Getting the job done with our employees
The Dutch labour market is under severe pressure. Engineering and IT are among the sectors that face the highest labour market scarcity. The number of job vacancies continues to grow against a backdrop of increasingly rapid population ageing and near-zero working population growth. This applies to both the Netherlands and Europe.
Inflow of colleagues
In part due to our ‘The energy transition is impossible without you’ employment campaign and extra efforts in recruitment, we were able to attract a record number of new employees in 2024. More than 1,500 new colleagues started with us in 2024. It is interesting to see that many lateral entrants have chosen to work for Alliander: people from diverse backgrounds want to contribute to the energy transition. We have set up in-house training to prepare these new colleagues for technical positions. As a result, we achieved strong growth in the inflow of technicians: 162 (2023: 75).
More than 1,500 new colleagues started with us in 2024.
To stay productive and connected in the face of such rapid growth, two things are important: our absorption capacity and our adoption capability. Our absorption capacity is a measure of how successful we are in quickly getting our new colleagues to the point where they are productive. Our adoption capability reflects how effective we are in exploiting the inherent value of changes, such as innovations to speed up the work. This starts early, before the first working day, with the onboarding activities and focuses on onboarding specifically into the organisational unit and into the daily work. Our adoption capability reflects how effective we are in exploiting the inherent value of changes, such as innovations to speed up the work. We work on this every day at Alliander. For example, we improved the onboarding programme last year: Join the Grid has been expanded and the onboarding day further optimised.
As we anticipate a continued increase in labour market tightness over the coming years, we committed to improvements in 2024 that will create value in the longer term. For example, the organisation has taken action to become bilingual. Furthermore, career paths for technicians have been rolled out, with an emphasis on managing career advancement to offer colleagues greater career prospects and retain them longer.
Join the grid, onboarding game, onboarding days
Alliander has a central onboarding programme for new employees. This programme consists of an online component with ‘Join the grid’ e-learning tutorials. The introduction day in Duiven is a key element of the central onboarding facility’s offline component. In September, a new interactive game – ‘Time is now’ – was added to the onboarding day agenda. Finally, several organisational units have improved their onboarding using a toolbox and the Onboarding Community of Practice.
Collaboration in the sector and the supply chain
We collaborate closely with the other network operators in the context of labour market issues. We are also committed to increased collaboration with contractors and other supply chain partners. Where possible, Alliander chooses a pioneering role in the development of joint initiatives. Some examples:
Labour matching platform
In order to help more people from other sectors find work in the technical sector, we will be matching the skills of candidates rather than their level of education. Seven companies operating in the energy transition have joined forces for this in the ‘Arbeidsmatchplatform’ (labour matching platform). In 2024, the platform was expanded to include new partners, including businesses specialising in installation technology, and rolled out to several new regions. Partners have now referred dozens of candidates to each other to ensure their availability for the energy transition. In addition, the platform is enjoying increasing recognition, as evidenced by collaborations that have started with WENB, the Goldschmeding Foundation, the Economic Board Arnhem/Nijmegen, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Tilburg University, among others.
Ecosystems
We are building regional ‘ecosystems’ with regional partners, such as contractors, public authorities, the education sector and Dutch Employee Insurance Agency UWV, in order to expand technical labour capacity. The first ecosystem, Infra Groot Amsterdam (IGA), has worked with sector partners to clearly formulate career paths and was expanded in 2024. This has resulted in a concrete collaboration model that makes optimal use of available resources for recruiting and training technicians in the Greater Amsterdam region.
We have also established an ecosystem in the Arnhem-Nijmegen region. Based on the objectives identified in the Human Capital Agreement on retraining workers for highly demanded professions in the energy sector and activating unused labour potential, we have set up a collaboration in combination with the Arbeidsmatchplatform (Labour matching platform) to inspire regional candidates to apply for jobs related to the energy transition. We also exerted influence on the strategic mission of the Sustainable Electrical Energy Centre of Expertise (SEECE) partnership in this region to align it with Alliander's task.
We are building regional ‘ecosystems’ in order to expand technical labour capacity together with regional partners.
Joint labour market agenda for the sector
Following on from the National Network Operators Implementation Agenda (NUA), a sectoral labour market agenda was developed under Alliander's leadership in 2024, which includes the following actions:
Set up a sectoral preparation programme for refugees with a residence permit.
Make optimal use of all the training capacity that both network operators and chain partners have available.
Establish and implement sectoral career paths for hands-on engineering jobs (electricity and gas) and digitalisation.
Actively engage in WENB's lobbying activities using a technology-related plan of attack, supported by Netbeheer Nederland, in relation to promoting study choices, introduction of a skilled workers regulation and expansion of the regulation for highly skilled migrants to include housing.
Skilled workers regulation
Under the umbrella of Netbeheer Nederland, the WENB and VNO-NCW employers’ associations have presented arguments to the House of Representatives in support of a skilled workers regulation that creates greater scope for employing specific skilled workers from outside Europe to help implement the energy transition. This is a target group that we as a sector will need in the future in order to get enough work done. Despite much political support, this proposal has not yet been adopted by the minister. Unfortunately, no alternatives were proposed either. We did, however, manage to get our sector to rally behind the Delta Plan for Labour Migration. This plan also supports recruiting skilled workers from outside Europe for specific positions in healthcare and the energy transition, allows this for a temporary period and includes mechanisms to ensure good housing and other facilities.