Your outplacement budget: what to ask for in a VSO

Outplacement is support in finding your next role, paid for by your employer as part of your departure. In practice it covers career direction, your CV and LinkedIn for the Dutch market, interview preparation, and often recovery from the stress that led up to all this.

It is separate from your transitievergoeding (transition payment). It comes out of a different pot, so asking for it does not usually mean giving up severance.

This is the question nobody answers, so here is what I see in practice.

In the settlement agreements my clients bring me, outplacement budgets usually fall between €2,500 and €7,500. Where you land within that depends on how long the support runs and how much is involved. A focused trajectory of a few months sits at the lower end. Support that also covers recovery from burnout, a change of direction, or a longer search sits higher.

Two things are worth knowing when you use those figures.

Published rates from outplacement agencies are sometimes lower, because a standard agency programme is exactly that: a fixed number of sessions, delivered at volume. Individual coaching is more focused, so the same budget buys more of what you actually need. Compare what you get, not only the amount.

And there is no legal entitlement to a specific sum. It is negotiated case by case, which is precisely why it helps to walk in with a figure in mind rather than waiting to hear one.

Ask for this in writing, because it decides whether the budget is worth anything to you.

Most budgets come with a period attached, often six or twelve months from your end date, and they are usually paid against invoices from the provider you choose. If the window closes before you have used it, the money simply stays with your employer. Nothing is transferred to you.

That matters most for the people who need the support most. If you are leaving after a period of overload or burnout, you may not be in a state to start job hunting in week two, and a short window quietly turns the budget into something you were offered but could never use. It is much easier to agree a realistic period while the agreement is still being drafted than to ask for an extension afterwards.

If your agreement offers to pay an unused balance to you instead, ask your lawyer what that means for you, because a payment in cash is treated differently from coaching paid for by your employer.

Whether you qualify for WW (unemployment benefit) depends partly on how the agreement is worded. Dutch employment lawyers handle this routinely, and it is one of the main reasons to have a VSO checked before you sign.

There is a second point that surprises almost everyone with the 30% ruling.

WW is calculated on your taxable wage, and the 30% ruling is precisely what lowers your taxable wage. So two colleagues on the same gross salary can end up with noticeably different benefits, and the one who had the ruling receives less. The advantage that made your net salary higher while you were working reduces what you receive once you are not.

This is worth knowing before you plan around an expected income, and worth confirming for your own situation with UWV or your lawyer.

Coaching can also be funded from a personal development budget while you are still employed, and some collective agreements include an entitlement to career advice. If neither applies, ask anyway. A short proposal explaining what the coaching is for is often enough for HR to approve it.