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Reorganization at Fugro
Is a reorganization affecting your role at Fugro, or is there a departure proposal on the table?
This page explains your position under Dutch employment law, which applies to everyone working in the Netherlands, including highly skilled migrants and international staff. Fugro is a Dutch geo-data company that surveys the ground and the seabed for offshore wind farms, oil and gas projects and infrastructure. Its Dutch head office is in Nootdorp, near The Hague. The contraction the company faces does not stem from digitalization or a takeover, but from the market itself: postponed offshore wind auctions and delayed energy projects reduced its order book, leading to cost cuts and the loss of roles. For you as an employee, the question is whether, and how, your own role is affected.
Does this apply to you?
- Your technical, offshore or office role is affected
- Your team or business line is being trimmed or merged
- Redundancy has been announced, or you are taking it into account
- You work here as an international specialist with a residence permit
- Fugro is offering you a departure arrangement or settlement agreement
Why employees come to ReorgLegal
ReorgLegal specializes in reorganizations and works exclusively for employees, never for employers. We assess your proposal and stand beside you.
Do not wait too long. Reorganizations often come with short response deadlines. Have a proposal assessed before you agree to it.
The situation at Fugro
The contraction at Fugro is essentially cyclical: the flow of orders fell as key markets weakened at the same time. That makes the cause different from a company that digitalizes for strategic reasons or is taken over.
A market that turned against it
Fugro relies heavily on the energy market. When offshore wind auctions in Europe were postponed or failed to go ahead and oil and gas projects were pushed back, revenue fell sharply. The company issued several profit warnings in 2025 and closed that year at a loss. To reduce costs, a savings programme was launched, and roles were cut as part of it.
What that means for you
A market-driven contraction can be uneven: which teams are affected depends on where the work falls away. Fugro has not separately published how many roles disappear in the Netherlands; the announced reduction is a global figure. For your situation, what matters is not the total, but whether your own role or business line falls under the measures.
The scope and size of a reorganization can change over time. This page was created in July 2026 and describes the situation as it was known then.
In brief
- Fugro carries out geo-data surveys of ground and seabed
- Dutch head office in Nootdorp, near The Hague
- Around 1,700 employees in the Netherlands
- Contraction driven by a weak offshore wind and energy market
- Several profit warnings and a loss-making 2025
- A global savings programme involving the loss of roles
Why your position here is distinctive
Fugro runs on specialist knowledge: geophysicists, engineers, laboratory staff and offshore personnel. That background shapes your position in a reorganization in ways that do not arise in an ordinary office reorganization.
Specialist, project-based work
Many roles at Fugro are closely tied to projects, assignments and offshore deployment. When a market segment declines, an entire type of role can come under pressure rather than scattered individual positions across the organization. It is also worth having someone check whether your role is genuinely interchangeable with others, because with specialist roles that is often exactly where the discussion lies.
Do you work here as an international?
Fugro brings in technical specialists from the Netherlands and abroad. If you work here as a highly skilled migrant on a residence permit, a dismissal affects more than your income. A residence permit usually carries a search period after your employment ends, and the conditions are precise. Seek separate advice on this, so that a departure arrangement and your residence position align.
Unsure whether your role is really interchangeable? Have it assessed.
Points to check about your role
- Is your role project-based or permanent?
- Does your role belong to a declining market segment?
- Is your role genuinely interchangeable with others?
- Do you work on a residence permit or the 30% ruling?
- Are bonus or share arrangements attached to your contract?
Collective agreement, social plan and your individual contract
At a bank or supermarket, a sector-wide collective agreement and an extensive social plan are often in place. At a technical company like Fugro that is less obvious, which makes your own contract and your individual position more important.
Which terms apply to you?
Whether a collective agreement applies to your role, and whether a social plan has been agreed with unions or the works council for this reorganization, is not always public. Do not assume it, but find out. If there is no collective arrangement setting out your compensation and support, you fall back on the law and on what you agree yourself, which makes an individual assessment of your proposal all the more important.
The works council does not depend on a collective agreement
Fugro has more than enough staff in the Netherlands to be legally required to have a works council. That council's powers derive from the Works Councils Act and do not depend on whether a collective agreement exists. For a proposed reorganization, the works council has a right to advise, which the employer must await and take into account before the decision becomes final.
Not sure which arrangement applies to you? Have it clarified before you sign anything.
Find this out
- Whether a collective agreement applies to your role
- Whether a social plan is in place for this reorganization
- What that plan arranges on compensation and support
- Whether your compensation exceeds the statutory minimum
- What role the works council fulfils in this process
How a reorganization at Fugro unfolds
A market-driven reorganization also follows the fixed steps of an economic dismissal in the Netherlands. There is something to examine at each of those steps.
Justification and advice
Fugro must make an economic reason plausible and put a proposed reorganization to the works council. If many roles are affected in a short period, the rules on collective redundancy may come into play. They only require notification to the UWV and consultation with the unions once the statutory conditions are met, including where the number of intended dismissals within a working area and a set period reaches the statutory threshold.
Selection and the reflection principle
The employer does not freely decide who becomes redundant. Where roles are interchangeable, the reflection principle essentially determines the order, subject to the statutory exceptions. The unit on which that reflection is applied follows from the organizational structure of the company and the Dismissal Regulation; at a company with several business lines and locations, that is a point of attention in itself.
Reassignment within the company
Before dismissal is at issue, it must be examined whether there is a suitable role for you, if necessary after training and within a reasonable period. What matters is whether those other positions belong to the company or group for which your employer has a reassignment obligation under Article 7:669 of the Dutch Civil Code and the Dismissal Regulation. At an internationally operating company, that examination may reach beyond your own location.
At each step there is something to do
- Ask how the works council's advisory process unfolded
- Bring together your employment contract, payslips and the proposal
- Have someone test which unit the reflection was applied to
- Ask whether reassignment within the company was genuinely examined
- Do not give final agreement before the proposal is assessed
What does this mean for you?
A reorganization at Fugro follows the statutory rules for economic dismissal, supplemented by any collective agreement and social plan. On each of those points you stand stronger than you may think.
A reason that can be tested
A market contraction is an economic ground, but not a blank cheque. Fugro must make it plausible that your role specifically needs to disappear and that the procedure followed is correct. That can be tested, both at the UWV and in an individual proposal.
A fair selection
Within interchangeable roles, the reflection principle essentially determines who becomes redundant, subject to the statutory exceptions. With specialist roles, whether roles are interchangeable at all is often the real point of discussion.
Your compensation
If your employment ends on Fugro's initiative and reassignment is not possible, you are usually entitled to the statutory transition payment. If a social plan offers an additional or different arrangement, that is generally on top of it, unless the law provides an exception.
The settlement agreement
If you arrange your departure by mutual consent, you set it down in a settlement agreement. Such a document fixes, among other things, your end date, the compensation and the mutual discharge. The wording is precise, also for your unemployment benefit, so do not let it pass unseen.
What you can do now
If a reorganization at Fugro affects your role, make sure you know your position before you agree to anything. The sooner you know where you stand, the more room you keep.
- Find out whether a collective agreement and social plan apply to you
- Have your employment contract, recent payslips and the proposal ready
- Have the reflection checked if you are declared redundant
- Have someone test whether your role is genuinely interchangeable
- Ask whether reassignment within the company was examined
- If you work on a residence permit, factor in your residence position
- Check whether collective redundancy applies with a large group
- Do not sign an unchecked settlement agreement
Is there already a proposal or settlement agreement from Fugro? Have us check it before you sign anything.
When should you involve us?
- Fugro has given you a departure proposal
- Your team or business line is being trimmed or merged
- You doubt the reflection or the level of the compensation
- You work here as an international and your residence right is at stake
- Your response is urgent and you want to know what is wise
Frequently asked questions
These are questions Fugro employees put to us in practice.
Do you have a departure proposal or settlement agreement from Fugro in hand? Have us review it.
Fugro is contracting because of a poor market. Can my dismissal just go ahead?
A weak market is an economic ground, but not automatic. Fugro must make it plausible that your role specifically needs to disappear, that reassignment is not possible and that the selection is correct. That can be tested before you agree.
I work offshore or on projects. Am I in a weaker position?
That cannot be said in general. Your position depends not only on whether you have a permanent or a temporary contract, but also on the nature of your employment, on the statutory rule that applies (for example a fixed-term contract expiring by operation of law versus an interim termination), on the content of your employment contract and on the concrete circumstances. Working on a project basis is not in itself a separate category in employment law. So have your contract and your situation assessed together, so that it becomes clear which rules apply to you.
Does Fugro even have a collective agreement and a social plan?
That is not a given, and not always public. Do not assume it, but find out which terms apply to your role. If there is no collective arrangement, the law and your own agreements weigh more heavily, and that is precisely when an assessment of your proposal matters.
I was brought to the Netherlands as a specialist. What happens to my residence right?
A residence permit for highly skilled migrants usually carries a search period after your employment ends, with conditions that are precise. Have your departure arrangement and your residence position assessed together, so that one does not cut across the other.
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