Digitalization has profoundly permeated our lives. In Europe; The Netherlands, together with Finland, Sweden, and Denmark, are digitisation leaders. This intense use of technology asks for specialized IT professionals to manage it. Focusing on The Netherlands, there is a scarcity of IT professionals on the labour market. In order to gain more insight into the diverse perspectives employers have on the challenges and solutions around recruitment and retention of IT professionals, an exploratory-explanatory qualitative research design was operationalised and 36 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with one or more representatives of SMEs and larger organisations. The outcomes showed that both, SMEs and large companies have vacancies and an increasing demand for support with digitisation and that the market demand mainly requires senior staff which are difficult to recruit and retain. Large companies mainly focus on IT knowledge while SMEs focus on ‘cultural fitness'. Both types of organisations practise “aggressive” forms of recruitment and they would prefer and focus on “more organic” forms of recruitment. The in-house recruitment is present mostly in large organisations and training and knowledge development is an important tool for recruiting and retaining staff in organisations. The recruitment focuses on more income, influence and involvement, by improving the primary and secondary employment conditions where well-being and maintaining a healthy work-life balance are of utmost importance.
In 2013 the Centre of Applied Labour Market Research (Kenniscentrum Arbeid, KCA) has developed a method for data collection to get an insight in employer’s future demand for staff. The method is developed to contribute to solve an action problem in the Eemsdelta region. Despite indications of a threat of shortage of technicians in that region, none of the regional actors undertakes action. They miss detailed information about the employers’ future demand for staff. To be able to take tailor-made measures, the actors must have a proper idea of the labour market problems which can be traced back to company level. For each job opening must be clear to which profession it is related and to which educational specialism and educational level. These information appears to be not available. For employers it is, understandable, difficult to estimate their future demand for staff, because a lot of uncertain factors influence that need. Especially SME’s who often don’t have a HR-officer are missing the knowledge and time or money to invest in making a future picture of their need for staff. And data from existing labour market information sources can’t be translated well at regional or local level, never mind at company level. Without detailed information about the future employer’s demand for staff, possible problems stay latent. There is no sense of urgency for the employers to take action and the regional policy makers are missing information to develop specific educational and labour market policy. To get the needed detailed information, it has to be obtained from the employers themselves, at company level. During a research pilot in 2013 KCA has designed a method for data collection and practiced it with nine companies in the Eemsdelta region. The results indicate that the method works. In a relatively labour-extensive way the needed information can be obtained. At company level it gives the employer insight in his actual and future staff requirements and makes him aware of possible problems. As regards to the policy makers, the pilot was too small for a complete regional picture, but it demonstrates that the anonymised data of the individual companies can be merged to one umbrella data-file. From that file analyses can be made to find trends and possible problems at the labour market, both at regional and sectoral level and to obtain input for developing effective policy. The successful results of the pilot offers good reasons for a follow-up study with much more companies and to develop the method into a complete labour market monitor, by broadening the method with data about the labour supply and data of new employers.
This paper addresses one important mechanism through which the EU tries to improve the operation of its labour markets: the opening up of national borders for free worker movement within the EU. Free worker movement is a fundamental EU right; but EU enlargement begged the question of how and when to allow complete free movement to workers from those new Member States. The EU agreed upon a transitional period of up to 7 years after accession of eight new Middle and Eastern European States (EU-8) on May 1st, 2004. Duringthis transitional period Member States may apply certain restrictions on the free movement of workers from, to and between these new Member States. By 2012, all such restrictions will have been abolished. A similar procedure applies regarding the accession of two additional new Member States on January 1st, 2007. Only three of the fifteen incumbent EU Member States at the time (EU-15) chose to immediately allow free movement from workers from the EU-8. The other twelve maintained their work permit systems, albeit with some modifications. Since, some (e.g. Germany) have already decided to keep such barriers in place until 2012. The Netherlands has kept a work permit system in place up to May 1st, 2007. At that time it abolished that system and effectively extended free worker movement to include workers from the EU-8. This makes the Dutch case, at this point in time, an interesting case for which to analyse the process and effects of increased free labour movement into a national labourmarket. This paper discusses the evolution of (temporary) work migration from EU-8 countries into the Netherlands. It first addresses the flexicurity nature of EU policies towards labour market integration and towards the inclusion of new EU countries in that process. It subsequentely reviews the three socio-legal regimes that can currently apply to work performed for Dutch firms Netherlands by workers from the EU-8 (which, now, is that same as that applies for workers from the EU-15): wage employment; employment through temporary employment agencies; and self-employment. It then discusses the development of the volume of work performed by citizens from the EU-8 in the Netherlands, and socio-economic effects for both the migrant workers and Dutch society and economy. It concludes with a discussion of challenges (or the lack thereof) that this increased free movement of foreign labour caused and causes for Dutch institutions.
