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Reorganization at Heineken
Is your head-office role being eliminated or your work shifting, and have you received a dismissal proposal or departure arrangement?
Are you facing a reorganization at Heineken? This page explains your position under Dutch employment law, which applies to everyone working in the Netherlands, including highly skilled migrants and international staff. The brewer has announced a global cost programme cutting thousands of roles, with the emphasis on overhead and office functions. At the international head office in Amsterdam around four hundred roles had already been announced, while the Dutch breweries remain, for now, outside the announced round. Whether your role is eliminated, shifted or changed, it is wise to know what a proposal means for you legally before you sign.
Does this apply to you?
- Your head-office role is being eliminated or moved abroad
- You have been declared redundant or are at risk of it
- You have received a dismissal proposal or departure arrangement
- You work in an office, brewery, logistics or commercial role
- You have received a settlement agreement
Why employees turn to ReorgLegal
ReorgLegal specialises in reorganizations and works solely for employees, never for employers. We assess your proposal and stand beside you.
Do not wait too long. A reorganization often comes with short response deadlines. Have any proposal assessed before you agree to it.
The situation at Heineken
In early 2026 Heineken announced that between five and six thousand positions will disappear worldwide, spread over roughly two years.
A profitable company cutting costs
The measure does not stem from acute distress, but from a cost programme with which Heineken aims to save hundreds of millions a year, against a backdrop of declining beer sales in Europe and North America. It mainly concerns overhead and office functions; part of the work is being digitalised or bundled, in part at locations outside the Netherlands.
Head office and breweries
For the international head office in Amsterdam, around four hundred roles had already been announced. The Dutch breweries, including Zoeterwoude and Den Bosch, remain, as far as known, outside this announced round. What the global operation means precisely for the Netherlands had not been worked out in figures when this page was updated.
The figures and arrangements around a reorganization can change. This page was last updated in July 2026; the facts shown apply as far as known at that time.
In short
- Around 5,000 to 6,000 roles worldwide over two years
- Emphasis on overhead and office roles, partly moving abroad
- Head office Amsterdam: around 400 roles announced
- Dutch breweries for now outside the round
- Reason: cost programme and declining beer sales, no acute distress
- Have your situation assessed before you sign
Do you work at head office or in the brewery?
The reorganization affects two very different groups in different ways, and where you work strongly determines what is coming your way.
Head office: your role may shift
At the head office in Amsterdam, people from dozens of countries work together. If your role disappears here, the work does not necessarily vanish; it may be bundled or moved to another location. The fact that your tasks continue elsewhere does not mean you simply move with them; it raises questions about reassignment, redundancy and the terms of a departure.
Working at Heineken as an international?
If you came to the Netherlands on a highly skilled migrant permit, the end of your employment also affects your residence rights and search periods apply. For that situation there is separate information on dismissal as an international.
Brewery and production
If you work in the brewery or in shifts, you fall under a different collective agreement than the head office, and your site remains, for now, outside the announced round. Even so, it is wise to know your position, because roles within production can change too.
Is your role shifting or being eliminated? Have your situation assessed before you agree.
What to watch for
- Which collective agreement applies to your role
- Whether your work is eliminated or shifts to another location
- Your right to reassignment within Heineken
- For internationals: residence rights and search periods
- The terms of an offered departure arrangement
How a reorganization at Heineken works
A reorganization has a number of set steps. It is early in that process that there is most for you to gain.
Advice from the works council
Heineken first puts a proposed reorganization to the works council, which may advise on it. Only afterwards does it become concrete which roles are eliminated and who becomes redundant.
Who becomes redundant
Heineken cannot freely decide who has to leave. Within mutually interchangeable roles the reflection principle in principle applies, subject to statutory exceptions such as indispensable employees. If the grouping of interchangeable roles is incorrect, that can change your place in the order.
Reassignment first, departure only after
Dismissal may only come into view after it has been examined whether there is a suitable position for you, including within a reasonable period and if necessary after retraining. If that fails, an offer to leave through a settlement agreement usually follows, or otherwise a dismissal application to the UWV.
Where you can steer
- At the proposed decision: request the social plan and your status
- If redundant: have the reflection principle recalculated
- On reassignment: weigh whether an offered role is genuinely suitable
- On a proposal: have it reviewed before you respond
What does this mean for you?
Your rights follow from the statutory rules for a reorganization dismissal, supplemented by the collective agreement that applies to your role and the social plan. At each of these points there is something to check.
Objective selection
Within interchangeable roles Heineken does not itself decide who leaves. The reflection principle in principle sets the order, subject to statutory exceptions. A mistake in applying it can strengthen your position.
Work that shifts
If your work moves to another location or abroad, the question remains whether Heineken can reassign you, if necessary after retraining. That tasks continue elsewhere does not make your dismissal justified in itself.
Your compensation
On termination at Heineken's initiative there is usually an entitlement to the statutory transition payment. Compensation from the social plan usually comes on top of this, unless a specific statutory exception applies. Have the amount recalculated.
The settlement agreement
A departure is usually recorded in a settlement agreement. It sets out, among other things, your end date, compensation and final discharge; have the content reviewed before you sign.
A social plan in motion
Around this reorganization, Heineken's social plan is very much in motion, and that makes it all the more important to know which arrangements apply to you.
From an expiring to a new plan
The existing social plan ran until mid-2026. Heineken and the trade unions are negotiating a successor, covering, among other things, reassignment, job-to-job support and compensation. Because a plan has a duration and can be succeeded, the moment your reorganization arises can determine which version applies to you.
Which collective agreement applies to you
In the Netherlands Heineken has separate collective agreements for the head office, the breweries and the commercial side. Which provisions and which social plan apply to you therefore depend on your role and your business unit. It is worth having that sorted out in advance.
Not sure what the social plan offers you? Have your situation assessed before you agree.
What to watch for
- Which version of the social plan applies to you
- Which collective agreement applies to your role
- The arrangements on reassignment and support
- The amount and the calculation of your compensation
- The end date and the final discharge in the agreement
What you can do now
If you are affected by the reorganization at Heineken, take the steps below before you commit to anything. The sooner you know where you stand, the more room remains.
- Request the social plan, the applicable collective agreement and your proposal in writing
- Have it checked whether the reflection principle and the selection are correct
- Verify that reassignment was seriously examined before a departure follows
- Recalculate whether the compensation matches your years of service and salary
- Do not sign a settlement agreement without legal review
Have you received a dismissal proposal or settlement agreement from Heineken? Send it to us for review before you make a final decision.
When to bring us in
- There is a settlement agreement or departure proposal
- Your role is being eliminated or shifting to another location
- You have doubts about your compensation or the reassignment
- You work as an international and are worried about your residence rights
- You have to respond within a few days
Frequently asked questions
These are questions that Heineken employees put to us in practice.
Is there a dismissal proposal or a settlement agreement? Put it to us for review.
Heineken is profitable. Is it even allowed to reorganize?
Yes, a profitable company may also reorganize on business-economic grounds. But Heineken must substantiate the reorganization, apply the reflection principle correctly and examine reassignment. It is precisely that substantiation and those terms that are worth checking.
My role is moving abroad. What does that mean?
That your work continues elsewhere does not automatically make your dismissal justified. Heineken must first examine whether there is a suitable position for you; depending on the group structure, that reassignment obligation can extend beyond the Netherlands. Have your situation assessed before you accept a proposal.
What do I take with me if I have to leave?
On termination at Heineken's initiative there is usually an entitlement to the statutory transition payment. Compensation from the social plan usually comes on top of this, unless a specific statutory exception applies. The amount depends on the arrangement, your years of service and your salary.
Redundant: is my dismissal then certain?
Redundancy is an intermediate step, not a fixed dismissal. If the reflection principle is wrong or the reassignment is deficient, that can change your position.
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