Employers’ role in housing and their attractiveness as employers

RESEARCH COMPLETED BY 300 BUSINESSES AND 1,000 EMPLOYEES

It was once common for employers to arrange housing for their employees (think of Philips Village in Eindhoven), but today, this role is less obvious, even though the current housing shortage stands at 390,000. Mortgage lender BLG Wonen (part of The Volksbank) takes an active role in addressing housing market issues and asked DVJ Insights to conduct research involving over 1,000 employees and more than 300 employers to answer questions such as:

• Should employers also play a role in making the housing market more accessible?
• What issues do employees face, and what role do they see employers playing?
• In the current tight labour market, how much does taking on this role help employers attract and retain employees?

The full results will be part of the Housing Debate with the theme ‘Housing: the new employment benefit’ taking place on the 1st of November.

ALMOST HALF OF EMPLOYERS DO NOT ASSIST EMPLOYEES WITH HOUSING

• Just over half of the surveyed employers (51%) feel responsible for providing good housing for employees.
• Employers that do provide housing assistance mainly do so by reimbursing costs associated with renting or buying a home (46%), assisting in finding housing (44%), and sharing knowledge about the local job market (39%). In 37% of cases, employees are eligible for (temporary) accommodation reserved for company staff.
• However, almost half (49%) of employers do not offer any support for employee housing, with relatively little difference between small, medium-sized, and large organisations.
• 46% fear more complications if they take on this role, 42% believe this role is primarily for large employers, and 36% think that employees do not need assistance.
• About a third do not offer help because they would not know how (31%) or believe that employees have no need for it (27%). 15% do not see it as their responsibility.

STAFF BECOME MORE INVOLVED AND STAY LONGER IN SERVICE

• Three out of four employers believe that housing assistance makes a positive contribution to attracting new employees.
• They also believe it increases engagement (73%) and aids in retaining current staff (69%).
• A majority of employees indicate that housing assistance makes an employer more attractive.
• Six out of ten would consider it when choosing an employer.

GUIDING PEOPLE IN THE HOUSING MARKET

Light forms of housing assistance, such as reimbursements for buying or renting and assistance in finding housing, are favoured by 3 out of 10 employees, followed by reserving housing (17%) or assistance with home purchases (16%).

One of the five employees in the research also sets aside money for their coworkers. Frank Soede, CEO of BLG Wonen:

“We see in practice that this also pertains to new working spaces. From building complete new homes on an existing business property to building offices or warehouses, tiny homes can be placed anywhere.”