Why Avoiding Freelancers is Costing Retailers More Than They Think

Series: Rethinking Retail Staffing Part 1

Retailers today face a chronic labor shortage. According to Eurostat data, the Netherlands had the highest job vacancy rate in the EU at about 4.1% in Q3 2025, compared with around 2% across the EU overall, indicating a tight market where many roles are unfilled.

This vacancy rate covers all sectors, not just retail. However, a report by SEO Economic Research shows that 84% of Dutch retailers have experienced staff shortages in recent years, showing just how acute labor constraints are in the industry. Larger stores are especially affected.

There’s a potential solution to bridge the workforce gap: hiring freelancers. Unfortunately, this solution is underused. Among other concerns, the DBA Act (Wet Deregulering Beoordeling Arbeidsrelaties) has caused a lot of confusion around self-employment and has deterred organizations from on-demand staffing.

We believe it’s time to challenge the assumptions holding retailers back and demystify the DBA Act. That way, organizations can operate with more resilience all year round. So, join us in this three-part series Rethinking Retail Staffing where we explore the topic.

Why Retailers Avoid Hiring Freelancers

There are few self-employed individuals working in the Dutch retail sector, according to the report mentioned above. Categories with the lowest numbers of freelancers include supermarkets, department stores, drugstores, and stores selling household and recreational items.

Despite their staffing challenges, many retailers avoid hiring freelance workers due to compliance concerns and outdated assumptions.

The DBA Act 2016

The DBA Act now regulates independent contractors to prevent “false self‑employment.” False self-employment means that someone is labeled as self-employed but, in reality, works like a regular employee.

The Act created confusion, put many employers on edge, and many freelancers have been driven out of the market.

While the Act was introduced in 2016, more recent changes have raised concerns. Shortly after the Act came into effect, an enforcement moratorium was implemented. This meant that the Dutch Tax Authority wouldn’t actively monitor companies unless there were signs of deliberate non-compliance, which gave businesses more time to ensure their arrangements were compliant.

In 2025 the enforcement moratorium was lifted. With the prospect of potential fines in the back of employers’ minds, some started to avoid hiring freelancers.

However, the DBA Act was designed to bring clarity, not shut down freelance work completely. It also protects genuinely “false” self-employed workers from missing out on the benefits they should have when they’re working as employees

It’s absolutely possible to supplement your workforce with self-employed workers without the risk, and we’ll look at that in more depth in the following articles in this series. The key is to separate real risks from myths and to build the right structures that make hiring freelancers as lawful as hiring permanent staff

Lack of Trust in the Professionalism of Freelance Workers

Another concern is that freelancers may not be as professional as contracted employees. What if they don’t show up for a shift? What if they’re not competent?

Considering the stress that managers would be under if these fears played out, it’s understandable that they would prefer not to take the perceived risk.

However, there are platforms for hiring vetted, high-quality, experienced freelancers that can be trusted to turn up and do the job as well as (or perhaps better than) any permanent member of staff. Our integration partner, Temper, is one example.

Other Concerns

Retailers may lack the internal processes or technology to manage an on-demand workforce. They may be concerned about scheduling, training, and quality control for short-term hires. Some believe freelance workers won’t fully align with the brand or customer experience.

All of these points are addressable with the right workforce management software and onboardingprocess.

 

The Hidden Costs of a Rigid Workforce

Sticking to only permanent or agency hires can backfire in several ways.

Lost Sales and Poor Service

Understaffed stores lose money. If checkout lines lengthen or shelves aren’t replenished fast enough, customers may abandon their purchases or turn to competitors. Each missed sale and disappointed shopper erodes profits.

High Labor Costs

Relying on overtime gets expensive. Every extra hour paid at a premium rate directly erodes already-thin margins, especially during peak periods when those hours accumulate quickly. Agency workers are another option and, while agencies offer speed and convenience, they charge their own fees which again, accumulate during demand peaks.

Freelance models offer a different cost structure. Temporary workers engaged through dedicated platforms are paid only for the hours they work, without the long-term financial commitments attached to permanent employment. They don’t receive the benefits that permanent staff do, and ending an assignment doesn’t involve the legal or administrative costs associated with terminating an employee’s contract.

Burnout and Turnover

Pushing the core team can lead to exhaustion. Retail already sees very high turnover, which brings the added expense of recruiting and training new staff.

Lower Efficiency

Rigidity leads to efficiency losses. If a retailer avoids freelancers, it must either over-hire full-time staff to meet peak demand (paying for their salaries in slow seasons) or turn away growth opportunities. Both choices have costs and, ultimately, the opportunity cost of not hiring freelancers can outweigh the perceived risks

Why Freelancers Are a Strategic Asset

Integrating freelancers can be a powerful way to control costs and support healthy sales volumes. Here are some of the benefits.

Scalability

Freelancers allow you to respond to demand instantly. During a peak season or product launch, a retailer can quickly augment their team with trained seasonal staff; when the peak passes, those hours simply go away. This avoids the expense of permanent hires and keeps labor matched to actual traffic.

Easy Access to Specialized Skills

Freelance platforms can match retailers with specialists when needed. If you need a visual merchandiser to create a seasonal display or extra logistics support, freelancers can offer niche skills that permanent staff may not have.
Flexible staffing models make it easy to bring that talent in for short periods. This leads to higher quality work without additional training costs.

Bescherming van je vaste team

Hiring freelancers protects your permanent team from burnout. Happier, well-rested employees are more productive, provide better service, and stay longer.

The American Job Quality Study by Gallup found that 62% of 18,000 US workers don’t have high-quality work schedules, and previous research found that low-quality schedules are associated with lower productivity and higher turnover levels.
A schedule’s quality is defined by three components: predictability, stability and control. Freelancers are an excellent way to achieve that

Flexibility

Freelancers are accustomed to adapting quickly to change. It’s the nature of their work, after all. They take on unfamiliar jobs, often at short notice, and are most likely quite comfortable with that. This may translate to easy acceptance of internal process changes like you may get from workers who have been with your organization for years and are uncomfortable with the idea of doing things differently.

Cultivating a Talent Pipeline

Freelancers can be thought of as potential returning colleagues. Cultivating a dependable pool of such workers, who are familiar with seasonal workloads and processes, can reduce onboarding time, improve performance, and free managers to focus on core tasks when peak demand arrives. They may also be able to mentor newcomers.

Agility and Innovation

Finally, a flexible workforce can help retailers implement new ideas. Launching a pop-up, testing a different merchandising concept, or expanding into a new area becomes easier with on-demand workers. You can experiment without the long-term risk.
In addition, freelancers can bring new perspectives based on experience from diverse clients and industries. This can inject new ideas into store operations or customer engagement, for example.

Conclusion

Retailers are operating in one of the tightest labor markets in Europe, yet many still rely on inflexible staffing models. This is driven by the DBA Act, concerns about reliability, or lack of structure around hiring freelancers. However, this can push organizations into a corner where they’re overpaying for overtime and agency staff, losing sales through understaffing, or burning out their permanent employees.

The risks associated with hiring freelancers are often misunderstood.

When hired in a compliant way, they provide strategic advantage, helping retailers to scale with demand, access specialist skills, protect employee wellbeing, and experiment with new ideas without long-term commitments.

In part 2 of our Series Rethinking Retail Staffing we’ll look closely at what the DBA Act really means in practice and how retailers can build a flexible workforce without increasing their legal or financial risk

In the meantime, to learn more about MANUS WFM
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