Opinion

Published in FD 9 July 2009

In the discussion on part-time unemployment, the aspect of personnel development is receiving far too little attention. Investing in employees’ self-confidence and creative potential is more important now than ever. If the plan does not sufficiently address career development for employees, we will be throwing hundreds of millions into a bottomless pit.

Published in FD 26 November 2009

In the discussion on the retirement age, interests and costs for employers are not being sufficiently addressed. Consequently, whether or not the right decisions are being made is very much open to debate. Primarily, it is employees who are having their say (through the trade unions), although it is employers who will be bearing a significant portion of the costs. Here we summarise a few of the arguments that are being missed.

Published in FD 10 December 2009

As long as we see employees as a problem, we will not resolve the demotion issue, say Johan van Dam and Hans Dusseldorp.

Published in FD 12 June 2009

Wouter Bos would like bankers to take an exam to verify whether they are competent enough to exercise their profession. As long as top appointments within banks lack a professional approach, insisting bankers take an exam is an exercise in futility. Furthermore, bankers are smart enough to ensure they pass the exam. It would be better for Bos to focus his efforts on ensuring there is a decent system of appointment.

The article ‘Works Council already has enough on its plate’ (FD 10 November)' focuses on the position that the Works Council occupies in companies confronted by the credit or another crisis. The question is whether greater power given to employees is a panacea against the failure of the free market. Primarily, the article unjustly speaks about new rights for the Works Council, such as the right of consent for mergers, the right of appointing supervisory board members and the right to be consulted in relation to the remuneration of top management. The experts that are given the opportunity to speak ignore the fact that the Works Council is a dwarf with clay feet.

Confidence in the listed company model is waning. Changes to the Tabaksblat Code or increased government oversight are unable to turn this tide. Companies must become robust. In terms of strategy, financing, supervision, management, organisation and people. The dangerous instability that has recently become apparent cannot be eliminated through yet more rules and government oversight. Companies must become robust. Robust here is defined as big and strong, able to withstand a push and a shove, but not aggressive.

The way in which organisations select their managers and supervisory board members leaves something to be desired. But if the mental, physical and psychological attributes of potential candidates are included as part of the process, then the brain scan proposed by professor Verbeke on BNR News Radio is not necessary. The current recruiting and selection practices used by many organisations yield good insight into the potential and limitations of applicants on the basis of interviews, tests, simulations, games and assessments.

Manufacturers are responding to the crisis with crisis products and useless innovations (see Het Financieele Dagblad (Financial Daily) dated 31 March). Manufacturers should focus on fewer products that are better suited to their core target groups. Expanding the portfolio is a well-known, but ineffective way of maintaining sales and profits up to par when conditions worsen. From my dissertation research at Nijenrode and from 70 years of Berenschot experience it is apparent that almost all companies drag along too much baggage when the road runs uphill.

Reality in the world of sales representatives and traders is very simple. Of course there is indeed a relationship between economic growth and the number of engineers (Economie.nl by Jule Hinrichs in FD 10 September). The only thing is that economists are unable to validate this relationship scientifically. They are unfamiliar with organisations' potential for improvement that engineers are able to tap into.