Working 40% of the week in the office is perfectly normal, says the Amsterdam judge handling Booking.com’s row with its works council.
That’s quite a leap from where things stand now. The company’s offices are currently 27% occupied, and Booking.com is doing very well without forcing anyone in, the works council told the court, RTL Nieuws reports.
The judge hasn’t ruled yet and has asked both sides to give it one more go. If they can’t agree, a decision is expected at the end of October.
Both sides say they’re protecting employee wellbeing
The works council argues that compulsory office days would affect commuting time, travel costs, working hours and the balance between work and home life. In its view, office days don’t automatically lead to better work, and they could even harm employees’ mental wellbeing.
Booking.com sees it the other way round. The company argues that time in the office helps colleagues work together and helps staff learn and grow in their roles, and that coming in is better for their mental health.
The judge seems to lean towards the company here. According to de Volkskrant, she framed it as a wellbeing issue too: “This is actually in the interest of employee wellbeing.”
What Booking.com actually wants
The company wants the roughly 7,000 people at its Amsterdam headquarters to come in at least two days a week, HR Praktijk reports. Teams would agree on one of those days together, and everyone would choose the other day for themselves.
Booking.com says that isn’t a big change. Two office days have been the company’s official advice since 2022, but as nobody is obliged to follow it, not everyone does.
Why a works council can say no
Every Dutch company with 50 or more employees needs an ondernemingsraad (works council), an elected group of employees who represent staff in talks with management, according to the Dutch government.
Recent court rulings have treated home working rules as working conditions under the Works Councils Act (Wet op de ondernemingsraden), HR Praktijk explains. Changing them needs the council’s approval, and when it says no, the employer can ask a judge to approve the change instead.
That route doesn’t always work. In 2025, the same Amsterdam court turned down a request from computer company ASUS, which wanted to raise its minimum from two to three office days. Employers’ association AWVN argues that ruling doesn’t mean every change needs the council’s approval.
On your own, you have even less leverage. There’s no legal right to work from home in the Netherlands.
Under the Flexible Working Act (Wet flexibel werken), your employer has to consider a request to work from home but can still refuse, law firm Loyens & Loeff explains. A bill that would have made those refusals harder fell in the Senate by one vote in 2023.
What the judge told the court
The kantonrechter (subdistrict court judge, who deals with employment disputes) did show some sympathy for staff. “It’s not nice to spend ages on the train, only to end up on a call with Mumbai once you get to the office,” she said, as quoted by FD.
Her next line was less comforting: “Still, two days a week really is very little, so I’m managing expectations already.”
She also had a message for anyone baffled by that view. “You may think Dutch judges are mad, but we see 40% of the time in the office as perfectly normal,” she said, according to FD.
That one more go now comes with a deadline. Booking.com and the works council have a week to find common ground, Recht.nl reports, before the judge takes it from there.
Be honest: how many days a week do you actually make it into the office? Tell us in the comments!
