I have a W.I.S.E dream ............

My dream is to have a world whereby individual development is not defined as an economic achievement, and instead individual development is defined as a balance of good health, career satisfaction and happiness. I'll look at the case study of the Netherlands from my perspective, because this is a country I have grown fond of after living here 14 years. Currently the economic crisis has put all individuals into a tough spot. Employees are being over worked to the point that, having a job seems like having a penalty for an unknown commited crime. It is not so strange to see companies taking advantages of the situation while using the excuse of 'costs reduction' by cutting down head count and prioritizing economic gains over employees human rights. Cases of burn out, stress, RSI, ulcers, migraines, are getting to be as common as having a cold. Yet, because the root causes of these problems are not explored, companies can get away with it especially as there are plenty more individuals they can pick from the disempowered unemployed pool. On the other hand, the target group of the unemployed is getting bigger and bigger. The weight of financial responsibility is on the hands of UWV and SOZAWE, which in the past has been able to financially provide social welfare for the unemployed in the Netherlands without seeing the bottom of their financial pit. Now these organisationa are at the point whereby they have to scrap the remaining coins at the bottom and figure out how to share it as the unemployment pool keeps growing. From my perspective, the short term solutions that have been taken by SoZAWe are not sustainable in the long run. SOZAWE is now realizing that it does not have a bottomless pit of money and for this reason, they are now coercively allocating the professional and the educated unemployed work force on jobs such as street cleaning, catering, and other manual labour while they continue to pay ‘uitkering’. Individuals refusal or failure to accomplish these facts means that teh individual will lose rights to the welfare. So basically, what I'm trying to point out is that in the long run, this situation is not sustainable for many reasons. According to IMF reports, Netherlands unemployment rate is now 5.50& compared to ten years ago in 2002 when it was 3.8%. Radical solutions are necessary. Reference: IMF reports July 2012: http://www.statista.com/statistics/17321/unemployment-in-the-netherlands Unemployment on individual level: Unemployment on individual level creates stress for the individual and the family. It also creates disharmony in society, loss of skills and knowledge, melancholy and health problems. Furthermore, by reducing employees, it means that the work burden has to be shouldered by those remaining behind. It means that the amount of work done by one person increases, and in some cases doubles or triples. It also means reduced efficiency due to tiredness and long hours of work which results into reduced productivity, increased stress, and high potential health damage(mentally and physically). Unemployment on Business level: Reducing employees for businesses means reduced production and revenue, employees health problems caused by overwork, reduced purchasing power, increased stress at work as a result of over exploitation for the existing labour force. With each business that shuts down, the direct impact is felt on customers and vendors, on the unemployed, the shops, the tax office, the social welfare office, the health insurance branches. Walking down Rotterdam central from Weena- Stadhuis nowadays, is like walking through Ghost town from business past. Businesses like Studio Hergebruik and others which used to contribute to society both economically and culturally have been forced to close down or relocate to other cheaper locations. Unemployment on government level (National and city councils): Reduced revenue from individual taxes. Larger investment in safety nets such as child support, health insurance subsidies, social welfare. Loss of skilled labour after individuals have remained unemployed from their profession for too long, a society of people who are stressed to hang on to their jobs regardless of the overwork as well as those who are depressed from lack of jobs. Naturally, this is not what we want. We want to create sustainable social-economic development and solve the economic crisis that we are in. Having observed the current situation. I have developed a vision which I believe will solve the multidimensional problems that we are facing as a society. This is what project W.I.S.E (Winning Initiatives for Sustainable Economies) is all about. Vision: My vision for solving the economic crisis is to create job opportunities for the unemployed within existing job positions by means of reducing workload for the existing labour force and reducing work hours for the existing labour force(Public-Private partnership). What is new in Green Waters approach is that, this is a community development project and therefore the approach is different from the normal employment agencies. We will work to understand the wishes of the individuals within our target groups, before matching them with companies who agree to be our partners. We specifically aim to work in close partnerships with national departments which are now giving different sorts of social welfare support as well as the city council of Rotterdam, and eventually others. I am not an economist therefore I could be speaking utopian. However, from my perspective the strategy for implementing the vision seems quite straight forward. Mission: This current situation is not sustainable for a number of reasons including loss of skills, stress, depression and other psychological disturbance. The particular aim of this CSR mission for solving the economic crisis is to create job opportunities for the unemployed within existing job positions by means of reducing workload for the existing labour force and reducing work hours for the existing labour force. This can be considered as having a ‘work buddy’. For instance, if a person is unemployed and yet has experience, knowledge and passion in e.g. Finance, he/she can be ‘matched’ to work with someone who is already employed to do this job in a specific company. The mission can be implemented by means of the following strategy: 1st step: • Explaining the CSR mission to companies and agreeing to implement a CSR vision that focuses on human resources, the mission being to have 2 people( for each specified existing job) working together as ‘work twins’. • Instead of 40hour working week for 1 person, hours can be reduced to 32 to 24 a week e.g. with Wednesday as a ‘common day’ for the ‘work twins’ to come to work for hand over and issues discussion, or else with the current employee acting as trainer/consultant/or by working on process improvement (8-16 hours).  The work reduction will be done transparently and professionally without ulterior motives e.g. By doing an internal contingent valuation for current employees.  By analyzing employment trends within departments 2nd Step: • Working as a link between businesses and organizations such as UWV/SOZAWE/Tax office agreeing the following: o Making agreements with companies to participate in the CSR Human resources project as described by ‘donating’ several work hours to the currently unemployed.  This may depend on open positions within companies which currently are not filled because of ‘cutting costs’  This can also depend on the willingness of the current individual employees to donate e.g. 8-16 hours from their contract. o If companies have open positions that are not currently filled, they can agree to employ the ‘target group’, which will be paid the standard Uitkering by UWV/SOZAWE for 3 months, including transportation costs. After 3 months the company can offer to employ the individual at agreed salary. o If 8-16 hours are donated by employees to the ‘target group’ who are currently being paid by SOZAWE/UWV, they will continue to receive the payment from SOZAWE/UWV without monetary contribution from the company for 3 months (or other specified period if the project is extended on mutual consent). o The Tax office will be responsible for subsidizing Taxes because this is a community development project coordinated by Foundation – Green Waters. NOTE: Alternative solutions can be found after discussions with tax office,UWV/SOZAWE, Gemeente and businesses that are interested in sustainable development. Conclusion: There will be long term repercussions within the society if all stakeholders don’t take the responsibility to make radical changes and even worse long term repercussions if companies continue to make the usual changes. The current situation has to be resolved so that the economy can be revived and development can be made sustainable by keeping the triple bottom line – People, Planet, Profit, during each step of operation. There are many individuals who will become graduates this year, next year, 5 years from now etc who may not be able to find employment, which means more taxes and knowledge lost. It is important to consider a number of aspects including senior members of society who are currently working and struggling to keep up with those half their age terrified of to lose their jobs a year before retirement after investing 40 years of hard work. We also have to consider those struggling to pay students loans, without having steady jobs, as well as to consider the negative atmosphere within homes that many children are being raised. To consider what it means for the many unemployed and those who are overworked, to be in this same current situation for years. To consider where businesses are going, as more of their vendors and consumers go bankrupt along the way. To consider taxes that are lost. The knowledge that is wasted. After taking time to make the considerations, please have another look at the possible advantages that can occur for society, individuals, companies and the government, if the vision to focus on Human resources as a CSR mission is successfully implemented. Individual level: • Reducing health risks • Ensuring skills are not lost • Health improvement • More time to invest in children care and nurturing • More time to invest in alternative activities e.g creativity, studying, leisure, volunteer work. • A permanent ‘back up’ person. • earning new ways of working – with a work position partner • Reduced unemployment • Less depressed people from lack of employment • Skills maintenance • Less stressed people from doing the work of 2+ people • Healthier families • 48 hours of work for the price of 40 hours • Less costs from health insurance companies • Increased purchasing power • Reduced social-economic inequalities • Revived economy. Business Level: • Reducing health risks • Ensuring skills are not lost • Healthier employees • Increased work production • Increased profit • Increased revenue • A permanent ‘back up’ person. • Earning new ways of working – with a work position partner • Skills maintenance • Acquisition of new skills • Less stressed people from doing the work of 2+ people • Healthier families • Subsidized taxes • Less costs for health insurance companies • Increased purchasing power • Reduced social-economic inequalities • Reviving the economy. • Sustainable re-investments e.g. cleaner technology. Government Level: • Reducing health risks • Ensuring skills are not lost • Healthier society • Equity in resources distribution within society. • More time to invest in alternative activities e.g creativity, studying, leisure, volunteer work. • Increased work production • Increased revenue • Increased profit • Less unemployed people/more taxes to collect • Less depressed people from lack of employment • Skills maintenance • Less stressed people from doing the work of 2+ people • Healthier families • 48 hours of work for the price of 40 hours • Increased purchasing power • Reduced social-economic inequalities • Reviving the economy. According to IMF reports, Netherlands unemployment rate is now 5.50& compared to ten years ago in 2002 when it was 3.8%. Radical solutions are necessary. Reference: IMF reports July 2012: http://www.statista.com/statistics/17321/unemployment-in-the-netherlands/