Renate Vink-Dijkstra

Renate Vink-Dijkstra

Partner & Attorney at law

Employment & Employee Participation

Renate Vink-Dijkstra is a highly motivated and enthusiastic attorney with a great deal of interest in employment and employment participation. She considers it a privilege to work with directors, legal counsels, HR, works councils and other employment participation bodies, and to be able to contribute to effective employment participation within corporations, the government, healthcare and education.

‘Employment participation is about employees having a say and exercising influence, and about working together to achieve a result that is good for both the company and the employees. I examine issues from a legal, strategic and practical point of view so that the best possible solutions can be found. And if necessary, I have the legal expertise to help matters along.’

Education

Renate completed her law studies at Leiden University and graduated with a Master’s degree in Private Law in 2008. Since then, Renate has gone on to specialise in employment law, specifically in employment participation, and successfully completed the specialist course in Employment, Enterprise and Employment Participation at the University of Amsterdam in 2015.

Career

Renate has practised as an attorney in employment law and employment participation since 2009. She started her career at our firm and, after an interlude at a large international firm, returned to become one of the firm’s partners in 2022. Renate is also currently an external PhD student at Leiden University, where she is researching what could be the potential ‘next level’ of employment participation in the Netherlands, taking into account current developments within companies and on the labour market.

Renate’s daily practice

Renate’s enthusiasm for employment and employment participation is reflected in her daily practice, in which she assists her clients in the areas of collective employment law and employment participation. Her work ranges from negotiations on collective and individual terms and conditions of employment, application of collective labour agreements and guidance in reorganisations, restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, to the design of an appropriate employment participation structure, guidance in consultation and consent processes and litigation. Renate also enjoys sharing her knowledge through publications and giving training courses or workshops. She is regularly invited to speak at conferences.

Selected cases

Guidance for a demerger in the healthcare sector

We assisted a works council that was engaged in a complex advisory process for a demerger, and the integration and evaluation of this.

Advising on a large-scale reorganisation within the government

Undertaking an advisory process with the works council on a major organisation-wide reorganisation, including the implementation.

Establishing the employment participation structure for an IT group

Together with the management and employment participation bodies, we advised on a new employment participation structure that would align with the restructured group.

Establishing collective terms and conditions of employment

At the request of the works council, we negotiated with the board on collective terms and conditions of employment throughout the whole group.

Litigating on the trade union position with respect to terms and conditions of employment

The entrepreneur asked us to litigate on their behalf on maintaining their own terms and conditions of employment, without mandatory consultation with the unions.

Stay up to date

The latest developments

Employment, Employee Participation & Mediation

HR in Healthcare – 1. Recruitment Process and the Duty of Due Diligence

10 September 2025

In the Netherlands, nearly 1.7 million people work in healthcare. And yet, there is still a significant staff shortage. These shortages present new challenges for executives and HR professionals. In practice, we see this sometimes leading to the recruitment of healthcare employees who ultimately turn out not to be well-suited for the sector. In this blog series, we will address a variety of employment law issues that may arise, from recruitment through to the termination of employment.

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Employment, Employee Participation & Mediation

Accrual of Vacation During Long-Term Illness: What Employers Need to Know

9 September 2025

Does an employee continue to accrue vacation even after two years of illness? The answer is yes, and this has important implications for employers.

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Employment, Employee Participation & Mediation

Employee Participation in Healthcare – From Formal Obligation to Effective Dialogue!

4 September 2025

Recently, the Innovation and Advisory Committee (IAC) of the Governance Committee for Healthcare published the report “Participation and Co-Determination in Healthcare: Towards Innovative Forms of (Co-)Decision-Making?''  The report makes clear that within the healthcare sector there is a need for more flexible, tailor-made, and integrated approaches to organizing participation and co-determination. Based on this report, Renate Vink-Dijkstra, together with Mirella Minkman, Michiel van Berckel Smit, and Daniel Waarsenburg, authored an article for the journal Goed Bestuur en Toezicht (Good Governance and Supervision). The central question addressed is how to ensure that participation is not merely a statutory obligation, but also a source of improved decision-making and genuine engagement.

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