The CAO voor Uitzendkrachten is the national collective labour agreement that governs the employment relationship between staffing agencies and the workers they supply to hirers. It regulates pay, the phase system for contract continuity, pension accrual through StiPP, reservations for holiday and sickness, and notice periods.
Since 2023 the agreement has been harmonised between ABU and NBBU member agencies, so a single set of rules applies across the sector. The CAO implements the inlenersbeloning principle, requiring that agency workers are paid in line with the hirer's own scale for equivalent work.
The CAO is declared algemeen verbindend (AVV) for parts of its term, which extends its provisions to non-member agencies. For hirers, understanding the phase system and inlenersbeloning is essential when budgeting flexible labour and assessing supplier compliance.