Employers expect that staff shortages will only become more acute. Yet they are not very creative in filling open vacancies. This is apparent from new research that the UWV benefits agency will publish on Thursday.
The UWV asked more than three thousand employers about their views on staff shortages. Nearly two-thirds of them said they expected it to become more difficult to find people in the coming year. And that in a labor market that is already tight. Employers already say that about half of their open positions are ‘difficult to fill’ – a share that the UWV derives from various surveys.
The Netherlands now has more vacancies than unemployed people. In the third quarter of last year, there were 126 vacancies for every hundred unemployed. The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) will soon publish the figures for the past quarter.
Also read: The staff shortages are back, so how do you bring in people?
The shortages are more acute in some sectors than in others. The demand for personnel is particularly high in the construction industry, just like in the hospitality industry and ICT. At financial institutions and in public administration, employers are less bothered by vacancies that are difficult to fill.
‘Other’ recruiting
In the survey, the UWV asked employers what they do to find staff. They appear to be mainly focused on recruitment. For example, almost 80 percent of employers say they have started recruiting ‘differently’, for example by looking for candidates through more or different channels. They also turn to employment agencies or headhunters, and candidates are more likely to respond to a vacancy for longer.
In other areas people think less creatively. Now 45 percent of employers say they also hire candidates who do not meet all job requirements, and then train them further. But other than that, employers show little flexibility. For example, less than a third said they would adjust employment conditions such as wages or working hours. Nor were many employers inclined to adjust the job requirements or the range of duties, or to train employees who are already employed for an open position. Experts and employers’ organizations see precisely such measures as a way to solve staff shortages.
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of February 3, 2022