At the beginning of January I walked our dog on the beach of Torra del Mar in southern Spain. By chance I got into a conversation with a Dutch IT specialist who worked from Spain for a Dutch high-tech company. He had previously always worked as an employee, until his employer introduced the new hybrid working policy, namely: mandatory two days a week at the office and optionally three days from home. Reason enough for him to quit his job, only to be hired again as a self-employed person by the same organization. Only now he had the freedom and autonomy to make his contribution from a location of his own choice, Europe or even beyond.
Finding, attracting and retaining the right talent is more difficult than ever before, which means that vacancies remain unfilled for longer and longer. This not only has consequences for the workload on existing teams, but also for customer and employee satisfaction. Filling vacancies quickly and properly is an increasing problem for many HR and talent acquisition teams.

Insight 1: High costs of unfilled vacancies
The first insight I can share is that long-standing vacancies are becoming increasingly unattractive to fill. According to Depooter.nl, it takes an average of 81 days to fill a position, which costs an organization an average of 350 euros per day. This means that an open vacancy costs an organization at least 28,350 euros. Moreover, 16 companies are looking for every IT professional, which only increases the competition for talent.
Insight 2: Negative internal and external impact of unfilled vacancies
The second insight is that excessive pressure on employees can lead to long-term absenteeism and dissatisfaction within the organization. Research by TNO shows that 34% of employees state work pressure or work stress as a reason for absenteeism. This in turn increases the workload on the rest of the organization and can significantly affect productivity and revenue. In addition, happy employees are 13% more productive and they ensure satisfied customers, so the importance of a healthy company culture and working environment should not be overestimated.
Insight 3: Think outside the box: working completely remote
The third insight I want to share stems from the Future of Work survey. This shows that recruiters and hiring managers expect a significant increase in the number of employees (internal/external) who will work completely remotely. This highlights the importance of finding and attracting talent who can work remotely.
Although the Dutch government and interest groups have worked on a strategic plan (Attack Plan Chronically Too Short ICT Professionals) to eliminate the shortage of ICT specialists, it will take some time before the effects of this become visible. In the meantime, it is worth considering looking for talents outside the Netherlands. During the lockdown everyone worked remotely or from home. Why not now? Outside the Netherlands there is also a lot of knowledge and experience; it is my experience that these people are intrinsically highly motivated to help Dutch companies with various strategic ICT issues. That is why this is the solution for the short and longer term to accelerate the digital transformation and thus strengthen the competitive position of the Netherlands on the international market.
Yet many business leaders I speak to are still unaware of the real problem. Why do employees have to come to the office two days a week again? Attendance control is not necessary according to the management theories that we should measure by output and not by effort. The pandemic has proven that remote working kept business going. Engaging foreign experts who work remotely is an effective short- and long-term solution to solve the enormous scarcity problem in the Dutch IT sector.
Incidentally, the problem is much more serious. In addition to the previously mentioned costs of unfilled vacancies and higher workload on teams with open positions, according to the HR benchmark study by Visma Reat, one in three workers is considering a move to a new employer. The HR focus of organizations is on attracting new talent and onboarding new employees. And not so much on the retention of existing employees. Loyalty is not sufficiently rewarded.
That is why I advocate the use of top talent from abroad. What would it be like to (temporarily) fill those difficult positions with remote experts from Europe or even beyond? Your organization can then continue with the digital transformation and can work on the lead over the competition and perhaps most importantly, it prevents an even higher workload on those loyal toppers in your organization. Are you ready for this recruitment transformation and do you want to know how it can work for your organization?
Then send me an email to bas@remoteexperts.nl and you will be amazed.