Now that the labor market is tight, companies are doing everything they can to attract the best professionals. A good salary, a job guarantee or an extra bonus: it cannot be over. But employees still want more. They are increasingly demanding a good work-life balance.
Steel group Tata Steel in IJmuiden currently has about six hundred vacancies, recruiters Kim Marx and Dorothea Alfrink tell NU.nl. The company is mainly looking for people in technology, logistics and ICT and for trainees.
“Just like other sectors, we fish in the same pond. We offer good employment conditions and programs to stay physically and mentally fit. We also have a business school where we take on 170 students every year who receive training while also receiving a salary immediately.” says Marx.
Tata Steel will start in May with a language class where new foreign employees will receive an intensive language course in the first few months. The steel group also focuses on lateral entrants, people who have not previously been active in technology. “These are people who used to be gardeners or confectioners. They receive internal training,” says Alfrink.
Tata Steel rewards employees with 1,000 euros gross if they bring in a new colleague. And 2,000 euros gross when it comes to positions in electrical engineering, ICT and mechanical engineering. Marx: “We hired 278 people that way last year.”
Unemployment continues to fall
Unemployment in our country continues to fall. In February, some 356,000 people were unemployed, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands. There are hundreds of thousands of unfilled vacancies.
The shortage will continue for another ten to twenty years, experts predict. And so there are times when employers have to pull out all the stops to attract staff. This can be done with bonuses, better terms of employment, but also by taking into account other employee requirements, such as a better balance between work and private life.
Major concerns about the outflow of the installation sector
Chairman Doekle Terpstra of Techniek Nederland is very concerned about the outflow in the installation sector. No fewer than 70 percent of new employees are lateral entrants. “It is very important that we retain these people. Newcomers have completely different requirements when it comes to work, care and private life. They demand modern employment practices.”
According to Terpstra, it is time for many companies to look in the mirror. “We just have to be honest that this needs to be improved. A number of companies are already doing that, but SMEs in particular find it difficult to make that transition. The younger generation wants more autonomy. It’s not just about money and a job guarantee. to have the option of working evenings or weekends and not Monday, for example.”
At Tata Steel, they notice that especially academics and HBO students want a better balance between work and private life. For example, it is possible to work four times nine hours a day, partly also at home. Marx: “The outflow is very low, also among newcomers. If people leave, it is often because they are retiring.”
