AI platform to bridge utility sector labour shortage in Netherlands

A Netherlands-based consortium of seven, including businesses and utility companies, have founded the Labor Match Platform, a social start-up that searches for untapped potential in the labour market with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).

Alliander, Enexis, Stedin, TenneT, KPN and contractors Van Gelder and Van Voskuilen founded the social start-up, that uses AI to match skilled job-seeking labourers with open vacancies in the hopes of filling critical labour shortages.

Marlies Visser, member of the Board of Directors of Alliander and initiator of the platform, said in a release: “The demand for technically trained personnel is enormous. We have been seeing the bottlenecks that this poses for the energy transition for some time now.

“I have therefore given the assignment to think out-of-the-box and see what new technology can do to get more people working in the energy transition. I am extremely happy with the Labor Match Platform and the fact that we have set it up with six other partners. I firmly believe that this will help us all to fill some of the many vacancies.”

Technically trained personnel, especially in the energy sector, are scarce. And with the Netherlands seeking to become climate neutral by 2050, another 60,000 people will be needed in the coming years.

Have you read:
Polish DSO Tauron to open engineering skills centre
Energy suppliers unsure of digital skills needed for net zero – survey

Said outgoing minister Carola Schouten for Poverty Policy, Participation and Pensions: “Every person has talents, but not everyone is immediately visible to employers. For example, because they do not have the right diploma, have a disability or are unemployed.

“And that is a shame, because employers miss people who can make a valuable contribution to their company. By looking at someone’s skills and experience – for example with the Labor Match Platform – we can reduce staff shortages and allow these people to participate.”

By looking primarily at a person’s skills rather than the training they have completed, vacancies in the energy transition can be better matched, states Alliander in a release.

In this way, more lateral entrants can be recruited and existing employees in the energy transition can also be retained by providing insight into their career prospects.

Working with this ‘skills method’ is new for many companies. However, states Alliander, innovative solutions for personnel search are necessary because in the coming years, many mechanics and construction workers will retire and fewer and fewer people are opting for a technical or architectural education.

The platform has been tested in recent months through pilots in the Rivierenland region and Amsterdam.

In Rivierenland, the first job seekers have now found a job with the help of the platform. More than 500 job seekers have already been registered in Amsterdam and the first matches are expected soon.

With the announcement, the platform has been officially launched in Utrecht and will be further rolled out in other regions in the coming period. The Labor Match Platform is currently conducting discussions in Rotterdam, among others, to join as the next region.