Labour Authority to visit TU Delft only after new board takes office

The Netherlands Labour Authority will commence its follow-up investigation at the end of February 2026. First, there will be a meeting with the Executive Board, followed by visits to two faculties and one or two departments. This was announced by Human Resources Director Annemieke Zonneveld on Monday during a meeting with the trade unions.

In a letter to the Executive Board, which the Labour Authority shared with Delta, the inspectorate describes the objectives of its visits:

1. Assess the extent to which the Executive Board has implemented improvements in the policy on psychosocial workload (PSA).
2. Involve the Executive Board in the inspection process and the improvement process.
3. Gain insight into how the working climate within the TU promotes or hinders work stress.

TU Delft is not the only Dutch university to receive another visit from the Labour Authority. All fourteen universities will be visited after they all were rated inadequate in 2024 for their policies to tackle work-related stress and undesirable behaviour. In fact, the Authority found that universities had done very little in this area since 2020, even though staff were found to be suffering from it on a massive scale.

Policy focused on individuals

A sub-report on TU Delft stated that it was not complying with the Working Conditions Act. Policies designed to combat high work pressure and social insecurity often focused on individuals rather than underlying problems. Policies were often not based on problem analyses and were not known to employees. Moreover, the effectiveness of the policies was hardly monitored.

Despite the fact that universities had shown no improvement in previous years, the Authority gave them another chance to get their act together in 2024. The question now is whether they have done so. If not, the Authority is threatening enforcement and even fines.

Several universities are due for a follow-up inspection this calendar year. TU Delft will follow a little later. By that time, there will be a new Executive Board. In January, the new Rector Magnificus, Hester Bijl, will take office. The new, as yet unknown, Chair of the Executive Board is also due to start then. The third member of the Executive Board will still be the temporary Nick Bos. His successor is due to take office in the summer of 2026.

Over the past year and a half, TU Delft has taken all kinds of measures to combat undesirable behaviour, which have been brought together in the Plan for Change. This stems from the damning report by the Education Inspectorate that was published in March 2024. It stated that there was mismanagement at TU Delft because the care for employees was not up to standard.

Measures taken by TU Delft

One of the most visible measures taken since then is the opening of the integrity and social safety reporting point six months ago. TU Delft is also working on a new code of conduct, providing training for managers and has launched a website to offer guidance on preventing, combating and tackling social unsafety.
To make all this possible, a special budget has been allocated and the Integrity Office has been strengthened and expanded.

For specifically tackling work-related stress, there is no such large-scale project. Proposed overarching measures against work-related stress are outlined in the Central Action Plan for the Employee Monitor (PvA) . These are:

• Investing in occupational and organisational expertise among the so-called Health Safety and Environment (HSE) advisors.
• Making work pressure policy available in a central location on the intranet.
• Making dealing with work pressure part of the job description and assessment of managers.
• Making realistic workloads a topic of discussion in the R&D interviews with academic staff.
• Masterclass on work pressure for HR advisers.
• Training on work pressure for managers.
• Providing information about work pressure to employees.

In September 2025, the Works Council (OR) approved the Employee Monitor Action Plan. This did not happen overnight. The plan was ready for approval in February, but the OR felt that it did not contain enough details about the root causes of the problems identified.

The Works Council now says that the plan contains “relevant actions”. However, concerns remain, the council writes on the intranet. For example, the Health, Safety and Environment department should be staffed on a permanent basis, rather than through temporary hires. This would increase its effectiveness. HR advisers should also be trained not only in advising managers on work pressure, but also in advising employees.