The labor market is constantly evolving, and the way organizations attract and retain talent is changing with it. External hiring of personnel plays an increasingly important role in this dynamic. In 2025, we see a number of clear trends shaping the future of work in the Netherlands.
- Self-employed professionals – Soft or hard landing in early 2025? The lifting of the enforcement moratorium on January 1st, combined with an uncertain economic future due to national and international tensions, creates a challenging situation. We expect the first few months of 2025 to be turbulent, with organizations seeking ways to deal with this and reassessing their hiring strategy. Ultimately, we foresee a shift where secondment increases at the expense of the number of self-employed professionals.
- Long wait for reforms: Various reform plans have now been tabled, such as the Wet VBAR and the Wet WTTA, both intended as a foundation for changes in the flexible labor market. Criticism of the Wet VBAR from employers’ and industry organizations in particular is strong. We expect that many discussions will follow, but that the operational impact in 2025 will remain limited.
- Labor migration: Within the EU, we see major differences in the approach to labor migration. For example, countries such as Germany and Spain welcome both skilled workers and knowledge workers, while the Netherlands, under the influence of the broader migration debate in the cabinet, comes up with seemingly loose and incoherent measures. An example of this is the ban on recognized referrals for hirers, which in our view is contrary to the needs of the business community. We expect a limited impact for the coming year, but if these discussions continue, the Netherlands may certainly lose its attractiveness to scarce talent.
- Focus on skills: Organizations are increasingly focusing on the specific skills needed for a particular role, rather than traditional degrees or work experience. This opens the door to a wider range of candidates, including freelancers and self-employed professionals with specialist expertise. The Skills Passport is a digital tool that provides a standardized overview of a person’s skills, knowledge, experience and diplomas. Although it is still under development, it is being applied in various ways and interesting trends can be expected for 2025. In addition to the continuation of a number of pilot projects, the expectation is that in 2025 the Skills Passport will be used more widely in the labor market and in education. HR systems are expected to be adapted next year to be able to work with the Skills Passport.
- Technology-driven recruitment: Technology plays an increasingly important role in the recruitment process. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are used to screen candidates, match vacancies and automate the recruitment process. For 2025, we expect a rapidly increasing integration of AI and Machine learning in recruitment technology that links internal and external data and thus not only helps to automate tasks and help with the preparation of vacancy texts, but also with optimizing the recruitment strategy for positions to be filled.
- Diversity and inclusion: Organizations recognize the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. External hiring can help increase diversity by providing access to a wider range of candidates with different backgrounds and perspectives. We expect that attention to this topic will increase further in the coming year and that organizations will more often and more concretely connect objectives to this.
- Attention to the candidate experience: A positive candidate experience is essential to attract top talent. Organizations are increasingly focusing on creating a smooth and efficient recruitment experience, from the first introduction to the final hiring. We see a trend that organizations are increasingly moving towards a uniform candidate experience for permanent and flexible employees.
- Sustainable employability: Organizations continue to invest in the sustainable employability, and fortunately also increasingly in that of their external employees. This includes training, development opportunities and guidance to keep their skills up-to-date and increase their career opportunities, but also to remain an attractive party for external employees.
- The impact of CSR and CSRD is increasing further: The requirements set for Corporate Social Responsibility and transparent reporting on this are now widely embedded, including in the world of HR. End customers and chain partners place strict requirements on suppliers to be able to meet their own objectives and obligations. In 2025, a supplier’s performance in this area will be taken into account more heavily than before when choosing a supplier.
- Hybrid working models: The combination of permanent employees and external hiring is commonplace in most organizations. However, organizations are still looking for a good balance between presence in the office and remote working, both for permanent employees and for external employees. Fully remote working of employees appears not to be ideal for many employers, but (scarce) employees often set the possibility of remote working as a requirement. Where in 2024 the extreme was sometimes sought again (“everyone obliged to work 5 days in the office”), a new balance seems to be emerging in 2025 with opportunities for remote working when possible and appearing in the office when necessary.
