Widespread staff shortages, absenteeism also affecting government services
Government implementing organizations like the Tax Authority, benefits agency UWV, and the custodial institutions' service DJI are struggling to fill vacancies like many other sectors in the Netherlands. This is causing long waiting times and, for example, affecting the day programs of detainees, NOS reports after speaking to ten government services.
Except for the Education Inspectorate and the Healthcare and Youth Inspectorate, all the services said they struggle with the record-tight labor market. They also struggle with an absenteeism rate of between 5 and 8.4 percent - higher than the average sick leave before the coronavirus pandemic.
The Tax Authority has the most vacancies, also because it needs extra people to compensate citizens who paid too much tax on their savings and victims of the benefits scandal. It also anticipates that many of its workers will retire in the coming years. The problems are most evident at the Tax Information Line, where callers sometimes have to wait an hour before someone picks up.
Customs, Rijkswaterstaat, and the Labor Inspectorate said they find it particularly challenging to fill positions with a specific profile - specifically specialized legal, digital, and financial functions.
The UWV struggles with a shortage of medical examiners and IT staff. The service has to give priority in certain cases, which can cause delays for others.
The DJI is trying to fill gaps in the staff roster by tackling the high absenteeism rate and hiring external workers. But that isn’t solving the problems completely, a spokesperson said to NOS. The high workload particularly puts inmates’ day programs under pressure.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) said it’s doing its best to hire new people, but some projects are coming under pressure. For example, many Ukrainians struggled to get a residency stamp in their passport before their visa-free period expired. Waiting times for asylum seekers are also increasing.
The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) said that employees are burdened with extra work because it can’t find more staff to take up the work. “As a result, employees have less recovery time, which increases the risk of dropout. There is also less room for social bonding, which can lead to a lower involvement and therefore a higher staff turnover,” a spokesperson said to the broadcaster. The NVWA is trying to use digitization where it can’t find workers, like using camera surveillance or drones for inspections.