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Municipalities are dealing with a labor market that is constantly changing. New colleagues start, employees move internally or leave the organization. This is part of the equation, but it also involves risks: loss of knowledge, delays in service and dependence on external hiring.
The 2024 Personnel Monitor by A&O Fund Municipalities provides insight into these movements - and thus points to the sore spot. Because as a municipality, how do you ensure that the organization continues to run and retain knowledge, no matter who comes or goes? In this article, we dive into the numbers, outline the challenges and show how SelfGuide helps municipalities to keep a grip on knowledge and processes and thus ensures the organization's continuity.
In 2024, the influx rate among municipalities was 16%. This is a slight decrease compared to 18.3% in 2023. What is striking is that smaller municipalities welcomed relatively more new employees than large municipalities. At the same time, the influx of young employees continues to increase: the proportion of young people under 35 grew again, offering opportunities for rejuvenation and renewal.
To take advantage of this opportunity, a effective onboarding so that new colleagues can quickly become familiar with the organization, processes and systems. In practice, it appears that this phase is often fragmented. New employees are therefore dependent on colleagues or find their own way through various sources. This takes time, inhibits productivity and leads to many recurring questions at help desks.
By already providing accessible, task-oriented instructions during the onboarding phase, municipalities can accelerate the independence of new employees. SelfGuide supports this process by offering work instructions in a clear, process-oriented and immediately applicable way. This reduces the pressure on internal support and helps new colleagues to participate effectively more quickly.
In 2024, internal flow will remain an important feature within municipalities: no less than 9.3% changed their position, team or department. This often involves employees who are continuing to grow, but reorganizations and job shifts also play a role.
This flow is of course positive and desirable, but it also involves risks. Because: what happens to the knowledge and experience that someone brings from the previous position? This transfer is often still ad hoc - via a short consultation, a separate document or oral explanation. As a result, valuable context or information disappears and the successor has to figure out exactly how processes, systems or work agreements work.
A structural approach to knowledge transfer prevents important information from falling between shore and ship. By to record work instructions and process information centrally and clearly - for example, per task or application - municipalities support internal mobility without loss of quality. This makes it easier for employees to take over new responsibilities and ensures continuity in execution.
In 2024, the outflow among municipalities was an average of 8.9%. Although that is slightly lower than in 2023, almost one in ten employees still leaves the organization every year. In particular, the proportion of people over 65 is rising, partly because more people are making use of the Early Retirement Scheme (RVU). At the same time, 53% of employees left the organization because they are ready for a new challenge or better employment conditions.
When experienced employees leave, their knowledge of systems, processes and local practices often also disappears. Without clear agreements about knowledge transfer, that knowledge easily disappears from the organization. In practice, there is often little time for a good transfer when leaving. Sometimes something is still put on paper quickly, but that is rarely enough. The successor then has to figure it out again, leading to delays, errors or inconsistency in performance.
That is precisely why it is important not only to start with knowledge assurance when you leave, but to focus on it structurally. By record critical processes and tasks in accessible instructions, knowledge remains retained for the organization - even if the person who worked with it has already left. This way, you ensure that the departure of one employee does not lead to a loss of quality or continuity.
In 2024, municipalities spent an average of 17.5% of their salary on external hiring — a slight decline compared to 2023 (18.1%). At the same time, the number of municipalities with active policies to limit external hiring increased from 50% to 57%. This seems to be related to the lifting of the enforcement moratorium of the DBA Act: many municipalities chose to offer temporary contracts or convert flexible positions into permanent positions.
However, external hiring remains indispensable, for example at peak loads or when specific expertise is temporarily needed. It is then important not only to look at capacity, but also at knowledge assurance. When external parties perform long-term operational tasks, it is important that their knowledge is transferable — especially when they leave.
By properly recording work instructions and process information, external parties can participate more effectively more quickly and the organization becomes more agile. By making knowledge accessible and accessible, you reduce the induction time - and external deployment is used more efficiently. For example, knowledge assurance not only contributes to internal continuity, but also to the efficiency of temporary support.
An additional advantage of structural knowledge sharing is that the number of support requests is significantly decreasing. Employees who have independent access to clear instructions and answers to common questions are less likely to contact the help desk or colleagues. This not only saves time, but also reduces the pressure on support departments such as I&A or functional management. More and more municipalities are therefore focusing on unlocking knowledge through smart tooling — so that user problems are solved faster and often independently.
The figures from the Personnel Monitor show: the municipal labor market remains under pressure due to an aging population, permanent tightness and increasing workload. But then its impact can be limited. Especially in a continuously changing labor market, it is important not to link knowledge to individuals, but to the organization as a whole.
This requires a structural approach to knowledge assurance. Not just at departure or transfer, but during every phase. Think of recording work instructions, process steps and application usage in an accessible way, and making them available to every colleague who works with them. This is how you ensure a future-proof organization, where knowledge remains available at all times.
Go to selfguide.com/municipalities for more information and practical examples. This creates a knowledge structure that moves with your organization, instead of keeping you behind the facts.
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