Sun, 03 May 2026 03:40:14 +0200 Sun, 03 May 2026 03:40:14 +0200 ContentFeeder 2.0
The world is changing fast and so is the world of work. Technological transformation, global competition, and demographic change are affecting drastically how we work, consume and live. These three factors, according to the study Employment and Social Developments in Europe 2018, have determined two trends in the European labor market: Human capital quality improvement (reskilling) and highly diverse forms of work (atypical working).

Atypical work, defined by Eurofound (European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions), is any employment relationship that do not conform to the standard or ‘typical’ model of full-time, regular, open-ended employment with a single...]]> Tue, 23 Apr 2019 14:50:26 +0200 Do’s and Don’ts of HR Analytics People are the core of business. It is known that, among executives’ global business concerns, human capital is the top issue. Organizations that can attract the right skills, manage talent and utilize its capacity effectively, and retain employees will be paving their way for long-term success. Today, however, human resources departments (HR) of most organizations are generating enormous amounts of data that can be difficult to assimilate. The question is how to turn this data into valuable insights that support decision making. Here is where HR analytics comes into play.

Human resource analytics (HR...]]> Tue, 02 Apr 2019 13:00:32 +0200
Flexible labour and self-employment in the Netherlands are on the rise, says an overview report by TNO Innovation for Life and Statistics Netherlands. Workers with a flexible employment contract have risen from 12% in 2001 to 16% in 2012. In 2014, the proportion of Dutch employees with a flexible work relationship increased even further to 22%, according to the report. This makes the Netherlands one of the top three EU15 countries with high rates of labour market flexibility, right behind Portugal and Spain. The group of flexible workers is diverse, and it is comprised of:
• employees with a fixed-term...]]> Thu, 21 Jun 2018 09:10:34 +0200 Proven Methods in Diversity Management

In business, diversity management is finding the best practice to create and maintain a diverse and inclusive workplace that, in turn, can benefit from a wide range of experiences and talents. Benefitting from diversity is especially important for corporations that wish to succeed in a global market. As Malcolm Forbes said: “diversity is the art of thinking independently together.”

Diversity is not merely about being inclusive of different races and genders within a business, but about making the most of a team with different cultural backgrounds, beliefs, experiences and business methods. Successful diversity management should...]]> Tue, 03 Apr 2018 10:12:43 +0200 Recruitment agencies used to have a bit of a negative reputation as wolves looking for quick money not really interested in the company nor the candidate. Most agencies were not specialised and worked for any company that they obtained an order from. However, the market has changed and companies demand that the agencies have a profound knowledge of their business; they are not just looking for someone who selects CV’s but for abusiness partner. They are looking for an agency that does not only look at short term success but that provides long term solutions. The same applies for the...]]> Mon, 03 Apr 2017 12:54:05 +0200 There are many ways to fill an open position within your organization. LinkedIn, recruiters, online job searches, or job fairs can all be used as a means to find the perfect candidate for your company. LinkedIn and online searches can be done with minimal effort, but a job fair usually requires much more and may not always be worth it. Is going through the extra mile of effort worth it to find the perfect candidate?

Why You Should

You can meet with non-traditional candidates. The typical LinkedIn search or online job posting may not be the best option for finding...]]> Mon, 06 Feb 2017 21:57:29 +0100 In the Netherlands, the holiday bonus is paid back for most workers in May or June. It was first introduced at the beginning of the last century. After World War II, the holiday bonus was introduced in addition to wages, so that the workers had money to travel. This fee is similar to the holiday allowance as we know it. It is usually at least 8% of gross salary. That is almost an entire extra month's salary. Not only workers, but also recipients of state pension, unemployment benefit or, for example, social assistance benefits, are receiving holiday allowance. It is...]]> Tue, 17 May 2016 11:31:09 +0200


Recently, a Hague employment agency has been fined €229,850 for non-compliance with the Minimum Wage and Minimum Holiday Allowance. Additionally, two executives of the agency were fined €108,000 and €44,050 respectively. Also, the agency has to still pay affected workers that have not received their wages and holiday pay. Inspectorate SZW (Social Affairs Inspectorate) has finalized the long-term investigation successfully.

Control

In June 2012 the SZW did an audit of a Hague employment agency. It was expected that the owners of the office had implemented the laws and regulations loosely. From that moment inspectors began an extensive administrative investigation into...]]> Sun, 01 May 2016 20:02:01 +0200

That is the same as the principle of gap analysis for businesses. Gap analysis is not strictly business-related though; it is rather a universally applicable technique typically used to evaluate, develop and improve any form of output. For example, a company may be looking to sell 10% more units than they did in the previous year, or a service company may use gap analysis to compare the standard of service they provide, to the standard of service they expected to provide customers with.

It is a tool that many people use subconsciously when faced with a problem that needs to...]]> Sun, 01 May 2016 20:08:11 +0200
Employee activity can generally be monitored in two ways: directly—meaning in the office, or online—by means of their social media or Internet activity. Monitoring an employee in person should be done with the aim of determining whether that employee is using their time efficiently, often absent at their desk, or distracted by other online activities. An employer or organization can also monitor whether employees are using social media prudently, and not sharing information about the company that they should not be sharing.

Every organization carries the responsibility to determine how important they find it to...]]> Sun, 01 May 2016 16:05:31 +0200

The first step in screening applicants is a CV. The second step is having your qualified candidates fill out an application form when they come in for an interview. It is important to have the form ready before you begin the interview process. Make sure you know the guidelines regarding questions you can and cannot ask.

When screening CVs, it helps to have the job description and specifications in front of you so you can keep the qualities and skills being looked for clearly in mind. Evaluating CVs is a subjective process, because there is no standard CV. However, there...]]> Tue, 05 Apr 2016 12:15:17 +0200
With Spring, we begin to see the tell-tale signs of job fairs sprouting up all around the country. Despite the rise in popularity of online recruitment, career fairs are far from dead. It can be difficult for small, unknown companies to attract applications from qualified candidates when only using online recruitment. Job fairs offer a fantastic recruitment channel that present several potential benefits to the companies that attend them. Here are a number of reasons why job fairs are still relevant in the labour market, and why you should consider bringing your company forward.

Increasing Access to Qualified Candidates
A...]]> Tue, 01 Mar 2016 11:50:46 +0100 The so-called Declaration of independent employment relationship (Verklaring Arbeidsrelatie, VAR) seems to have had its day. The Senate drew a majority which supports a repeal of the VAR on 1 May, 2016.

The VAR is intended to clarify whether companies must embody freelancers and pay payroll tax on their income. Secretary of State Eric Wiebes (Finance) wanted some time off from the VAR, but he ran into opposition in the Senate. He made a series of commitments. There will be a long transition period of one year.

The intension is that the VAR will be replaced by standard contracts. Those...]]> Wed, 27 Jan 2016 18:05:09 +0100 When co-workers mix business with pleasure, it's important for employers to take note. Whether it's a drop in workplace morale or a sexual harassment lawsuit, office romances have the potential to cause big trouble for businesses of all sizes. This is because of the effect on employee morale and ultimately because of the potential legal issues.

Office relationships are something a large number of employers are faced with. Research from the Society for Human Resource Management's HR Knowledge Center, revealed that 43 percent of HR professionals reported romances in their workplaces. While all office romances have the potential to cause...]]> Tue, 02 Feb 2016 09:48:05 +0100 Research and consultancy firm Universum took part in a worldwide research drive to examine the involvement and work happiness of staff. This has been an ongoing effort since 2012 to attempt to measure the precise happiness of employees in major countries. The survey covered more than 250 thousand employees in 55 different countries. These results are then used to calculated the Universal Global Workforce Happiness Index.

This index is based on:

Employee in the current job,
Likelihood that the current employer is recommended to others, and
How loyal employees feel about their current job / employer.

From here, an average...]]> Tue, 05 Jan 2016 11:34:32 +0100 An interview with Corien Taatgen, Senior Consultant at Randstad Multilingual Recruitment

As we recover from the holidays and settle back down into our routines, whether it be sitting at the office or searching for a job from the comfort of our own homes, we might begin to wonder what the new year has in store for us. A new job? Developmental opportunities in our current position? Corien Taatgen, Senior Consultant at Randstad Multilingual Recruitment, offers some interesting insights into the current and future state of recruitment in the Netherlands. Based on these insights, we’ve compiled a list of four trends...]]> Tue, 05 Jan 2016 10:17:33 +0100 In November, more businesses have started compared to over a year earlier, mainly in business services. More entrepreneurs have also stopped, while the total number of bankruptcies have declined.

This comes from figures published by the Chamber of Commerce.

Last month, more than fourteen thousand start-ups were begun, 4 percent more than in October last year. In 60 percent of cases, they were self-employed, while Small-to-medium entreprenuers grew to nearly sixteen establishments.

However, this was not the case for places such as Groningen and Overijssel, at odds with the national trend. These two places saw a decrease in the number of...]]> Sat, 05 Dec 2015 16:40:17 +0100
For more information on the state of the Dutch job market, we asked Nick var der Dussen, commercial manager for Undutchables, who...]]> Tue, 01 Dec 2015 09:54:08 +0100 Despite the growing economy, continued investment in technological innovation in The Netherlands has decreased. The positive of this is that companies have begun to pay more attention to social innovation. This enables a better return on investment. The success rate of technological innovation is largely determined by 'soft' social innovation.

This is evident from the research presented on Thursday by the Erasmus Competition and Innovation Monitor 2014-2015, which annually assesses the state of Dutch innovation. The amount of new products and services has surged by 3.5 percent and the amount of improved products and services increased by 5.2 percent. However,...]]> Thu, 19 Nov 2015 11:15:16 +0100 There is an often quoted statistic which says that fifty percent of all mergers will fail. There are many reasons for this, ranging from bad management, to weak leadership. You can point your fingers at any number of reasons for a merger to fail and say 'this is it,' but the truth of the matter is that there is not one reason why mergers fail.

However, when asking employees of companies who faced mergers, a different story can be seen. An AonHewitt study showed that thirty three percent of participants blamed “cultural integration issues” as the core reason their merger...]]> Tue, 03 Nov 2015 09:48:32 +0100 With the arrival of September comes the budget memorandum, being announced on the third Tuesday of September. This year, on 15th September, Financial Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem announced his proposed plans to change various factors of the Dutch economy. The majority of this year’s memorandum has been dedicated to cutting back labour taxation by €5 billion. Following this will be some of the points which are most relevant to employment and employees.

As stated above, taxation on labour will see a cut of €5 billion. By doing this the ‘wedge’ average will fall by almost 2 percentage points. The Wedge is...]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2015 09:54:51 +0200 Downward trend

The number of businesses declared bankrupt in a particular month is closely related to the number of days courts are in session. This may vary considerably from one month to the next, so the best way to show development is by a series adjusted for the number of days courts are in session. This method provides a more reliable indicator. August had just as many court session days as July (4).

In August 2015, the number of bankruptcies adjusted for court session days reached the lowest level since October 2008. It peaked in May 2013, followed by a...]]> Thu, 10 Sep 2015 09:41:11 +0200 Why is employer branding important?

Implementing an effective employer branding strategy is increasingly important for today’s businesses to stay competitive. Not only are the number of skilled workers decreasing, but the expectations of the rising working class are much different from those of their predecessors, making today’s top talent all the more difficult to attract.

By 2021, almost one in five workers (employed or available for employment) will be nearing retirement, compared to only about one in seven in 2005. As these baby boomers age and retire, there are fewer graduates entering the workforce with the proper skills to replace...]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2015 13:11:56 +0200 The phenomenon of men and women’s work and career choices and experience often stands out with its complexity and ambiguity. Given the fact that men and women differ in their interests, it may be that there is a difference in the way they approach the job search process. For example, based on the stereotypical understanding of women being more family and less status and prestige orientated than men, one can always assume that women will have different attitude towards their career paths than men.

Those gender difference presumptions have been explained with the social role theory that presents the idea...]]> Wed, 05 Aug 2015 11:47:38 +0200 A diverse set of skills, perspectives, backgrounds and experiences encourages the development of new ideas and offers multiple alternatives for solving specific problems. Diversity is one of the key drivers of innovation and an important part of building success on a global scale

A great number of companies have discovered that increasing the diversity of their workforce, improves employees performance, making customers happier which definitely contributes to success. A diverse and inclusive work environment is of extreme importance for companies that want to attract top talents as well. With today’s global economy, organizations that are competing for the best employees...]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2015 16:34:24 +0200 Holidays are a great time for employees to recharge that can lead to a better work productivity. However, HR and managers needs to handle employee absences and ensure that the workflow process continues smoothly. Here are some tips HR can keep in mind while managing staff leave The holiday period is almost here and employees who have been working hard through the months are anticipating taking their vacation. Great news for you, the owner or manager, because you know that the time off actually helps boost productivity and satisfaction when employees return to work.
The bad news, however, is that not...]]> Thu, 07 May 2015 13:50:08 +0200 Millenials will make up 75% of the global workforce by 2025. Jerry Grimes discusses what organisations want in their young talent and what Millenials expect in joining the workforce You have just arrived at work and learn that a new college graduate just joined your team. You walk over to greet your young colleague, what are the first thoughts in your head? Do you expect them to be ambitious and tech-savvy, eager to work hard or do expect your younger, less experienced team member to expect status and rewards without “paying their dues”?
These thoughts about Generation-Y (those born from the...]]> Tue, 07 Apr 2015 12:55:47 +0200 Since late last year, the topic of entrepreneurship has come under the spotlight. The number of self-employed people (ZZP’ers) had risen from 784,000 in 2013 to 809,000 at the end of the third quarter in 2014, which caused concern for the Dutch government – there were plans to abolish the tax rebates (zelfstandigenaftrek) for small entrepreneurs. Finance Minister, Jeroen Dijsselbloem also told RTLZ that self-employed people have few social securities but enjoy relatively high income tax breaks.
Several reasons are being quoted by experts and business owners with regards to the increase in the number of self-employed people across the...]]> Tue, 03 Mar 2015 18:40:44 +0100 Workplace romance is not something new but a simple fling can shift the workplace dynamics. Both organisations and employees need to avoid the pitfalls that can come from l’amour in the office Romance is in the air in the month of February but it might not be just St. Valentine’s fault. L’amour at the workplace is definitely not new and increasing number of studies show that employees are having a fling in the office whether their bosses like it or not and in some cases, the flings are with managers themselves.
According to Vault.com’s 2014 Office Romance Survey, 56% of business...]]> Tue, 03 Feb 2015 14:20:33 +0100 The Hague is known as a region for international business in The Netherlands. Kelly Rodrigus, COO of WTC The Hague, says that she and her team are committed in promoting international trade and building a “business community” for local and international organisations “The WTC is not just office buildings but it so much more than that,” says Kelly Rodrigus, chief operations officer of The World Trade Center (WTC) The Hague.
WTC The Hague is more than just the location that offers office space as Rodrigus pointed out. It comprises myriad services and facilities catered towards businesses such as conference space, an...]]> Tue, 03 Feb 2015 13:56:51 +0100 The number of women working has increased over the years in The Netherlands but a significant gap still exists between the genders in the labour market. Sue Lawrence examines this disparity and what it means for employment market Recent statisticspublished by CBS indicate that 65.4% of women aged 18-64 were active in the workforce compared to 78.7% of men in The Netherlands in 2013. The number of working women has risen considerably since the end of the 1990s. For every 100 employed men in 1998, there were nearly 66 employed women. By 2013 this had risen to 82 working women per...]]> Tue, 06 Jan 2015 16:51:56 +0100 As we move into the New Year the signs of a candidate-driven market remain strong. This was borne out during the second-half of 2014 when it was evident that more candidates were turning down opportunities already after their first or second interviews. Some companies still regard the market as being employer-driven and are acting accordingly. The effect of this is that it is becoming increasingly harder for them to get candidates over the line as competition for the best talent intensifies and the more agile businesses remain better equipped to meet the demands of the candidate community.

So what do...]]> Mon, 05 Jan 2015 22:57:48 +0100 The employment sector in 2014 has shown positive improvements and it looks to keep improving next year. Together Abroad looks back at the employment market in 2014 and the upcoming changes in labour laws in 2015 in The Netherlands The year of 2014 is ending and the labour market in The Netherlands has slowly but steadily improved. Data from the Central Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS) Nederland paints a positive picture in terms of the Dutch economy and employment sector on the whole in 2014 – unemployment figures have dropped while labour participation is still on the rise.

Numbers from CBS...]]> Fri, 05 Dec 2014 15:55:51 +0100 The Participatiewet will come into effect in January 2015 but is the Dutch government facing an uphill task in its aim to create 125,000 jobs by 2026 for people with arbeidsbeperking? From 1 January 2015, the Participatiewet will come into effect. With this law, the Dutch government aims to create more jobs for people with disabilities (physical, mental) and Wajong – young people with disabilities and students who became unable to work at a young age. It also includes people who have a great gap in accessing the labour market due to various factors such as low education or long-term...]]> Tue, 04 Nov 2014 15:13:04 +0100 The engineering and ICT sectors across the globe are facing a major hurdle—the shortage of skills and candidates. Manpower Group’s 2013 Talent Shortage Survey revealed that in a global scale, engineers and IT staff are among the top 10 jobs employers have difficulty filling. Employers said the chief contributing factors are lack of technical competencies (hard skills) and a lack of available applicants or no applicants.

The European Commission highlighted that there is a critical shortfall of ICT experts and that there is a mismatch between skills on offer and those that are in demand in the technology market. The...]]> Wed, 01 Oct 2014 12:38:28 +0200