Micha Hoofien

Micha Hoofien, Head of Reward & Pensions at ING NL, wonderful to have you with us at the Leaders in Finance HR Event 2026. To start, could you introduce yourself and share a bit more about your role at ING?
Thank you, Marije. My name is Micha Hoofien, I’m 52 years old and I’ve been with ING now for almost 10 years. I have a legal background, and I have worked for about 16 years in consultancy. Now I am with ING and I have a great role; I lead our Centre of Expertise, Performance and Reward. You can translate it as the ‘Head of Compensation and Benefits’ at ING in the Netherlands. My team takes care of everything around pay and benefits for our, approximately, 15,000 people in the Netherlands. Next to that, I’m also part of the CLA negotiations team and the negotiations team of the pension transitions. Those are, of course, two impactful projects which are very interesting to do.

Thanks Micha, I look forward to having you as one of speakers at the event. We’ll be doing an interview on stage that will go into all the details about reward, pension and everything that is happening right now. Are there any trends in reward strategy that HR leaders, who are going to be present at the event, should be paying attention to?
Absolutely. I think some of the trends are obvious, as they are driven by regulations. One example is the EU Pay Transparency Directive, which is a massive project and a very interesting one. It is all about equal pay for equal work and will, I think, directly impact recruitment as well. An important question is how to align the EU Pay Transparency Directive with your recruitment process.
Another key trend concerns the skills and competencies of the future. Everybody is dealing with AI right now, some more than others, but those future-focused skills are becoming very important.
Another development – also driven by regulation – and one that came as somewhat of a surprise – is the lifting of the bonus cap for financial institutions in the Netherlands as of next year. As some of you may know, we are currently subject to a 20% bonus cap. That cap will be lifted next year for the majority of our staff, and it will be very interesting to see what impact this will have, not only on ING but on the wider market as well.
For instance, do we expect firms to immediately introduce or reintroduce variable remuneration plans, or will they be more hesitant to do so?

And do you know what was the main driver behind lifting that gap? Is it to attract international talent or to be more competitive in the labor market?
Exactly. In the Netherlands, this is very much a macroeconomic issue. Over the past year, we have seen some companies leaving the Netherlands. I still believe that the Netherlands is a very attractive country in which to start a business, but we also need to remain competitive and continue to attract talent from a wide range of organizations.
At ING, for example, we do not only attract talent from other banks. The talent pool is much broader than that. We want to attract people from tech firms, startups, and other types of businesses. In that context, the bonus cap was, to put it mildly, not always helping.

I understand. Let’s talk more about that at the event. I’m very interested to hear more. Is there any widespread misconception that you see out there about reward and about compensation?
I’m not sure if it’s widespread, but there is something I often encounter. And maybe this is a little politically incorrect, because what we often hear is that people are mainly interested in development opportunities, whether they can work in a hybrid way, their career opportunities, and so on. I think that’s all true, and some of those factors are linked to specific generations.
But in general, I believe that if your pay is not in order, if you are not paid fairly, or if your pay is not competitive, people will either leave your organization or choose not to join it in the first place.
I think pay is still the foundation, and it remains a major driver for people. Sometimes, in the Netherlands, we do not really talk about salary. It’s almost treated as a secret. However, I have a surprise for you: when the EU Pay Transparency Directive comes into force in January next year, pay will become much more transparent.
That means the conversation about pay is going to happen anyway. And for that reason, I believe that pay remains one of the main drivers for people when it comes to choosing and doing their job.

Interesting. One of the things that’s going to be on the agenda as well on the 18th is the differences within generations working together at the same time on the work floor. Do you see any challenges when we look at reward equity across different age groups and those different career stages?
Of course, and I think that’s not new. I think that has always been there. What we see, especially now, is the impact of new skills and developments in technology and AI. Some people and some generations are naturally a bit more tech-savvy or data-savvy than others. For some generations, it takes a little bit longer to acquire new skills. At the same time, the older generation can be excellent mentors to younger colleagues on topics such as content expertise or behavioral skills, while younger generations can help older colleagues become more data-savvy and more comfortable with new systems and technologies. I think that’s very interesting. You can really create partnerships or build diverse teams; they can strengthen each other.

What does that require of the reward equity? Are there skills you would pay more for? Would you pay more for a seasoned colleague who has several years of experience but might not be as tech savvy, or might you be willing to pay more for that tech savvy youngster who is just entering the labor market?
That’s also a question about scarcity.  It’s competitiveness and scarcity, the term war for talent may sound a little dated now, but the principle still applies: the scarcer the skills, the more organizations are willing to pay. Naturally, you look at the outside market, salary benchmarks, and so on. On the other hand, I think it’s also about added value. What is the value you bring to the company, which really is recognized and helps the company to grow. That can be experience, content knowledge, or tech savviness. It really depends on where you add value in the company and to what extent. I think in the end, you do not pay for knowledge only or skills only. No, you pay for the value someone brings to the company.

Right, and that is not connected to age, if I hear you correctly.
Absolutely not. It’s not connected to age.

From these couple of questions, I already have plenty more, but let’s save them for the event on the 18th. We’ll talk more about reward, fairness and expectations across generations. And dare I mention it? You’re going to be our only male presenter on stage on the 18^th, so extra kudos to you for being part of the lineup. Just wondering what you are most looking forward to on the 18^th?
At all those events, the thing I most look forward to is meeting colleagues, expanding my network, and looking for surprises. If I hear a surprising tip or story that I have not heard before, something I can take home and gets me thinking.

Well, that’s what we’re aiming for, right? Looking forward to continuing the conversation with you and thank you so much for your time right now.
Very welcome, Marije. Thank you.