The 2026 Collective Bargaining Agreement for Commercial Goods Transport has direct implications for planning, labor costs, and payroll processing at transportation companies. In particular, the new method for calculating overtime for part-time employees and the increased per diem allowances require special attention.
When hours and allowances are still calculated manually, the risk of errors, corrections, and disputes increases. At the same time, much of the necessary information is already available digitally in the vehicle.
Together with Selman Transporten, Rietveld therefore developed a solution in which data from the smart tachograph is automatically processed in EasyHours. This creates a simpler and more reliable process for preliminary payroll calculations, without always requiring an on-board computer.
The new collective bargaining agreement took effect on January 1, 2026. In addition to a wage increase and adjusted allowances, the way overtime for part-time employees is calculated has also changed.
Two changes are particularly important for time and payroll administration:
These changes make accurate recording of working hours, contract hours, activities, and duration of absences even more important.
Under the previous collective bargaining agreement, overtime for part-time employees only accrued when they worked more than 40 hours per week. Hours exceeding the individual contract hours but falling below 40 hours were therefore not treated as overtime.
Starting in 2026, a different system will apply. For part-time employees, the individually agreed-upon contract hours are the determining factor. As soon as a part-time employee works more than the agreed-upon number of hours, these extra hours will be compensated as overtime.
A driver has a contract for 24 hours per week and works 28 hours in a given week.
Under the old system, the four extra hours were not automatically classified as overtime as long as the driver remained below 40 hours. Under the 2026 Collective Bargaining Agreement, these four hours above the contract are considered overtime and are compensated at 130%.
This has direct implications for:
Incorrect processing can not only lead to extra administrative work but also to questions or disputes with employees.
Net per diem allowances have also been adjusted effective January 1, 2026. The amount of the allowance depends, among other things, on the duration of the trip, the departure and arrival times, and whether it is a one-day or multi-day trip.
Examples of the adjusted amounts are:
It is precisely the combination of different time periods, conditions, and surcharges that makes manual calculations prone to errors. Even a single incorrect departure or arrival time can affect the final compensation.
With a small number of drivers, manual verification may still seem manageable. But as soon as different contract types, trips, time periods, and reimbursements come into play, the complexity grows rapidly.
Manual processing can lead to:
Furthermore, the same information is often already available in the tachograph. The challenge, therefore, is not always to collect more data, but to access existing data more intelligently and process it automatically.
The smart tachograph records driving, working, availability, and rest times. Drivers are already accustomed to logging their activities via the tachograph. This makes the tachograph a logical source for time tracking.
With the arrival of the latest generation of smart tachographs, new possibilities emerged for automatically utilizing this data. Rietveld and Selman Transporten saw an opportunity here: if the necessary data is already available in the vehicle, why should a driver have to re-enter the same information via a separate system?
That premise led to a solution in which:
This allows payroll to be prepared without duplicate entries and, depending on the desired functionalities, without the need for an additional onboard computer in the cab.
Selman Transporten, based in Bemmel, specializes in temperature-controlled transport of flowers and plants. The company has 25 trucks, 35 drivers, and 10 office staff.
The company has been a pioneer in transportation automation since the 1990s. As early as 1993, Selman was already using an early onboard computer system with satellite communication. Over the years, time tracking evolved from tachograph discs and paper logs to digital processing.
That experience has led to a clear vision within Selman: technology should support the driver, not burden or monitor them unnecessarily.
The driver must be able to focus on their job. Administrative systems should simplify processes and not replace responsibility.
A key principle in the development was that drivers should not have to enter the same information into multiple systems.
The tachograph is required by law, and every professional driver must be able to use it. By using this data as a foundation, additional manual data entry is avoided.
This offers several advantages:
This is particularly valuable for transportation companies with international drivers. For them, the tachograph is a familiar and standardized system, whereas additional applications or onboard computer functions can add complexity.
Raw tachograph data does not yet constitute a payroll calculation. The recorded activities must be interpreted in accordance with applicable company policies and collective bargaining agreement rules.
EasyHours converts the available data into a clear preliminary payroll calculation. Depending on the configuration, the following are processed, among other things:
This eliminates the need for the administration to manually review every entry. Employees can focus on discrepancies and exceptions rather than re-entering and re-calculating all hours.
Innovation does not automatically mean that more hardware or software is needed. The solution at Selman demonstrates that smarter use of existing data can lead to a simpler process.
The combination of smart tachograph data, the Qan-All vehicle server, and EasyHours enables:
The technology thus supports both the driver and payroll administration.
The solution was jointly developed, tested, and optimized over the course of about a year. Both organizations contributed their own expertise: Selman provided insights into day-to-day transportation operations and its vision on employment practices, while Rietveld contributed technical expertise in vehicle data, system integrations, and payroll projections.
That collaboration was essential. A solution for time tracking must not only function technically but also align with the way drivers, planners, and administrative staff work on a daily basis.
The result is not a standard product conceived in isolation from real-world practice, but an application developed in response to a specific customer need.
The solution offers particular benefits for:
The right setup depends on your vehicles, tachograph types, contract types, payroll process, and existing systems. That’s why a good solution always starts with an analysis of your current workflow.
The new rules for part-time workers and the revised per diem allowances make reliable time tracking more important than ever.
By automatically extracting tachograph data and processing it in EasyHours, you reduce manual work and gain better control over hours, premiums, allowances, and exceptions.
Would you like to know if your smart tachographs can be used for automatic payroll run-through calculations? Our specialists will work with you to assess your vehicles, systems, contract types, and current administrative processes.
We’ll then determine which integration and setup best suit your organization.
Request a consultation and discover how you can process hours and allowances more intelligently, fairly, and efficiently.
Together, we’ll strengthen your processes, employees, and organization with reliable vehicle data and smart automation.