More and more companies in the Netherlands are turning to AI, robotics, and other forms of automation to address labor shortages.
Imagine you’re in desperate need of workers. However you try to recruit new employees, nothing seems to work. What will you do?
According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), approximately two-thirds of Dutch firms are experiencing staff shortages. A year ago, they mainly focused on creating a more attractive work environment for potential employees. Nowadays, most of them are turning to automation to address the issue.
Nearly a third of businesses facing a staff shortage (29.7%) believe that increasing automation solutions, such as AI support and robotics, is the solution to their problems. Large enterprises in particular (40.4%) are more likely to invest in automation. Smaller and medium-sized firms often choose to scale back production capacity to handle staff shortages.
The adoption of AI-powered solutions to address worker scarcity is evident across almost all sectors, especially in businesses specialized in information and communication (44.1%). The cultural, sports, and recreational sector is the only branch that has increased its efforts to enhance its attractiveness.
An alternative to hiring more workers is increasing productivity. That’s where AI comes into play. Over three-quarters of enterprises (79.7%) say they are taking steps to raise productivity within their company. Eighty-five percent of large enterprises and 71% of small and medium-sized enterprises are taking this approach.
However, worker shortages (30%) and external factors, such as economic instability (27%), are the main obstacles preventing firms from improving productivity.
In recent months, we’ve seen numerous companies announcing layoffs due to automation and AI solutions. For example, in October 2025, Amazon said it was planning to cut as many as 30,000 jobs because of its AI plans for the future.
More recently, Cloudflare announced a round of layoffs involving 1,100 employees globally to prepare the company for the “agentic AI era.” Oracle and Meta also disclosed they would cut the jobs of thousands of workers to focus on advancements in AI technology.
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