INSIGHTSRESEARCH

Short on staff? Automate the recurring work first

Almost two thirds of businesses are short of staff, and most now choose to automate. How to see which work to hand off first, and what stays with your team.

By

TuesdayAiden's agenda
8:30Forward applicationsAutomatic
10:00Retype vacanciesAutomatic
13:00Call a candidate
15:00Meeting with a client

THE PROBLEM

There is plenty of work, but nobody to do it

There is enough work coming in, but too few people to do it. A vacancy has been open for months. The colleagues who are there take on the work of the empty seat as well.A large part of their day then goes to work that keeps coming back. A colleague reads every e-mail and forwards it to the right person. Details from one system are retyped into another. Meanwhile other work is left waiting, such as calling a customer back or finishing a quote.

WHAT IS BEING SAID

Businesses now choose automation most often

Many business owners recognise this. According to CBS, Statistics Netherlands, 64 percent of businesses are dealing with a staff shortage. CBS bases that on its business survey of April 2026, which it runs together with the Chamber of Commerce (KVK), the employers' organisations MKB-Nederland and VNO-NCW, and the Economic Institute for Construction (EIB).What stands out is what businesses do about it. A year earlier, most businesses mainly made it more attractive to work for them, for example with a higher salary. In April 2026, automating more is the measure named most often. CBS gives robots and support from AI as examples. Almost 30 percent of all businesses choose it, against almost 25 percent a year earlier. Businesses could choose two measures.That rise shows in almost every sector. In business services the share rose from 29 to 36 percent. But the size of a business makes a difference. CBS counts businesses with 5 to 50 people as small, and those with 250 people or more as large.

Invest more in automationSmall businesses20%Large businesses40%
Limit what they produce or offerSmall businesses20%Large businesses9%
Make working there more attractiveSmall businesses23%Large businesses26%
Over three quarters of business owners are taking measures to work more productively. They mainly name investing in technology and automation, and more efficient work processes. The main obstacle to that is a lack of staff itself, named by 30 percent of businesses.The survey shows what businesses say they do. Whether the automation actually solves the shortage, it does not measure.

AJEKO'S VIEW

Automate the work you are now short of people for

The choice to automate is right, with one condition. Automation only helps against a shortage if it takes away the hours you are missing now. A large system that is only ready in a year does not do that. Nor does a tool that is used a few times a month.Those hours usually sit in work that keeps coming back, where a colleague mostly passes information on. Think of reading and forwarding an e-mail, retyping details or putting a text into a fixed form. That work is not the same every time. Every request and every vacancy is written a little differently. That is exactly where AI can help, because AI can read those differences.The judgement should stay with a colleague. Who calls a candidate? Which vacancy goes online? If the passing-on happens automatically and the decision stays with a colleague, that colleague gets time back for the work that needs people. For a small business, that can be the difference between turning work down and taking it on.

HOW TO APPROACH IT

Start with what comes in every day

That fits the principle Demonstrably better. An improvement has to prove itself in practice. When you are short of staff, nobody has time for a large project. That is why it starts with one piece of work, not with everything at once.

  1. 1

    Look at what keeps coming back

    What does your team do again every day? Think of requests, applications or orders. How often does one come in, and how much time does each one take?

  2. 2

    Find where information is passed on

    Which part of that work is reading, forwarding or retyping? That part can be automatic. Where a colleague weighs something up, the work stays with that colleague.

  3. 3

    Start with one process

    Choose the work that comes back most often. A working concept soon shows whether your team gets time back from it.

  4. 4

    See what it delivers

    After a few weeks, look at what has changed. If it does not deliver what it should, the reason is worked out together and it is adjusted.

At a staffing and secondment agency for education, applications from a partner's job board arrived as e-mails. A colleague read every e-mail, worked out which vacancy and recruiter it belonged to, and forwarded the e-mail. With the automatic application processing, every applicant goes straight into the recruitment system as a candidate, linked to the right vacancy. The right recruiter gets an e-mail about it and can get in touch.At the same agency, a recruiter entered every new vacancy three times: as a text, as a vacancy and as a publication. Every school writes a vacancy in its own way. With the AI vacancy processing, AI takes the details out of the vacancy and writes the text in the house style. The recruiter checks the vacancy and publishes it. Nothing goes online without a recruiter.

This approach does ask something of your team. Someone has to show how the work runs now, exceptions included. And it has to be agreed what may happen automatically and what always goes past a colleague. That is worked out together, and the automation grows as it proves itself in practice.

It starts with a look at your processes

Get in touch

SOURCES

Projects from this article

DerecAI vacancy processingAI reads a new vacancy and writes the text in the house style, so a recruiter can publish the vacancy after one check.Read moreLiveDerecAutomatic application processingApplications from a partner's job board arrive in the recruitment system as candidates automatically, linked to the right vacancy.Read moreLive

Curious what this means for your business?

Get in touchAutomation