Why it pays to invest in flex workers

Developing and retaining flexible staff, a must or unnecessary †
To what extent are temporary employment organizations currently engaged in the sustainable deployment and improvement of the quality of flexible staff? Developing and retaining flexible staff, is that a must or superfluous?

The world is on the move. The 24-hour economy seems to be a fact. Changes are happening faster and faster and complexity is increasing at all levels. To be able to compete, companies must continue to develop. This has an impact on the need for flexibility. The use of human capital must be able to move quickly in qualitative and quantitative terms with changes in the market. Temporary employment organizations that provide flexible personnel therefore have a prominent role within companies. The focus of most temporary employment agencies is initially on 'filling' the vacancies at the clients. To what extent is attention now being paid to the development of flexible personnel?

I was recently invited by a teacher from Avans Hogeschool to give a guest lecture. My audience was formed by second-year HRM students who are currently active in the study block 'Performance Management'. Performance Management is a method for systematically determining, improving, assessing and rewarding the performance of employees. This guest lecture was an interesting opportunity to share my stories from practice at employment agency Actief Werkt! . I presented to the HRM students how Performance Management is organized by Actief Werkt! within the special triangular relationship consisting of the client, the flex colleagues and the Inzetbureau. The Intermediaries are not present on the work floor every day. Een good cooperation with the client is therefore crucial in order to be able to 'manage' the performance. I was also curious about the opinion of the students; what do they think about retaining and developing flexible staff?

In Nederland , flexible staff continued to work for a temporary employment agency on average for 24 weeks. Due to the amendments to the law and the arrival of the Work and Security Act in 2015, it is possible to deploy flexible staff in phases A and B on the basis of the ABU collective labor agreement for a maximum of 5.5 years. In Nederland we also see the shift from the classical to the modern employment relationship. Job security is shifting to job security. And since there are also many relatively 'short' temporary assignments due to the flexibility need of our clients, making full use of the 5.5 years of job security is an important point of attention for private employment agencies.

In order to be able to offer 5.5 years of job security, Actief Werkt! would like to know what the capacities and ambitions of the flex colleagues are. The day-to-day management and supervision is the responsibility of the client. This therefore requires sufficient evaluation and assessment moments together with our clients. In addition, despite the distance, Actief Werkt! wants to emphasize giving personal attention to flex colleagues. That is why ambition talks are also being held. These conversations provide insight into the motives of the flex workers and should contribute to the retention of the flexible staff. In addition Actief Werkt! will continue to work in 2016 to increase the frequency and quality of the ambition interviews. The digital app Mijn Actief and the Work Profile Test are supporting tools that provide insight into the personality characteristics and ambitions of flexible colleagues. A personal interview will then be conducted. Ambitions do not always have to be in line with development or growth. Actief Werkt! is curious about the aspects that keep flex colleagues busy. The starting point is that the development of flex colleagues must be emergent on the one hand and that, on the other hand, it must anticipate the needs, knowledge and skills that the client needs.

During the guest lecture, the majority of students (16 out of 27) believed that developing and retaining flexible staff is an absolute must. I fully agree with that.
By paying attention to the ambitions and wishes of the flex colleagues, the deployment time can be extended. By investing in our flex colleagues, we can introduce our motivated flex colleagues (faster) to multiple customers. The flex colleagues fill a workplace that matches the wishes and capacities, which in turn results in less turnover and absenteeism. And that produces Actief Werkt! satisfied customers!

Actief Werkt! is also curious about your opinion. Would you like a cup of coffee soon?

Tessy Derks is Flex Advisor at employment agency Actief Werkt! . In her position she is responsible for co-developing and translating the HR policy with regard to flex colleagues. In addition, she acts as a source of information and sparring partner for the operation, with the aim of achieving an optimal transfer of knowledge of the temporary employment legislation/HR issues.