16 December 2019

Labour market regions join forces

a common approach to getting long-term jobseekers into work.

The UWV and the National Employers’ Switch Point support the Vermaatgroep and EW Facility Services to make it easier for people who are distant from the labour market to find work with them. Today, a cooperation was signed in which uniform agreements were made, as a result of which the same approach applies in 32 labour market regions.

National approach

UWV has been working with EW Facility Service and Vermaatgroep for some time now. In this cooperation, they regularly encountered the fact that agreements about the process differ per labour market region. With the arrival of the National Employers' Switch Point, this is a thing of the past. Director of Werkbedrijf Tof Thissen: 'We want to support employers as much as possible. It is important to make processes as simple as possible. It's good to see that in the labour market regions we can make the process of placing people at a disadvantage in the labour market workable.

Better picture of jobseekers

The cooperation will give a better picture of a larger group of jobseekers who find it difficult to find a job. This mainly concerns people with a Wajong, WW, WIA benefit or people who fall under the Participation Act. Jacqueline Mooiman, advisor Switch Point National Employers and Mathieu van Druenen Landelijke Adviseur UWV: 'By introducing a single approach we make it easier for employers. We hope that this will be the last push in the right direction for other employers to enter into a similar collaboration with us. Employers with an interest can contact the employers' service point in their region.

Looking at possibilities

Maaike Ligtenstein, HR Director EW Facility Services: 'We believe in offering opportunities and using everyone's talent. It doesn't matter whether someone is just starting out, changing jobs, a WW worker, a social worker, someone with an indication of a job appointment or a person over 56 years of age. When we see candidates flourish and regain confidence, it gives us a lot of energy. It is good that the cooperation with the UWV and the National Employers' Switch Point is now taking on a national character because all 32 labour market regions in which we are active are involved. This makes things a lot easier for us, allowing us to focus more on finding and matching our future employees.'. Wendel Janssen, HR Director at Vermaat, is also enthusiastic about the unambiguous approach: 'I am very proud of this covenant. In this way, we give our social involvement a further valuable interpretation. We do this together, we join forces, which will increase our impact on this particular area of the labour market.'.