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P EMPLOYMENT
Page 12
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Recruitment specialist discovers truck drivers are 'most contented'
DUTCH TRUCK drivers are some of the most contented members of the workforce, and aren't worried about issues such as career progression, says Dutch recruitment specialist Willem de Vries.
De Vries, who runs Dutch recruitment company Randstad, made his comments at last week's Truck Europe Forum in Berlin, where solutions to the Europe-wide driver shortage were discussed.
He says the industry should not be overly concerned with trying to structure career advancement for drivers. He adds: "Drivers are some of the happiest working people in the Netherlands. They love their job, and that's the one thing we should always keep in mind.
'They see their job as giving them freedom — it doesn't matter how many things you build into a truck to control them, they still have a perception of freedom. For drivers, even those just doing 9 III 6, it's the job they've always wanted."
However, he does warn against becoming too reliant on overseas drivers to plug gaps in the workforce: "If you import the solution, the problem ends for a while, until [those foreign drivers] go home again."
Randstad employs around 2% of all Dutch HGV drivers.