A special event will take place on Tuesday 15 April at Supply Chain Valley's Innovation Hub from 16:30 to 19:30, with several speakers addressing the challenges around generational issues plus the impact of AI in the workplace. Monique Snijders, labour market advisor at UWV, and Rian Dings, director of Techkicks, are closely involved in the day.
You are involved in this day as a labour market advisor from UWV. What is your role exactly on 15 April?
"I speak about the current regional labour market of North Limburg and the solutions to the shortage, including the use of AI and generation management. The key question here is: how can entrepreneurs anticipate these labour market challenges?"
'Deal more consciously with the various generations within your company'
What advice would you like to give entrepreneurs in this regard?
"Embrace the last generation coming in! She have the latest theoretical knowledge, know how the world has developed digitally and have fresh and new ideas. Apart from the information I provide during my presentation, we present a number of statements on these developments. Entrepreneurs may discuss these."
And that works in practice?
"On the shop floor, you notice that the new generation supports the older generations in deploying automation, among other things, and also dares to be critical of outdated work processes. The older generation can serve as a sounding board for young people and coach them on frustration tolerance and energy management."
Are entrepreneurs in this region sufficiently open to this?
"Looking at the developments in the North Limburg labour market, my advice to entrepreneurs would be to take the lead. But it really doesn't have to cost a lot of energy or money. That's why I say: deal more consciously with the various generations within your company. Small changes on the shop floor, for example regarding generation management, can already bring about a lot of change."
Entrepreneurs are often stubborn people. How will you convince them as a labour market consultant?
"Above all, I want to inform and advise entrepreneurs. Besides my career at UWV, I have always worked as an entrepreneurial woman. During the week I worked at UWV and on weekends I sold fruit and vegetables at the market in Venlo with my family. The is therefore known to me that an entrepreneur always faces many challenges and is used to taking the reins himself."
You attach great importance to generational management. How can entrepreneurs tackle this problem?
"Limburg is the region with the strongest ageing population. The number of over-55s employed in Limburg is the highest in the Netherlands. Entrepreneurs can anticipate this by paying attention to the sustainable employability of the over-55s. This could include linking the new generation with knowledge of technology in the workplace to the older employee with a lot of life experience plus professional knowledge. Companies have an important role to play in continuing to encourage their employees in terms of training. That need not always be directly at educational institutions, but can also be thanks to learning on the job with a colleague. A lifelong development is hugely important. We notice that today's over-55s are much more open to this than the same age group years ago. This older generation has grown up with computers and knows that developments are rapid."
And so it works vice versa you say? The older worker guides the new generation. And the new generation is teaching the over-55 generation about the latest developments?
"True! That's why we at UWV say: link them together and you have a win-win situation. This creates the best solutions in the workplace. Dan you have sustainable policies and it is also very trendy to do so. She Continue to guide and motivate each other on a daily basis. The senior gets sucked into the enthusiasm of the newcomer and the 55-plus keeps encouraging the younger to implement new ideas step by step in the business process. She don't have to change the whole organisation immediately, but they do have an important contribution in growth and development."
Is deploying AI the solution to the crunch?
"Only Artificial Intelligence is not the solution to labour market tightness, according to UWV, but one of the solutions. We release an annual report with solutions and advice for employers on how to deal with labour market tightness. Technology is often used in combination with other solutions mentioned. For example, a tool to help people distanced from the labour market find work, or as an assistant to, say, a researcher to find out certain things faster. So frees up more time and space for other aspects in the interest of that research."
Does everyone realise the importance of AI?
"There will still be a certain fear of change among a section of people, just as with the advent of the steam engine and the personal computer. We see very nice things happening with the use of AI. Think of pathologies in people with a distance to the labour market. Suppose someone suffers from aphasia. Dan there is a solution where people can use AI to read minds and it is possible to communicate through the voice computer. Or someone who is partially sighted or even blind can go over a text using a kind of braille pen to take in the story. Dan I think: long live AI! The however, is not an isolated thing, but a super nice tool to make working more accessible for certain groups or to design it differently. This is why we at UWV do not see technology as the solution to the labour market, but as a great addition!"
Registration for this event is possible via the website of Ondernemend Venlo:
www.ondernemendvenlo.nl/events/bijeenkomst-arbeidsmarkt
Also Rian Dings is closely involved in this meeting with the theme 'Labour Market'. "The real organisation of this event is in the hands of our Labour Market and Knowledge Development Committee of which I am a member," Dings kicked off. "It in fact, it is increasingly difficult to find well-qualified people who are familiar with technological developments. It is therefore important that everyone receives the right info on this. Especially when it comes to the different generations currently active in the labour market. There are many differences in terms of knowledge. At Young people are still about 50 per cent familiar with it, among older workers the percentage is much lower. At each age group, that definitely decreases by 10 per cent."
'Think of AI as a new colleague that makes your job easier and takes over some of your tasks'
To be successful in the labour market, Dings says it is important to have sufficient knowledge of technological developments. These are moving fast "Those who are not aware of them will eventually find themselves sidelined." As director of Techkicks, her goal is to showcase the interesting developments. "Technology is a lot of fun. There are various applications available for this, both for companies and educational institutions. The underlying idea is to secure and improve the future of the labour market." On the benefits in the workplace, she says: "Think of AI as a new colleague who makes your job easier and takes over some of your tasks. That motivates to start doing other tasks themselves again."
Dings admits that not everyone is yet sufficiently aware of these benefits. "We still regularly hear stories of robots being sabotaged because people don't want to work with them. She see it as a machine taking over their work. But of course it is not. The is an addition, exactly as Monique points out. There new forms of cooperation are emerging of which technology is a part. That does create more space for current employees to perform other tasks. Moreover, people remain indispensable. Someone has to take responsibility in this combination of regular workers and technological tools."
