The Dutch 80-90-100 arrangement lets you work 80% of your hours for 90% of your salary while your pension keeps building as if you worked full-time (100%). On a €50,000 salary you give up €5,000 a year for 46 free days, or about €109 per free day against a daily rate of €217.
The arrangement, often called a generation pact (generatiepact), is not a legal right but part of your collective labour agreement (cao), and the terms differ by sector. This article works through what a free day costs you and which sectors offer it in 2025 and 2026. It also covers the tax rules that make full pension accrual possible, and the drawbacks that are easy to overlook when you sign.
How the 80-90-100 arrangement works
According to the Stichting van de Arbeid, the joint body of Dutch employers and unions, a generation pact means working 80% of your hours at 90% pay with full pension accrual. The same guidance adds that hours can be reduced by at most 50%, because a larger cut is treated for tax purposes as an early-exit scheme (RVU).
Because you give up proportionally less salary than time, your pay per hour actually rises, which the table below shows for a salary of €50,000 and 1,800 working hours a year.
| Full-time | 80-90-100 | |
|---|---|---|
| Hours worked | 1,800 | 1,440 |
| Gross salary | €50,000 | €45,000 |
| Pension accrual | 100% | 100% |
| Gross pay per hour | €27.78 | €31.25 |
Your effective hourly rate goes up by 12.5%, because you keep more pay than you give up in time.
What a free day costs you
The price of a free day depends on the middle number, and that is where the variants differ. At €50,000 a year and 230 working days, a full day is worth about €217, while the 46 extra free days under 80-90-100 cost you €5,000 in total.
| Variant | Gross salary | Free days per year | Cost per free day | Pension accrual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80-90-100 | €45,000 | 46 | €109 | 100% |
| 80-95-100 | €47,500 | 46 | €54 | 100% |
| 80-85-100 | €42,500 | 46 | €163 | 100% |
| 80-90-90 | €45,000 | 46 | €109 | 90% |
The last row is the one to watch, because an arrangement without full pension accrual loses the part that makes it attractive in the first place. Spread over seven years, from 60 to state pension age, 80-90-100 costs €35,000 gross in salary for 322 free days, or about 1.4 working years of free time.
Which sectors offer it in 2025 and 2026
Generation pacts are found mainly in sectors with an older workforce, and several were updated in 2025. In mental healthcare, the cao ggz 2025–2026 gives employees up to pay scale FWG 55 the right to join the 80-90-100 arrangement from five years before their state pension age, as of 1 September 2025. It also adds an 80-95-100 variant for the lowest pay scales and lowers the minimum remaining contract from 24 to 18 hours a week.
Hospitals follow a similar line, since the cao ziekenhuizen 2025–2027 turns the arrangement into 80-95-100 for incomes up to FWG 30. The security sector offers it from five years before state pension age, and some municipalities have their own schemes. Employers are not unanimous about it, and the employers' association AWVN has reservations about generation pacts and calls them a form of age discrimination. An arrangement that exists today can therefore change at the next cao.
The tax rules behind full pension accrual
Full pension accrual on a part-time salary is allowed by Dutch payroll tax rules, but only within a time window. Under article 10a of the Uitvoeringsbesluit loonbelasting 1965, the reduction for part-time work may be left out if you take the part-time job within the ten years before the pension start date in your scheme. You must also still work at least half your former hours. That start date is set by your pension scheme, which is not always the same as your state pension age.
Often the pension premium is then calculated on your full salary and split in the usual way between you and your employer. A municipal scheme under the ABP fund (Zundert, 2019–2020), for example, stated that the premium was paid 70% by the employer and 30% by the employee. Your own share is therefore based on €50,000 while your pay is €45,000, and that premium comes out of the lower salary.
The drawbacks of the 80-90-100 arrangement
The arrangement is favourable if you want to work less anyway, but it has costs that do not show in the three numbers.
Less income means less saving
A lower salary usually means a lower amount put aside each month. If you save €8,000 a year for seven years at a return of 4%, you end up with €63,186, whereas €5,000 a year gives €39,491. That gap of €23,695 matters if you plan to stop before state pension age, as described in our article on retiring early in the Netherlands.
Benefits are based on what you actually earn
Unemployment, sickness and disability benefits are calculated from your actual wage, because UWV bases the daily wage on the social security wage of the previous year. If you lose your job or fall ill while in the arrangement, your benefit is therefore largely based on your lower wage rather than your full salary. Your state pension (AOW) is not affected, since it builds up through the years you live in the Netherlands and not through your wage, according to Rijksoverheid.
Going back is often impossible
Many schemes do not let you return to full-time work once you have joined. The municipal scheme cited above stated that participants cannot end their participation on their own request, and pensioen.nl notes that switching to a different ratio is usually not possible either.
The work does not always shrink with you
Being paid for four days while still doing five days' work is a real risk if nothing changes in how tasks are divided. It helps to agree what comes off your plate before you start, and not only which day you take off.
80-90-100 or the early-exit scheme (RVU)
The two arrangements often sit in the same cao but do different things. With the early-exit scheme you stop working entirely for at most three years before state pension age, and in 2026 the employer can pay up to €2,357 gross a monthwithout the extra RVU levy. The generation pact keeps you employed at fewer hours and can usually start earlier.
Whether you can combine them, for example by working part-time first and switching to the early-exit scheme for the last years, depends on your cao. Our article on the early-exit scheme in 2026 goes into the amounts and conditions. For anyone working towards financial independence, the generation pact is in effect a negotiated version of Barista FIRE. It is also a cheaper one, because working fewer hours on your own would cost 20% of both your salary and your pension accrual.
How Gylder fits in
Gylder (gylder.nl) is a net worth tracker, not a budgeting app. It helps with the question this arrangement raises for your own plan, which is what a lower contribution does to your wealth over the years until you stop. Because Gylder records your bank accounts, investments and home with its mortgage in one overview every day, you can see how your growth changes after you join, instead of estimating it.
What this doesn't tell you
The figures assume a salary of €50,000, 1,800 hours and a return of 4%, so every amount shifts with a different salary, contract or return. Your cao decides which variant applies, from which age and whether you can reverse it, and your pension fund decides how the premium is split. This article is general information, not financial advice, so have your own situation calculated by your employer and pension fund before you sign.
Frequently asked questions
What is the 80-90-100 arrangement? You work 80% of your hours, receive 90% of your salary and keep building 100% of your pension. It is a cao arrangement, also called a generation pact.
What are the drawbacks of the 80-90-100 arrangement? Your income and usually your savings go down, benefits such as unemployment benefit are based on your lower wage, you pay pension premium on your full salary, and in many schemes you cannot go back to full-time work.
From what age can I join a generation pact? That depends on your cao. In mental healthcare and the security sector you can join from five years before state pension age, and tax rules allow full pension accrual for at most ten years before the pension start date.
Does the 80-90-100 arrangement affect my state pension (AOW)? No. Your AOW builds up through the years you live in the Netherlands, not through your wage.
Can I combine the 80-90-100 arrangement with the RVU? Sometimes. Some collective agreements let you work part-time first and switch to the early-exit scheme for the final three years, so check your own agreement.