ab werkt

International Recruitment in a tight labor market

This is how rethinking and digitization help you to find and bind people

AB Werkt has experience significant growth in the past 10 years. The temporary employment and secondment organization notices that a different size of scale requires different work processes, not least because of changes in the labor market. Ponthus helps them approach the labor issues differently and thus create added value in a very competitive industry.

The cooperative employment intermediary focuses on sustainable relationships and reliability. “Continuity is very important to us, not the short-term profit maximization”, says CEO Jack Janssen. Of course, this does not alter the fact that volume growth is a pillar. And although the demand for good workers continues to rise, the supply of both domestic and foreign workers is stagnating. “The influx of employees from Poland and Romania is stalling”, agrees Jack. “We needed to find a way to find and bond people with our company, and thus contacted Ponthus.”

Shortage in the labor market

“When we spoke with Jack Vroomen from Ponthus. we were not only impressed by their expertise in the field of work processes, but especially by their view on the labor issue. Ponthus showed us that we were stacking job applications. Our customers asked for workers, after which our recruiters went to search abroad. When people went home after a project, the next job application was already underway. This approach no longer worked for the volume in which we currently operate and the current labor shortage.”

A different view on job placements

Ponthus taught AB Werkt to rethink and change their approach from acting on requests to building a stable pool of (international) employees in order to be able to fill in the requests in a timely manner. That meant they had to investigate how to retain the good workers by, for example, offering career opportunities and training. “It is an approach that not only suits us very well, but also shows how well Jack Vroomen understands this market.

Without the right industry knowledge, the accents are often not quite right. Ponthus helps us to pull the right chords and to look at the coherence of things.

In order to move forward with digitization and increasing labor productivity in this competitive market, we must co-operate in partnerships with parties who understand our industry. Ponthus is such a party.”

Job mediation in times of labor shortage can be a challenge. Jack Janssen of AB Werkt explains how Ponthus helps them to find good employees by thinking differently. “Short-term contracts won’t get you there, a sustainable approach works better.”