"What does a new warehouse operative cost us?" sounds like a simple question. In practice, the answers people give range from a recruitment invoice to a whole year's salary, and most of them come from vendor reports that are hard to check.
This article does not give you an average cost of a frontline hire. We have not found a reliable one for the Netherlands, and we do not think one would help you much anyway. Instead, it gives you a model you can fill in with your own figures, built on official Dutch statistics where they exist.
Short answer: There is no reliable national average for the cost of a frontline hire in the Netherlands. You can build your own figure in three parts: the labour cost of the seat (your hourly labour cost times hours actually worked), the cost of filling it (advertising, agency fees, recruiter time, checks) and the cost of getting a new person productive (onboarding, equipment, supervision). Official CBS data shows that one hour worked in Dutch transport and storage cost employers €44.40 in 2025, which you can use as a reference point until you replace it with your own payroll figure.
Key takeaways
- No reliable national average exists for the cost of a frontline hire. Be wary of any single number.
- CBS labour cost per hour worked is a solid starting point: €44.40 in transport and storage in 2025, against about €48 across all sectors.
- The labour cost of a seat is the biggest line, but the costs of filling the seat and onboarding are real too, and they are yours to estimate.
- The cost of an early exit is usually more useful for decisions than the cost of a hire.
- Every assumption in this model is meant to be replaced with your own figure.
On this page: Why there is no single number · What the official data says · The model: one seat · Worked illustration · Why the white paper uses €65,000 · Seats filled through a staffing agency · The cost of an early exit · A break even check · What this model does not tell you · FAQ
Why there is no single number
Published "cost per hire" figures usually come from vendors or surveys, and the methods behind them are rarely clear. They mix very different roles, contracts and definitions. Some count only recruitment spend. Others add a year of salary. A figure that mixes a reach truck driver in Venlo with a software developer in Amsterdam tells you very little about either.
INTERPRETATION. For a frontline employer, a better question than "what does a hire cost?" is "what does this seat commit us to, and what does it cost us when a hire does not work out?" Both can be built from data you already have.
What the official data says
FACT. CBS, the Dutch national statistics office, publishes labour cost per hour worked. This is the total cost of an employee to the employer, divided by the hours the employee actually worked. It includes gross wages, holiday allowance, employer social contributions, bonuses and other benefits. For 2025 (CBS, 2026, table 5.8):
| Sector | Wages per hour worked | Employer social contributions and related items per hour worked | Labour cost per hour worked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transport and storage | €33.50 | €10.90 | €44.40 |
| All sectors | €36.80 | €10.80 | about €48 (CBS rounded figure) |
| Temporary employment agencies | €24.90 | €7.00 | €31.90 |
Source: CBS, De arbeidsmarkt in cijfers 2025, table 5.8. CBS notes that some 2025 figures are provisional.
A few other official figures help put entry level frontline work in context:
- Wages vary widely within the sector. CBS reports a median gross hourly wage of €11.20 in 2024 for loaders, unloaders and shelf stackers, against €25.30 for all employees (CBS, 2026, table 5.21). That wage series is built differently from the labour cost series, so the two cannot be combined. Youth minimum wages, which are lower than the adult rate, help explain a median that low.
- The adult statutory minimum wage was €14.40 per hour in the second half of 2025. In transport and storage, 7.4 percent of employee jobs were paid at or near it, against 6.7 percent across all sectors (CBS, 2026, table 5.22).
- Recruitment is a real cost at national level. CBS groups recruitment and selection with training and canteen costs in the labour costs that cannot be assigned to individual employees. Together they make up 3 percent of total labour costs. That confirms the cost exists, but gives no figure per hire.
INTERPRETATION. The sector average is a reference point, not a figure for your job. Transport and storage includes rail, aviation, shipping, post and courier services as well as warehousing. An entry level warehouse seat may cost much less per hour. A qualified reach truck or HGV driver may cost more. Your own payroll is the only reliable input.
The model: one seat
Here is the model. Each line is marked as a figure you take from data, an assumption, or a calculation.
| Line | What to use | Type |
|---|---|---|
| A. Labour cost per hour worked | Your own payroll figure. Until you have it, the CBS sector figure. | Your figure (or official statistic) |
| B. Hours actually worked per year | Contract hours minus holidays, public holidays and expected sickness | Assumption: replace with your own |
| C. Annual labour cost of the seat | A × B | Calculation |
| D. Cost of filling the seat | Advertising, agency fee or recruiter hours, screening time, checks | Assumption: replace with your own |
| E. Onboarding, equipment, supervision and time to full productivity | Your own estimate | Assumption: replace with your own |
| F. First year cost of the seat | C + D + E | Calculation |
Worked illustration: one full time seat at the sector average
This is an illustration from "A New Standard for Frontline Hiring". Every input except the CBS hourly figure is an assumption. It is not a benchmark, a market average or the cost of a bad hire.
- A. Labour cost per hour worked: €44.40 (CBS, 2025, transport and storage).
- B. Hours actually worked: 1,700. A 40 hour contract gives 2,080 contract hours. Remove about 32 days of holiday and public holidays (256 hours), then allow for sickness.
- C. Annual labour cost: €44.40 × 1,700 = €75,480.
- D. Cost of filling the seat: €4,000 to €8,000 (assumption).
- E. Onboarding and time to productivity: €3,000 to €6,000 (assumption).
- F. First year cost of the seat: €82,480 to €89,480.
Why the white paper uses €65,000
"A New Standard for Frontline Hiring" uses €65,000 as a round order of magnitude for what one frontline seat commits an employer to. It is deliberately set below the sector illustration above, because entry level seats often cost less.
It is not a calculated point estimate, not a market average, not a benchmark and not the cost of a bad hire. It is there to make one point: a frontline hire is a large decision, even when it is made quickly. Replace it with your own figure as soon as you have one.
Seats filled through a staffing agency
For a seat filled through a staffing agency, the relevant cost to the hiring company is the invoiced hourly rate times the hours worked. That rate includes the agency's own labour costs, its overheads and its margin.
FACT. CBS publishes labour cost per hour worked for temporary employment agencies (€31.90 in 2025). That figure measures what agencies pay to employ their own staff, across all the sectors they supply. It is not what a client pays.
We found no credible national figure for agency invoiced rates. They are not published at national level, and they vary by sector, role, region, contract and volume. Use your own invoices.
For an agency, the same model applies from the other side. The cost of a poor match shows up as lost margin, recruiter time spent refilling the order, and client trust.
The cost of an early exit
For most hiring decisions, the more useful question is not "what does a hire cost?" but "what does it cost when a hire does not work out?"
RECOMMENDATION. Estimate the cost of one early exit as:
Refill cost + onboarding cost + lost output and overtime while the seat is empty or covered
Illustration: using the ranges above, refill cost of €4,000 to €8,000 plus onboarding of €3,000 to €6,000 gives €7,000 to €14,000 per early exit, before lost output and overtime. Every input is an assumption.
Lost output and overtime are often the largest part, and the hardest to estimate. Ask the site: when a seat is empty for two weeks, what happens to overtime, temporary cover and missed volumes?
A break even check for process changes
The cost of an early exit lets you test whether a change to your hiring process is worth it. "A New Standard for Frontline Hiring" uses a simple model (Table 5.2):
- Cost of the change per year: extra staff hours × hourly labour cost + tool cost + setup cost.
- Break even point: cost of the change ÷ cost of one early exit = the number of early exits you must avoid each year to cover the cost.
Illustration: suppose a structured interview process adds 20 hours of recruiter time a week, or 0.5 full time equivalent. At the all sector labour cost of €48 per hour worked and 1,700 hours a year, that is €40,800 a year. Divided by €7,000 to €14,000 per early exit, the break even point is about 2.9 to 5.8 avoided early exits a year, before counting lost output or any tool cost. Every input is an assumption or an average. Replace all of them.
Two things move this result. The break even point falls if part of the new process replaces work you already do, such as repeated screening calls. It rises if a tool or extra supervision is added. The white paper does not estimate either effect.
What this model does not tell you
This model tells you what a seat commits you to and what an early exit might cost you. It does not tell you whether any particular hiring method will reduce early exits. No study verified for "A New Standard for Frontline Hiring" measures that return for Dutch frontline hiring. To answer that, you need your own outcome data How to Measure Quality of Hire in Frontline Recruitment: 10 Measures Across Outcomes, Process and Fairness.
FAQ
What does a new employee cost in the Netherlands?
There is no reliable single figure. Build it from your own labour cost per hour worked, the hours actually worked, and your own costs of filling and onboarding the seat. CBS reports €44.40 per hour worked in transport and storage in 2025 as a reference point.
What is the labour cost per hour in Dutch transport and storage?
€44.40 in 2025: €33.50 in wages plus €10.90 in employer social contributions and related items (CBS, 2026, table 5.8).
Is €65,000 the cost of a bad hire?
No. It is the white paper's round order of magnitude for what one frontline seat commits an employer to in a year. The cost of a poor hiring decision depends on when the mismatch shows, what refilling costs, and what happens to output in between.
How do I calculate the cost of an early leaver?
Add the cost of refilling the seat, the cost of onboarding a replacement, and the lost output and overtime while the seat is empty or covered. Use your own figures.
Can I use CBS agency labour cost to estimate what an agency worker costs me?
No. That figure is what agencies pay to employ their own staff. What you pay is the invoiced rate, which includes the agency's costs and margin.
Sources
- CBS (2026). De arbeidsmarkt in cijfers 2025, chapter 5, Lonen en loonkosten: tables 5.8, 5.21 and 5.22, and the section on the composition of labour costs. CBS labour cost chapter
- Radius Hire (2026). A New Standard for Frontline Hiring. Sections 1.1 and 5.2, and Appendix B.