PSO requirements: the qualitative performance requirements of the PSO-Prestatieladder

Alongside the percentage of employment, your organisation must meet five qualitative requirements for the Basic level and levels 1 to 3: governance and policy (1.1), suitable work (2.1), inclusion (3.1 and 3.2), performance and development (4.1) and guidance (5.1). For Aspirant status, only requirements 0.1 and 0.2 apply, about your intention and action plan. The requirements are in chapter 4 of the PSO-handleiding 2.6 (PSO manual 2.6) from TNO . The quantitative part, the level itself, is on PSO levels and calculation. For how the auditor tests the requirements, see PSO audit.

The requirements are there to test what an organisation actually does, not what is written on paper. The auditor checks them with evidence from files, interviews and policy documents. So if you want to meet the requirements, start by collecting evidence, not by writing policy.

Overview of the requirements

Requirement	Topic	What the organisation must do	Applies to
0.1 and 0.2	Intention and action plan	Record goals and actions, and show that you carry them out	Aspirant status
1.1	Governance and policy	Record inclusion in policy or assign it to officers	Basic level and levels 1 to 3
2.1	Suitable work	A role that fits the person’s abilities, adjusted where needed	Basic level and levels 1 to 3
3.1 and 3.2	Inclusion and information	An inclusive culture and equal information for everyone	Basic level and levels 1 to 3
4.1	Performance and development	Induction and regular performance conversations	Basic level and levels 1 to 3
5.1	Guidance	Expert guidance where needed	Basic level and levels 1 to 3

According to the manual, an organisation for the Basic level and levels 1 to 3 must meet both the quantitative norm and the qualitative requirements. A level is therefore never just a calculation result.

Requirement 1.1: governance and policy

You meet this requirement if all six indicators in the manual are correct. They concern recorded approaches and officers who know the target group, subsidy schemes and workplace adjustments:

At least two concrete measures to promote inclusion, such as an inclusive vision, a confidential adviser, or part of the onboarding.
One or more officers who know the target group, or cooperation with external experts. You state which department or role this is.
A recruitment and selection process that also appeals to candidates from the target group, for example through suitable language or other channels.
A workplace and facilities that are physically accessible, such as the toilet and the canteen.
The employee can decide for themselves what they share about a disability, and is supported in that.
The employee, like all colleagues, is consulted on decisions.

An example of a measure the auditor recognises: a fixed note in the onboarding folder for new employees, with the date it was adopted, the responsible officer, and how the note is used.

Requirement 2.1: suitable work

The employee has a role or tasks that fit their current abilities. Work must not be too demanding, but also not too undemanding. Where needed, the organisation adjusts the role, the workplace or the work process. The manual gives these examples: work pace, production requirements, tasks, working hours, hours, break arrangements, workplace, tools and furniture.

This is tailor-made. The auditor speaks to the person ultimately responsible and the direct line manager about the employee’s limitations and abilities. They walk around the workplace and speak briefly with the employee or colleagues. For work that is hard to observe, such as courier work, the auditor chooses another method together with you. A list of agreements per employee, with a date and a short note on how the adjustment works in practice, helps to support that conversation. A general statement that “we take employees into account” is not enough.

Requirements 3.1 and 3.2: inclusion and information

Requirement 3.1 is about the culture at work. It asks for five indicators: explaining internally why people who are far from the labour market work in the company, an open culture in which prejudices are removed, a line manager who knows about workplace adjustments, colleagues who are informed about adjustments as far as they are relevant to the work, and employees who are involved in social activities.

Requirement 3.2 is about information. The employee receives the same information as everyone else about procedures, instructions, decisions and work arrangements, and that information is adjusted to their limitations where needed. The manual adds, as guidance, that the auditor also looks at whether the external website communicates about inclusive employment. This is not a hard requirement, but it is discussed if internal and external communication do not match.

Requirements 4.1 and 5.1: development and guidance

Requirement 4.1 asks for a good induction period, in which the induction programme is adjusted to the employee’s abilities where needed. In addition, performance and development are discussed regularly, covering both professional skills and personal development such as motivation and self-confidence.

For recertification, an additional norm applies: at least 80% of the personnel files examined must contain a record of those conversations, showing that performance and development opportunities were discussed with a clear purpose. The record may be a note or a registration.

The manual goes into more detail. The record of the performance conversation is no more than a year old. The 80% is rounded up to whole files, and several missing documents in one file count as one file that does not comply. For your first application for a level, you do not yet have to meet the 80%, but you must be able to show that you meet it from the final application. An application for Aspirant status counts as a zero application. After that, the 80% norm only applies from the next application.

If an employee works through secondment or temporary agency work, the organisation is not the formal employer. Then a record of a three-way conversation between the employee, the hirer and the agency is enough. If those conversations do not take place, you show how information about performance and development is otherwise exchanged.

Requirement 5.1 asks for expert guidance where needed, because of limitations or other factors that make the employee vulnerable. The guidance may be organised internally or carried out by an external party.

Evidence per requirement in a file folder

A practical structure for audit day. This is an example, not an official PSO-Nederland format.

Requirement	Evidence you can show	Typical mistake
1.1	Policy note with date, list of officers, facilities check of the workplace	The policy exists, but has not been adopted or is not known to line managers
2.1	Adjustment agreement per employee, with date and start date	The adjustment was agreed verbally and is not recorded anywhere
3.1	Intranet message, minutes of team meetings, agreement on informing colleagues	Communication happens, but cannot be demonstrated
3.2	Overview of information flows to the target group employee	The employee receives information later than colleagues
4.1	Induction plan and records of performance conversations	Conversations take place, but are not written down
5.1	Guidance agreement, and contract or name of the external guide	Guidance is in place, but is not described anywhere

How the auditor tests each requirement

The auditor works with the checklist you complete in MijnPSO. In it, you state per requirement which evidence you can show. The testing itself consists mainly of conversations and observation, not only paperwork. The auditor’s report assesses the coherence and consistency of what they see and hear.

Requirement	Who the auditor speaks to	What else they do
1.1	Person ultimately responsible, line manager, HR	Walks around the workplace and speaks to target group employees and colleagues
2.1	Person ultimately responsible, direct line managers	Walks around, observes and holds brief conversations
3.1	Person ultimately responsible, direct line manager	Observes how line managers and colleagues treat the employees
3.2	Person ultimately responsible, line manager, employees	Reviews minutes of team meetings and whether communication tools are adapted to the limitation
4.1	Person ultimately responsible, line manager	Assesses a random sample of personnel files
5.1	Person ultimately responsible, the guide	Checks whether the guide is qualified through instruction, training or experience

A concrete example for requirement 3.2: the auditor reviews a number of minutes of team meetings to see whether the employee takes part. An employee who reads poorly but only receives written work instructions stands out. A spoken explanation or an instruction photo solves that.

Common mistakes

Policy without implementation. The auditor wants to see that measures are actually taken. A policy document that has never been used does not count.
Records missing at recertification. Often the conversations took place, but were not recorded. Then you do not reach the 80%.
Requirement 2.1 without a file. It concerns the individual employee. General statements about the company are not enough.
Forgetting the action plan. For an application for Aspirant status, requirements 0.1 and 0.2 are the whole test. Read the Aspirant action plan before you start.

Basic level and level 3: same requirements, different norm

A frequently asked question is whether higher levels have heavier qualitative requirements. According to the manual, they do not. The qualitative requirements are the same set for the Basic level and levels 1 to 3. The difference between the levels lies in the quantitative norm: how high your contribution must be to belong to the best companies.

For the Basic level, you must perform better than average, and belong to the best-performing 50% of companies. Level 1 belongs to the best-performing 35% of companies, level 2 to the best-performing 22.5%, and level 3 to the best-performing 10%. The qualitative requirements themselves stay the same.

An organisation that already has the requirements in order therefore mainly needs to take the quantitative step. Conversely, increasing the number of target group employees does not help if guidance or the induction programme is still missing.

Step-by-step plan to prepare the requirements

If you are starting towards a level, you can set the requirements alongside the calculation tool in four steps. This is a working order, not a requirement from the manual.

Compare the requirements with your current policy

For each requirement (1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 5.1), list which policy, agreement and record you already have. Also note where you have nothing.

Choose one file for each target group employee

Start with one file per target group employee. Put the adjustments, the conversations and the guidance in it. This makes requirements 2.1 and 4.1 demonstrable at the level of the individual.

Record the gaps in an action list

Give each gap a responsible person and a date. Keep the evidence of each completed action in the same folder.

Have a colleague read the file

Ask someone who was not involved with the file to read it and check whether an auditor would understand it. The date or the name of the responsible person is often missing.