Municipalities and government bodies save taxpayers money with RPO

A growing challenge for municipalities and (semi-)public bodies

The workforces of municipalities and semi-public bodies now consist largely of freelancers and interim staff. According to RTL Nieuws, the government spent as much as €2.6 billion on freelancers last year, €700 million more than budgeted. Of the total staff costs of central government, municipalities and semi-public institutions, almost 14% goes on freelancers and interim staff. (Ministries spend significantly more on external hiring: “Government is paying through the nose”, 2023). With that 2.6 billion, Dutch government bodies could have hired twice as many salaried employees. Or, better still, saved taxpayers 1.3 billion. So the pain isn’t only felt in the government’s wallet, but in the taxpayer’s too. Now that the government is turning the money tap ever tighter, more and more pressure is being put on municipalities and government bodies that are looking for staff.

The solution: RPO

Meanwhile, the number of vacancies at (semi-)public bodies is rising. In the first quarter of 2023 the number of government jobs grew to 590,400, an increase of 12% over the past 4 years (WERKbedrijf, 2022). And that with a severe shortage on the labour market. The big challenge facing municipalities and government bodies is therefore to find good staff who will join on a permanent payroll basis.

Recruiting more cheaply and faster

In recent years a new, cheaper recruitment method has been on the rise that fills these vacancies quickly and can significantly reduce the cost per new employee: RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing). RPO combines an interim recruiter with online campaigns. These campaigns are spread among the ideal target group for the vacancy, on social media, LinkedIn and relevant job boards such as Gemeentebanen. The result? Lots of direct applicants. Sourcing, screening and the online campaigns are all done entirely in the organisation’s name, which greatly strengthens the employer brand and puts extra emphasis on the benefits of the government as a good and attractive employer.

Thanks to the RPO model, Pro Contact finds both people who already work in government and career switchers from the private sector with the right experience and competencies. These career switchers find it fun and refreshing to work for a government institution instead of a commercial company. Pro Contact now works for a great many municipalities and other government institutions, giving it a lot of experience and many good results with vacancies like these. With this integrated approach, these organisations have now filled many of their vacancies, have a low cost per new employee and save significantly on their staff costs.

Sources

RTL Nieuws. (2023, 19 October). Ministries spend significantly more on external hiring: “Government is paying through the nose”.

WERKbedrijf. (2022, 4 August). Government.