Netherlands creative industry monthly round-up - May 2024

Creativity As An Economic Commodity

I think it’s safe to say that the last 12-18 months have been challenging to say the least; we’ve all had to adapt to a whole host of uncertainty. Our MD, Rosa Rolo, recently mentioned the ‘never normal’ in her latest commercial update – a new reality where continued geopolitical turmoil, economic turbulence, environmental challenges, and technological advancements, are not merely momentary disruptions, but persistent aspects of our daily lives. The realm of work, and the industries we work in, are being changed almost on a daily basis.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. The Creative Industries continues to be a strong contributor to the NL economy – a biennial study by Media Perspectives, The Creative Industry Monitor 2023, recently reported that the added value of the Creative Industries grew faster than the economy as a whole in the period of 2019 to 2022. During this time, annual growth for the sector was 4.2% versus 3.4% for the entire Dutch economy, employing over 390,000 people.

Why is this still relevant in 2024? Well, the downturn has affected the majority of markets, and the Creative Industries remain largely resilient – while there have been hiring freezes and a general slowing down, there is greater workforce confidence building suggesting that employees and job seekers are willing to explore new opportunities. From Q4 in 2023 to Q1 in 2024, we’ve seen a 15% increase in the number of job applications – plus LinkedIn recently reported an uptick in their Workforce Confidence Index.

It is also worth noting the increasing role of creativity as an economic commodity. The report highlighted, states there has been a significant increase in the number of professionals with creative professions, both within and outside of the industry. This emphasises the growing importance of creativity in the Dutch economy – and so this, coupled with the aforementioned economic stats, should give optimism for the future.

The Evolving Talent Landscape

We recently published our highly trusted 2024 Salary Census with the latest stats covering workplace, salary and career trends. Whilst this comprehensive report with over 146,000+ data points is UK centric, there are many themes that resonate across global talent teams, and undoubtedly businesses across the Netherlands. Here are some of the key highlights:

Becoming Pay Transparent – there has been a significant shift towards greater pay transparency, largely driven by new legislation including the EU’s recently enacted ‘Pay Transparency Directive’, mandating organisations to report on their gender pay gaps. This is a really positive step in the right direction and creating greater pay equity for all.

• The Reskilling Revolution – according to LinkedIn, over 1 billion of the global workforce will need to reskilled or upskilled by 2030 – and recent technological advancements have meant that roles and responsibilities have shifted quickly, with certain skills becoming obsolete faster than ever. This presents a huge challenge to businesses and talent alike to ready themselves for the future of work.
• Employee Expectations – unsurprisingly salary and bonus remains top priority for candidates, however, there is continued emphasis towards greater flexibility, work/life balance and positive working environments. Holiday allowance continues to track highly amongst employees, and with some businesses enforcing more return to work days, this could be a great negotiators
• Navigating Generative AI - the hottest topic in town, but we are still very much in the experimentation phase with both businesses and talent, really yet to benefit from generative AI. Our Future of Work (UK & EU), recently highlighted that only 17% of businesses felt they were fully prepared and invested into AI, while 7 out of 10 workers were using it, but not telling their managers. There are huge challenges ahead, but also plenty of opportunities.
• Multigenerational Workforces – for the first time, we now have five generations in the workplace, and creating harmony is akin to ‘conducting an orchestra where each section plays a different musical ear’. The challenges of managing a multigenerational workforce is multifaceted, from different communication styles; adaptability around new technological advances; through to expectations and flexibility in the workplace. It’s important that businesses adapt and create strategies for all workers.

If you’d like to explore our UK findings, or would like to chat through, then I’d welcome the opportunity to talk through them in more detail.

Start-up of the month...

Amsterdam based start-up, Wakuli , are a an activist brand whose message is that poor quality coffee farming means that workers are paid less... so they are focussing on a shorter supply chain they can provide higher quality, speciality coffee and focus on fairer pay for farmers. They just secured €5.2M in a Series A round of funding*. One to watch!

*source: Siliconcanals.com

Campaign of the month...

AGENCY: Dentsu Creative

BRAND: KPN

‘Piece of Me’, (MEAU), song and music video

This clever campaign as part of KPN’s brand campaign #betterinternet, is a clever entertainment strategy to target and engage Gen-Z audiences, in order to demonstrate the damage than can be caused by forwarding messages without consent. The song was #3 on Spotify and had 7.5 million views!*

*source: Denstsucreative.com

In the Spotlight...

In the latest in our 'In The Spotlight' series, I sat down with Kobi Ampoma , Head of Talent Acquisition NL for The HEINEKEN Company to gain his perspectives on technology advancement in recruitment, how to understand and engage today’s diverse workforce and the evolution of talent acquisition.

With over 20 years talent acquisition, HR and people experience in the Netherlands, Kobi has led the way working for globally renowned brands such as Nike, ASICS, PVH, Getir, Otrium and now The Henieken Company. Discover what Kobi had to say here.

Need additional market insights, hiring support or just fancy a chat? Call me directly on +31 6 16 996 755 or email me: louise.hope@majorplayers.co.uk