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Broadcast software is rapidly becoming obsolete

There is latent dissatisfaction among - especially small and medium-sized - staffing organizations about the software they use. There is almost no further development of the software. "Actually, you can say that - if new elements are developed at all - novelties are built on an outdated foundation. The software is already so old that you can only work around problems. Solving them is out of the question. You create false solutions that bring small improvements in the short term, but do not provide a solution in the long term," says Fred Mulder of Flexmeester. He refers in particular to the fact that much software still runs on an outdated MS-DOS-like environment. There are a number of cons to.

Windows

Mulder: "It's constant: open window, enter information, close window. Then open another window, enter information again, close window. So on and on. You naturally want to enter all the information in a fluid motion (a flow). Where possible even have information entered for you. For example, think about entering a Chamber of Commerce number and based on that all the information is retrieved from the Chamber of Commerce database."

The latter is a simple example, yet even such simple automation still does not happen in many software packages. Besides causing frustration, additional input work always creates additional opportunities for errors. The more information entered by humans, the greater the chance that something will go wrong somewhere. The method now used in existing software is to build a shell around the old software. Then it looks renewed.

Less efficient

All the clicking, apart from the increased risk of errors, does not improve efficiency. "The method used now in existing software is to build a shell around the old software. Then it looks renewed. While in reality you are working in two systems."

Mulder distinguishes between front and back office. "The front office packages are often designed a bit nicer (so often by means of an artificial shell around the software), but the back office is actually still the same as twenty years ago. So the software for payroll, contracts and placement has hardly changed," Mulder says.

Outdated architecture broadcast software

The architecture on which that software runs is obsolete. Much broadcast software only works on Windows computers; an Apple iMac or Macbook is unusable. Mulder: "That in itself is something we can live with, although ideally you want to let your employees choose which device they work on, the so-called BYOD idea."

The programming languages in which these programs are written can safely be called antique. Programming developments follow each other in rapid succession, and broadcast software only follows suit sparsely. Nowadays, most software platforms work on a so-called low-code basis. Changes there are quick, efficient and easy to implement. New features can be introduced easily. It costs an awful lot of money to develop software - such as a back office.

Complex matter

With old systems, with an outdated foundation, innovations are difficult to implement. "It costs an awful lot of money to develop software - such as a back office. The matter within the flex market is of course very complex. You have to deal with different collective bargaining agreements, difficult laws and regulations that are also constantly changing. Temporary workers who work for different clients, user fees. In short, a lot of things come into play. Many software developers would rather not burn their fingers on that," Mulder says.

Importance of data

Lately, though, there has been a turnaround among staffing organizations. The demand to make data insightful in a variety of ways is gaining traction. "There is a demand for Power BI-like solutions. The data is present at staffing organizations, but it is difficult to visualize that data. That can be much easier if you use a so-called low-code solution; there these kinds of novelties can be added relatively easily and at less cost," Mulder says.

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'Growth inhibitors' cause headaches

The economy seems to be recovering unexpectedly quickly from the corona crisis. Economic growth forecasts have been revised upward, and the corona rush stops for most companies as of Oct. 1. However, severe labor shortages, high commodity prices and supply chain disruptions are inhibiting growth in almost all sectors.

A number of sectors will be back to the level they were before the crisis, such as manufacturing, technology, media and telecom and business services. At the same time, companies in many sectors face uncertainties that can make or break their growth,

These uncertainties are twofold. Many sectors are experiencing "growth pains" such as high commodity prices, disruptions in international supply chains and labor shortages that are more pronounced than before as sectors have reopened after a long time. These "growth inhibitors" are a direct result of the pandemic. Second, sectors are struggling with structural problems that predate the crisis, such as climate change and the aging population.

Growth in industrial sector breaks records

The differences between sectors are great. Industry is growing like never before, with the machinery industry in particular experiencing an unprecedented rate of growth. The downside is that more than a quarter of all industrial companies are facing major shortages of materials and labor, while more personnel are needed to meet demand.

In the TMT (technology, media and telecom) sector, there are a similar development for. Thus, digitalization accelerated due to mass home working, and the IT industry in particular grew strongly in the first half of 2021. However, also here of "growth inhibitors" such as the rapidly growing shortage of IT programmers and developers. The acute labor shortage is also occurring in other sectors that have found their way to growth, such as transportation and logistics, business services and construction.

Hospitality industry already running into limits to growth after fragile recovery

While the hospitality industry is still far from pre-corona levels, the industry is already experiencing "growing pains. For example, nearly 1 in 3 hospitality entrepreneurs consider staff shortages a major obstacle. In addition, there are fears that employees who went elsewhere during corona, no longer to returning to the hospitality industry. However, some of the labor shortage may be reduced. Thus, staff are likely to be "released at companies that without the government support might will topple over.

In the food sector, the opening of the hospitality industry provides for growth but are the labor shortages and high commodity prices cause for concern. Retail also faces "growth inhibitors. For example, physical stores remain vulnerable due to the strong growth of "online" in 2021.

Source: ABN AMRO

Staffing industry barely benefits from labor market recovery

Staffing industry barely benefits from labor market recovery

There were 164,000 more jobs in the third quarter of this year than a quarter earlier. So the labor market recovered significantly in the third quarter compared to the second quarter. Yet the temporary employment industry benefited very little from this.

Moderate recovery in staffing industry

Interestingly, the staffing industry barely benefited from the recovery in the third quarter. Where you would expect the staffing industry to pick up first, the number of jobs at the employment agencies are only moderately comfortable with a increase of 17,000 from the second to the third quarter. And this after the staffing industry recorded a record decline in the second quarter. The number of jobs at employment agencies, in fact, fell by 130,000 from the first to the second quarter, a decline of -17%. Such a large decline was unprecedented. Compared to the first quarter of 2020, the beginning of the corona crisis, saw the largest job decline in temporary employment agencies. In the past two quarters, 106,000 temp jobs were lost, a decline of -13.7%.

More permanent, less flex

Incidentally, it should be noted that since last year there has already been a trend toward more permanent jobs (indefinite contracts) and fewer flex contracts. The number of employees with a flexible employment grew almost continuously until 2019, but has already started to decline during last year. In the third quarter from 2020, there were 1.7 million workers in flexible employment. This is 274,000 fewer than in the third quarter of 2019. The number of workers in permanent employment increased by 148,000 to 5.7 million compared to the third quarter of last year.

More vacancies

At the end of September, it was number of vacancies again rose to 216,000, 16,000 more than a quarter earlier. This is a slight recovery. By comparison; a record 286,000 job openings had still been posted at the end of 2019. Due to the corona crisis, the number of job openings in the first half of the year was down 86,000, a decrease of -30%.
Nevertheless, the job market recovered well in the third quarter compared to the second quarter. During the third quarter, 264,000 new job openings were created. That is 48,000 more than in the second quarter.
At the end of September, the most job openings were in trade (42,000), health care (38,000) and business services (34,000). Collectively, these three industries accounted for for half of all open positions.

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