by the standards of a physical office environment, while you are working in a digital reality. If your employer fails to facilitate your remote setup but punishes you for the lack of connection, they are acting unreasonably.
Is the Performance Plan (PIP) Fair?
If you are put on a PIP, you need to prove that the goals are impossible due to your remote status. Look for these specific “blockers”:
- System Access: Does your VPN crash? Are you locked out of shared drives that HQ uses? If IT barriers stop you from working, that is not a performance failure.
- Exclusion: Are important meetings held in Dutch because “everyone in the room is Dutch,” leaving you out of the loop? This is an exclusion issue, not a skill issue.
- Time Zone Pressure: Did they set mandatory meetings at 3:00 AM your time? This is unreasonable pressure.
- Lack of Support: A valid PIP requires coaching. If your “coach” is never available for a video call, the plan is invalid.
The Hidden Agenda: Disguised Redundancy
Sadly, “performance” is often just an excuse. The company might have decided that having a remote worker is too much hassle, or they want to centralize the team back in the Netherlands to save costs.
Instead of initiating a proper redundancy procedure (which costs them money), they try to build a fake case for dysfunction to fire you cheaply. They blame you for the structural difficulties of the remote setup. This is a form of disguised dismissal that you should never accept.
Does Dutch Law Apply to Me?
This is the most common question. If you are sitting in the UK or France, does Dutch law protect you? Employers often bluff and say: “You are in the UK, so we can just fire you under local rules.”
Do not accept this immediately.
If your contract explicitly says “Dutch law applies” and you report to Amsterdam, you can often claim the strong protection of Dutch employment law. This means they must follow the strict Dutch dismissal rules, including the requirement for a fair improvement plan, regardless of your zip code.
How to Fight a Cross-Border PIP
If you receive a bad review that feels unfair, you must act. In a remote setting, silence is invisible. You need to create a paper trail.
- Write a Rebuttal: Respond formally to the evaluation. If they say you were “unreachable,” show your login logs. If they say you missed a target, explain that the server was down.
- Document Obstacles: Keep a diary of every time your remote status made your job harder (e.g., “Excluded from decision meeting on Tuesday”).
- Check Your Jurisdiction: Look at your contract’s “Choice of Law” clause. This is vital information for your lawyer.
We Represent Clients Globally
Are you a remote professional facing a negative performance review from your Dutch employer? Do you feel that your location is being used as a weapon against you?
You do not have to be in the Netherlands to get legal justice. Our team specializes in helping international employees and remote workers. We understand the specific challenges of cross-border employment and can help you prove that the standards applied to you are unfair.
We can represent you, no matter where in the world you are currently sitting.