How happy are you in your job? Is your employer helping you to develop your skills and do you feel like a valued member of staff? A new survey on the working lives of the Netherlands’ international community aims to find the answers.

The Kenniscentrum Arbeidsmigranten, an agency set up to aid the integration of people who move to the Netherlands to work into wider Dutch society, is now launching its seventh survey, this time in an effort to find out more about people’s experience of work.

The survey will look at training and career opportunities, job security and wages, health and safety at work, communication, and working hours, and will focus on best practices as well as where things are going wrong.

‘We hope to gain a better understanding of exactly how happy foreign workers are in terms of their working conditions,” says spokesman Lars Hennissen. “What do they expect from their employer, are they given opportunities to develop their careers and what else can employers do to improve their jobs.”

The expertise centre was launched at the beginning of 2021 and so far has published the results of six Share My Voice surveys focusing on different aspects of life in the Netherlands, from housing to healthcare to job security, language and labour law.

Results

The results cover the wide range of different people who have come to the Netherlands to work, whether as a company executive, a software designer or a slaughterhouse worker and have been shared with politicians, academics, employers’ organisations and unions.

The most recent survey, about living conditions, found that seven in 10 are satisfied in general with their stay in the Netherlands. However, there is room for improvement when it comes to accommodation and living conditions, because 49% said this had a negative impact on their lives.

The survey on language skills found that a lack of time and the high cost of lessons are two reasons why many foreign workers don’t speak fluent Dutch – as well as the ease of speaking English in the Netherlands.

The organisation is also in close contact with the Roemer commission and government officials who are working to improve the situation facing people who come to the Netherlands to do mainly manual labour, often low-paid seasonal work.

A survey for everyone

The Share my Voice survey on working life is now open to all foreign nationals in the Netherlands who have come here for a job.

‘The Netherlands needs its migrant workers more than ever,’ says Lars. ‘This is a way they share your views and experiences and help others who will come in the future, and help the Dutch themselves make sure the Netherlands remains an attractive place to live and work.”

Those who take part in the survey via www.sharemyvoice.nl will automatically get the chance to win one of five Amazon vouchers worth €100 or one of the twenty vouchers worth €25.