The Dutch government is stepping in to save the economy, while the top of the business world does not have to give in. According to the directors, now is not yet the time. This while in the United States and the United Kingdom the top of the business community has to make considerable sacrifices already.
According to Robert Dur, Professor of Economics of Incentives and Performance at Erasmus School of Economics, the American top is preparing their employees for the far-reaching measures that still have to come. The message: we do this together. A similar economic decline is expected in the Netherlands, but we also expect a rapid recovery, says Dur. As a result the redundancies will be less than anticipated.
Government support
In the Netherlands the biggest shocks are handled by the government. As a result, employees and managers don’t feel the crisis in their own pockets yet. This economic support cannot be given in America and the United Kingdom, says Dur. In the US 10 million employees already applied for unemployment compensation.
Bonuses
The Dutch Association of Stockholders asked listed companies not to pay out bonuses to their directors. According to them, everyone is insecure about their job and as a company you have to respond to that. Show the American message that we are in this together. Dur understands the call and adds that most companies will not meet their targets due to the crisis. As a result, the bonuses will be zero or just above that anyway, he says.
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The entire article from NRC can be downloaded above, 4 April 2020 (in Dutch).