More than a year after the end of the last COVID-19 measures, concerns in the Dutch business community are not over. A proportion of workers think 2023 will be worse for their company's livelihood security than the years of the corona pandemic. Just under half (48%) fear that their job security will not be guaranteed in the short or longer term. This is according to a recent international survey by SurveyMonkey of workers in the Netherlands, the UK and Ireland.
Stagnating economic growth, continued significant inflation and the tight labour market are causing Dutch workers to look at the future of their businesses and jobs with some concern. In the survey, 38% of respondents indicated that this year is expected to be worse for their company's survival than the past three years. 24% think there will be no change from previous years.
Some have already experienced colleagues being made redundant or leaving in the past year: 33% estimate that up to a tenth of colleagues have left, while almost 18% think as many as a quarter have. Incidentally, a majority is optimistic about the outlook though. More than half (53%) think prospects will get better. 18% think these prospects will get worse. Furthermore, two-thirds (66%) are confident that the company can weather the current economic turmoil. In the UK, this confidence is lower at 62%. In the Netherlands, 23% are not confident that the company will still exist next year. In the UK, a whopping 30% are.
The work itself has also changed for many employees over the past year. The general feeling is that the same (or more) needs to be done with fewer resources. Over a third (38%) of Dutch employees think that in their department, either the budget or the team has been reduced in the past year. One in five (21%) think that both budget and team have been scaled back.
Retaining and attracting talent
Despite the cooling economy, employers are still struggling to find and retain the right talent. One solution to this is to entice employees heading towards retirement to stay longer. The survey shows that this is most promising if those employees get more pay (47%), can work more flexibly in terms of hours (40%) or location (27%), or can work fewer hours (32%) or fewer days (28%). It can also make sense to increase the engagement of current employees. The best ways to retain current talent, according to respondents, could include implementing profit sharing (35%), additional development opportunities (34%), more flexibility for better work-life balance (32%) or more input through regular staff surveys (26%). The survey shows that employees prefer a variety of fringe benefits.
Büşra Yazıcı, HR Business Partner International at SurveyMonkey, says: "Employee retention is always at the top of organisations' agendas. With companies still recovering from the pandemic and the uncertainties that come with it, retaining staff is especially important. It is not always easy to guess what your employees want, so the best way to retain talent is to ask employees what they think is important. And then act on that feedback."
Is AI a threat to job security?
Employers are considering artificial intelligence solutions, such as ChatGPT, to address the talent shortage - but its impact is still unclear. Employees are almost unconcerned about these developments. 35% do not see AI as replacing their tasks in any way, while almost 18% think AI could make their jobs redundant. With so many companies interested in AI applications such as generative AI, it is no surprise that employees see AI as a necessity to stay competitive. Over half (52%) feel that investing in AI is essential for the company's survival. Employees do not feel that AI will completely replace their role. The survey shows that they do not think AI on its own will be enough to replace human talent. However, almost half (47%) do think AI could do part of their job, but do not see it as a threat to their position.
"The insecurity that employees feel today is feeding through to technological developments such as AI. However, workers seem convinced that AI is not advanced enough to replace their jobs. Instead, AI can take over simple tasks, giving employees more scope for work that requires human input, such as creativity and resourcefulness. Organisations that recognise the importance of using both humans and AI benefit from improved employee productivity and engagement. Then again, AI should be implemented in such a way that it takes repetitive work out of the hands of employees, rather than trying to replace the irreplaceable, human element," says Büşra.
