Zuyderland use case: a unifying thread in labor market communication enabled by data

1. The challenge

At the start of Marieke’s interim role in September 2024, several challenges emerged:

• Staff shortages: Zuyderland, like the rest of the healthcare sector, faces a huge staffing challenge. If nothing changes, by 2040 one in four Dutch people will have to work in healthcare. Pressure is highest in acute care.
• Fragmented labour market communication: There was little structural investment in maintaining visibility on the labour market.
• Ad‑hoc recruitment processes: Short‑term demands dictated the pace and focus of hiring efforts.
• Overall need: A substantiated, broadly supported labour market approach was lacking.

2. The approach

Zuyderland implemented a structured approach, embedding Giant from Intelligence Group in three areas of the organization: labour market communication, recruitment and HR.

Labour market communication: building the foundation

Under the leadership of Marieke and Tessa, a step‑by‑step plan was developed:

• Identify which partners and tools are needed in the process
• Clarify Zuyderland’s strategy, vision, mission and core values
• Conduct interviews and guided tours with employees from Zuyderland care centres, home care and home assistance to understand what drives and motivates them—and what gives them “headaches”
• Develop personas for five focus profiles based on those interviews and Giant data
• Translate these insights, together with agency Zuiderlicht, into an EVP and a creative employer‑brand campaign

The insights from Giant contributed to:

• Developing personas using Giant data: drivers, motivations, employment conditions, recruitment feasibility and media behaviour
• Selecting campaign messages for each target group
• Channel choices: where and how to reach each audience
• Recruitment: managing expectations realistically

Within recruitment, Giant is used primarily during discussions with vacancy holders/hiring managers:

• Insight into the size of the target group and the degree of scarcity
• Objective data on recruitment feasibility, for example “one candidate can choose from five vacancies”
• Support for adjusting job profiles or for broader sourcing strategies

HR: combating staff shortages

The urgency is high due to staff shortages, especially in acute care. A taskforce has been established within Zuyderland to tackle this challenge. They’ve been tasked with making evidence‑based decisions—and taking significant steps forward—in smarter workforce organisation: retaining more staff, recruiting more efficiently, and training more effectively. Data—both internal metrics and insights from Giant—supports this by:

• providing insight into turnover, an ageing workforce, and upcoming departures due to retirement or absenteeism
• enabling evidence‑based choices for training capacity and internal mobility
• improving the employee journey through better understanding of what different target groups need and expect

3. Results

Although the labour market campaign for Zuyderland care centres, home care and home assistance has only just gone live, the first outcomes are visible across multiple areas:

• Unifying thread in messaging
  A clear, consistent line has emerged in labour market communication, job marketing and vacancy texts: a recognisable translation of mission, vision and core values into messages that truly resonate with target audiences.
• Improved internal collaboration
  Labour market communication, internal communications, recruitment and HR now work more closely together. This leads to better‑coordinated campaigns, both internally and externally, and smoother processes.
• Successful campaign launch
  The employer‑brand proposition and its associated new campaign have been enthusiastically received both within and outside the organisation. The foundation is now in place; the further impact on applications and hiring will be monitored over the coming months.
• Accelerator of organisation‑wide change
  The approach within care centres, home care and home assistance has set a broader movement in motion across the entire Zuyderland group. Other divisions, such as Cure and GGz, are adopting the model to strengthen their labour market communication and recruitment based on data and audience insights. What began as an initiative within Care is now evolving into a programme‑based approach throughout Zuyderland.

Conclusion

Zuyderland demonstrates that labour market communication isn’t a standalone project but a collaboration of strategy, partnerships and internal cooperation. By using Giant as the foundation for building personas, managing expectations and determining media choices, Zuyderland professionalises not only its communication but also its organisation as an employer.