Solving staff shortages with automation

You just can't fill that vacancy. The work piles up, your team works overtime, and sometimes you have to turn down a job or a customer because there simply aren't enough hands. You're not alone: nearly two-thirds of Dutch companies face a staff shortage. The striking news of 2026? More and more business owners aren't solving it by searching harder for people, but by automating work. In this article you'll read, in plain language, which work you can hand over first, what it costs, and when hiring someone is still the best answer.

What the latest figures show

In April 2026, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) asked business owners how they deal with their staff shortage. The result is a turning point. For the first time, 'investing more in automation' is the most-chosen measure, ahead of making the work more attractive with higher pay or better conditions. A year earlier, that last option was still on top. In other words: business owners increasingly believe the answer lies not in more people, but in smarter work.

Why small businesses lag behind, and what it costs

There's a catch, and it's the smaller business that suffers. Large companies (250+ employees) are going all-in on automation: over 40% name it as their solution. In small businesses, companies with 5 to 50 employees, exactly the group Socialo works for, it's only 20%. And the painful detail: just as often, small businesses choose to limit their production or offering. In other words: turning down work, telling customers 'no', not growing.

That gap is no coincidence. Large companies have a department to pick this up; an owner with 15 staff doesn't have that luxury and stays stuck longer in 'let's just find someone'. Yet it's exactly the work that's hardest to fill, dull, repetitive, administrative, that's often the easiest to automate.

Why 'just finding someone' works less and less

The tight labour market isn't temporary. The staff shortage is so widespread and structural that it can't be solved with a few job ads. You can keep raising salaries and polishing your terms, but if the people simply aren't there, you're fishing in an empty pond. On top of that: every new employee costs you not just salary but also employer charges, onboarding time and supervision. For work nobody really enjoys, that's an expensive solution.

Automation flips the question. Instead of 'how do I find someone for this work?', you ask: 'does this work actually need a human at all?' For a surprisingly large share of recurring work, the answer is no.

Which work to hand over first

Not everything can be automated, and not everything should be. But this is the work where the staff shortage hurts most and that lends itself best to being taken over:

• Emails and calls with the same question over and over. Opening hours, the status of an order, requesting a quote, these can be answered almost instantly without anyone on the phone or behind the inbox.
• Retyping data from one system into another. Orders, invoices, customer details. This can run entirely on its own and saves you half an admin worker.
• Scheduling appointments and planning. The back-and-forth emailing to pick a date or slot in an engineer can run automatically.
• Drafting quotes and standard letters. The basis can be ready by itself, so someone only has to check rather than start from scratch.
• Simple customer questions outside office hours. That way you stay reachable around the clock without a night shift.

In some sectors it's moving faster than in others

CBS shows per sector how fast the shift is going. This is the share of companies automating more because of staff shortages (April 2026):

• Information and communication: 44%, the biggest rise of all
• Business services: 36%
• Wholesale and trade: 32%
• Construction: 31%
• Industry: 29%
• Transport and storage: 28%
• Retail: 27%
• Car trade and repair: 20%
• Hospitality: 14%

In almost every sector this share rose over the past year. Is your sector lower on the list? Then there's a good chance you'll get ahead of your competitors by starting now.

What it costs, and what it returns

An honest comparison. An extra employee for admin or customer-contact work quickly costs you €35,000 to €45,000 a year in salary, plus employer charges, onboarding time and a workspace. And you have to find that person first. A piece of automation that takes over a big chunk of that same work is often a one-off project of a few hundred to several thousand euros, with low monthly costs after that. It works day and night, doesn't get sick, and grows with you without you having to recruit again.

That doesn't mean automation is always cheaper than a person, it depends on the work. But for recurring, predictable work you can't fill anyway, the maths almost always favours automating.

When hiring someone is still the best answer

We don't sell automation for its own sake. Sometimes a person is simply the right answer. Stick with hiring, or a mix, when:

• The work is about craft, judgement or a personal bond you don't want to automate away
• The work is different every time and can't be captured in fixed steps
• It happens too rarely to justify building something for it
• Customers value the personal contact as your distinguishing feature

In practice it's rarely 'human or machine'. Usually automation takes over the dull edge work, so your current team, or that one new hire you do find, can focus on the valuable work.

Common mistakes

• Waiting until the shortage is unbearable instead of starting with the work that's already piling up
• Buying an expensive tool before it's clear what problem it should solve
• Trying to automate everything at once instead of starting with the biggest bottleneck
• Forgetting to bring your team along, automation works best when the people using it see it as relief, not a threat
• Processing customer and staff data unsecured, make sure it's GDPR-compliant

How Socialo approaches this

I start with a free introductory conversation. We discuss what takes time, which systems you use and where automation could help. You then receive a proposal with automation opportunities, integrations, a schedule and costs.

How to take the first step

• Write down which vacancies or tasks stay open longest and burden your team most
• Mark the work that's recurring and predictable, those are your best candidates to hand over
• Work out what an extra pair of hands would cost you, and what you'd gain if that work ran on its own
• Plan a free conversation with Socialo. We look together at what you can smartly automate, and where a person stays indispensable