One rainy Thursday in Amersfoort, I walked into a café run by a brilliant Ethiopian woman named Hana. Her espresso was perfect. Her books, chaotic.

When I asked how she handled staff absences, she said:

“We talk. We trust each other. That’s how we do it.”

Three weeks later, her main barista quit after a misunderstanding about shifts.

Her espresso is still perfect. Her trust? Not so much.

THE WHY

In the Netherlands, we pride ourselves on informality. A handshake, a nod, a chat, this is how many micro and small businesses run. Until something breaks.

Policies are not punishment. They are structures that protect relationships. They are the bones of trust, not its replacement.

If you're running a 3–20 person company without written internal policies, for absence, remote work, client conflict, invoice validation, or even birthdays, you're not being “flexible.” You’re betting on silence and goodwill.

That’s not leadership. That’s luck.

THE NUMBERS

• €7,500: The average annual cost of unplanned staff absence per employee in the Netherlands (source: CBS).
• €1,000+: Potential fines per missing policy under Dutch labour and privacy regulations (e.g., sick leave, WKR, GDPR).
• 32% of small business tax fines in 2024 were due to poor documentation and internal control failure (source: Belastingdienst).
• 3 hours/week: Time lost per team member due to unclear procedures (that’s over 150 hours/year per person).

And yet, most entrepreneurs still avoid writing them. Why?

WHAT NO ONE TELLS YOU

The Dutch business culture, especially in small teams, has a deep allergy to the word beleid (policy). It feels corporate. Cold. Like you're admitting you don’t trust your people.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: lack of policy is not a sign of trust. It’s a sign of unspoken power.

When everything is “just understood,” you create a system where only the founder knows the rules. That’s not culture. That’s feudalism.

If your team needs to ask you every time they want to work from home, take a client out, or log a cost, you are the policy.

And one day, that will burn you out.

DECISION COMPASS

Ask yourself, brutally and without excuses:

1. What three recurring issues in my team would vanish if we had a simple written policy?
2. Who currently holds invisible knowledge that, if they left tomorrow, would cause panic?
3. What actions in my business are still dependent on me “approving” them informally?
4. When was the last time I reviewed what policies I must have under Dutch law?
5. Do my current documents reflect my values—or just avoid conflict?

FINAL REFLECTION

Policies are not about control. They are about care.

You write them not because you expect failure, but because you value the people who help you prevent it.

In small businesses, structure is love in its most practical form.

If your espresso is perfect, don’t let your culture curdle. Put it in writing.