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New clients from 2 November

Phone hours Tue and Thu 08:30–10:0006 12345678 Arrange an introductory meeting
Portrait of Brigitte, a fifty-year-old woman with short grey-blonde hair, glasses and a navy jumper, at the canteen table of a small company, morning sun through the canteen window, coffee mug and open notebook in front of her, looking warmly and directly into the camera
Brigitte Sterrenburg at the table in a client's canteen in Voorbeeldstad.

Voorbeeldstad, October 2026

Dear business owner,

There are no stupid HR questions. Only questions that come too late.

I am Brigitte Sterrenburg, independent HR adviser. You call me about a sick engineer, a contract that is ending or a conversation you have been putting off for weeks. I think it through with you, put it on paper and keep an eye on the deadlines for you.

Brigitte Sterrenburg

Arrange an introductory meeting Or call during phone hours
Tue and Thu 08:30–10:00

Who I work for

You run a business with five, twenty or sixty people. An HR department is too much, but the questions still come: a sick call on Monday morning, a fixed-term contract about to end, a team member who is struggling. And there you are, in between your customers and your planning.

I am that HR department, only part-time: a handful of hours a month. I know your people by name, I know which cao you have and I join you in your canteen. You get no call centre and never another adviser on the line: you call me, and I call back within one working day.

My clients are bakers, installers, childcare centres and web agencies. They all want to take good care of their staff, and nobody wants a surprise from the UWV.

Four questions that come up at the table

“My employee is ill. What do I need to do this week?”

HR on call

One adviser who knows your people by name. You can always call.

How I help you

“Can I extend this contract one more time?”

Absence support

From the first day of illness to week 104, with no missed deadlines.

How I help you

“How do I say this nicely, and am I even allowed to?”

Employment law in practice

Contracts, probation and parting ways, neatly on paper.

How I help you

“What do I need on paper now that we are growing?”

HR policy in order

A handbook, conversations and agreements people actually read.

How I help you

From the phone hours

Every Tuesday and Thursday morning you can call me without an appointment. Here are three questions from recent weeks, with permission and without names.

Phone hours Tue and Thu 08:30–10:0006 12345678

My best engineer has been ill for five weeks. The occupational health service does not call back. Should I take action myself?

Owner of an installation company, 14 employees

Brigitte

Yes, and quickly. By week 6 there must be a problem analysis and by week 8 a plan of action. Don't wait for the occupational health service, call the company doctor yourself. That week I arranged an appointment for him and wrote the plan together with him and the engineer.

An employee is now on her third fixed-term contract. Can I extend it again?

Director of a childcare centre, 31 employees

Brigitte

No. After three contracts or three years the next contract is automatically permanent. Don't forget the notice either: at least a month before the end you confirm in writing whether she stays.

It is not working out with a new hire. He has been with us for three weeks. What now?

Owner of a bakery, 9 employees

Brigitte

First check his contract. A probation period only applies if it was agreed in writing, and a contract of six months or less may not contain one at all. Then you have the conversation. We prepare it together.

Detail of an oak tabletop: an employment contract with yellow highlighter marks, a fountain pen with blue ink, an open notebook and two coffee cups, soft side light
What matters gets highlighted. An employment contract after the first read.

Almost every HR problem started as a conversation nobody had.

Brigitte Sterrenburg

Being ill is a clock that keeps running

With absence you count in weeks, 104 to be exact. Miss a deadline under the Wet verbetering poortwachter (the Dutch Gatekeeper Act), and the UWV can make you pay a third year of wages. I keep the clock for you.

  1. Day 1Sick reportYou report the employee sick to the occupational health service or company doctor.
  2. Week 6Problem analysisThe company doctor writes down the complaints and what is still possible.
  3. Week 8Plan of actionYou and your employee agree what the return to work looks like.
  4. Week 42Report to the UWVBy now at the latest you report the illness to the UWV.
  5. Week 52First-year reviewLooking back together: is the plan working, or does it need to change?
  6. Week 91WIA applicationThe employee applies for a disability benefit, with your reintegration report.
  7. Week 104End of continued payTwo years on your duty to pay wages ends, if the file is in order.
How I handle absence
Conversation at the kitchen table behind a bakery: Brigitte and the owner with coffee, bread crates behind them, daylight from outside, relaxed atmosphere

I just come round

We have the first conversation at your place: in the canteen, behind the shop or at the kitchen table. Then I see how your business works, and you see who you are dealing with. After that hour it is clear what I can do for you and for what price.

  • 22 years of HR in small businesses
  • 38 regular clients in the region
  • 1 working day until you have an answer
Read my story

Meeting costs nothing and takes an hour. I come to you, or we do it by phone. I have room for new clients again from 2 November.

Arrange an introductory meetingor call 06 12345678