Do you advise relocating employees to NL or hiring remotely?

That’s up to each company. Everyone is different and you should build a culture that fits your philosophy. Some thrive with remote, others with relocations, and some with hybrid. At Settly, we let our talent decide what works for them. One thing we have learned is that remote work for juniors doesn’t align with our current maturity level, so at Settly this option is only available for managers and above.

What do you look for when hiring internationally?

90% of our team is international, and we expect all our employees (including the Dutch ones) to be resilient, have a growth mindset, be culturally sensitive, and to embrace change. In our experience, these are all important characteristics for successful international hires.

How can you foster a diverse and inclusive work environment with an international team?

We’ve made it part of our vision and values that we create a place where everyone feels at home.

At Settly, we kick off each Monday morning by celebrating individuals who live our values. We also start the week with fun activities that promote cross-cultural learning. Here we embrace everyone’s differences, which helps our leadership thrive in our diverse environment.

Building a diverse and inclusive culture takes time, but once you get it right, it can become a key driver of industry-leading performance. This has proven true for us, with strong talent retention, and an E-NPS rating of 70%.

How do you ensure integration into your company culture/operations?

We spend a lot of time on culture, values, and the importance of DE&I as part of onboarding. Further, we coach our managers so they can embed this into their 1:1s and lead by example, which is linked to performance management. Culture is something we create together.

What compensation/benefits attract international talent?

40% of international hires fail due to lack of support, and this number goes up if there’s family joining, or if the are relocating to an emerging market. It’s important to offer a comprehensive relocation package that includes housing, settling-in, and schooling support (for families), in addition to the basics like immigration and the 30% ruling.

While the costs of relocation can seem significant, the benefits more than compensate, as we observe increased loyalty, retention, and engagement, especially for those moving from emerging markets.

Did hiring internationals present legal/compliance challenges?

In the Netherlands, you need to be a recognized sponsor with the IND in order to hire talent from outside the EU. This can be a very bureaucratic process that takes 6–18 months (depending on your business maturity and financials).

How to apply as a recognised sponsor: https://ind.nl/en/residence-permits/work/apply-for-recognition-as-sponsor

Once you have the IND’s seal of approval it’s pretty straight forward. Smaller startups will likely need to go through an EoR (Employer of Record) and/or a payrolling solution, like Remote — we use them for our international folks working outside of NL and they’re great.

How do you keep communication strong in remote or hybrid international teams?

Building a remote or hybrid culture takes more time and effort than when you have everyone in an office, but once you get it right, it will lead to stronger results. Creating a strong philosophy is key, as well as frequent check-ins by managers.

We use Slack for all our company communication and have many non-work-related channels, such as #dadjokes, pets, kids, and culture, to ensure everyone has a bit of fun during the day.

During our Monday morning weekly, we use Mentimeter, an interactive presentation app. We pair people from different countries and departments to pose 5 questions to the entire team. The topics can range from movies to culture to food. It’s a simple yet fun way to engage the team and learn more about each other. Casual conversation is important — asking non-work-related questions helps build and nurture relationships.

We encourage a minimum of 3 daily scrum sessions a week, with an ideal goal of 5, and organise 2 company events each year where we bring everyone together. Additionally, I conduct all my calls virtually, even when I’m in the office, to ensure everyone in my team has the same experience.

What is key to retaining international talent?

Listening, understanding their priorities, conducting frequent pulse surveys like e-NPS surveys, skip level check-ins, and making sure their voices are heard and followed up with actions.

Is there anything specific for our community you want to highlight?

From an immigration perspective, the speed in which you can get a visa approved in comparison to neighbouring countries is quite good. Additionally, student and partnership visas help simplify the process of relocating or hiring international talent. Of course, The Netherlands also has the 30% tax ruling, a huge benefit that makes moving to the Netherlands more attractive (more on that below).

From a less formal perspective, the quality of life in NL is an important factor, particularly in terms of safety, security, and access to health care and education, which attracts people from emerging markets. When developing your hiring strategy, these factors should not be overlooked, especially for specific markets.

Further, Dutch proficiency in English makes settling-in so much easier for many international hires. However, it is worth noting that the Dutch can be reserved, so providing support for your talent’s cultural integration is crucial for retention.

What hiring/retention mistakes have you made with international talent?

From the start we focused on people and culture, and DEI&B are cornerstones to our mission and DNA. So making sure our internationals felt at home was never a challenge.

However, one thing we did notice as we’ve grown from 1 nationality to 35 in just 4 years, is increased complexity in making sure everyone understands each other. This rapid growth prompted us to hold a valuable session during our recent company event, which focused on helping individuals grasp and navigate the nuances stemming from differences in culture, perceptions, backgrounds, and interpretations.

Great examples emerged with team members holding multiple nationalities and having been raised in various countries and cultures. These experiences profoundly influence their outlook on life, work, and relationships. It’s crucial to be attentive and aware of these factors when expanding an international team and shaping and evolving your company culture.

Can you recommend resources for hiring/retaining international talent?

The 2023 Dutch Employee Relocation Benchmark Report — Our Report

Deloitte Future of work — Whitepaper

Future of work trends — KornFerry

Why is the 30% ruling so important?

In the Netherlands 65% of companies struggle to find local talent. The 30% ruling allows companies to compete on a global scale, hence increasing their recruitment pool by 118x. This allows them to not only speed up their time to hire, but also attract the best possible talent to help achieve their goals. There simply is not enough local talent to fill the positions that need to be filled. At Settly we have 35 nationalities, and 80% of our team was born outside The Netherlands. Had we not had the 30% ruling as a benefit we offer, we would not have been able to achieve our growth and success so far.

Given the rapid growth of the IT sector in recent years and its projected continuous expansion, including an estimated 4% growth in 2024, the talent market is expected to remain fiercely competitive. Emerging technologies like AI are further fueling this competition for skilled professionals.

How does the 30% ruling compare with other ecosystems?

Many EU countries have favourable tax rulings. For example, Spain has a tax rate of 19% for internationals vs. a top rate of 47% for locals. Portugal has 20% for internationals vs. a top rate of 48% for locals. Belgium has looked across the border for inspiration, and now has a 30% ruling as well. Italy has experienced a brain drain of its best and brightest for years and has recently handed out a 70–90% tax break for the first 5 years. Not to mention eastern European countries, which have default competitive tax rates (Estonia 20%, Czech 22%, Hungary 15%, Slovakia 25%).

The 30% ruling, alongside our great standard of living, has been a key differentiator for companies to hire international talent in The Netherlands.

Why is it important that we keep the 30% ruling?

Without the 30% ruling, the cost of hiring talent will significantly increase, which will have a huge impact on the Dutch economy. Without it, many companies will simply not be able to afford to hire internationals, leading to missing their goals and targets. It will also increase the probability of being outperformed by other countries that have tax benefits to attract and retain international talent.

The appeal of the Netherlands as a destination is likely to decrease notably without the 30% ruling, given that our income tax rates are relatively high compared to other countries. This will substantially affect the cost of living calculation when individuals are considering job offers from various countries.

More on why it’s so important:

• Talent shortage in The Netherlands is at a all time high
• 65% of start-ups and scale-ups cant find local talent
• The Tech Talent pool in NL = 552,000 vs globally = 62,000,000 (NL vs global)
• In Q2 2023 there were 122 jobs for every 100 people
• Tech is expected to add the most jobs of any industry

That was great, thanks Marieke! Where can we learn more or get in touch?

• The 2023 Dutch Employee Relocation Benchmark Report
• Settly
• Settly Blog
• Case Studies
• Marieke on LinkedIn