Making Work of Social Return

In tenders, it is usually required or encouraged to fill in a percentage of the contract sum through Social Return, or the deployment of people with a distance to the labor market. For almost 25 years, Ampliar Uitzendbureau has been the specialist and partner in the field of sending professionals to fulfill a Social Return obligation. The company has its own philosophy. An interview with director Charles van Teeseling.

Ampliar started its operations in 1995 as a project organization for the Rotterdam Urban Education Service, then still under the name AanBouw to coach unemployed people to regular employment. "In 1998, this project ended and AanBouw was converted from a project organization to a company," says Van Teeseling. "Since then we have grown into a company that offers support in fulfilling a Social Return obligation all over the Netherlands. Our core business has remained unchanged in all these years: our goal is to help as many people with a distance to the labor market as possible find a job, supported by project supervisors and a back office."

Addressing concerns

Ampliar has traditionally had a strong focus on the construction and infrastructure sector. Van Teeseling: "We like to support already during the tender phase to efficiently fulfill the Social Return obligation. We are therefore involved in many large infrastructure projects, such as the A16 Rotterdam for combination De Groene Boog and on the Afsluitdijk for Levvel. Whereas in the nineties our people were mainly deployed for unskilled positions, nowadays we can fill all levels. From low-skilled workers to people with a completed HBO or university education. Each year we try to deploy about 500 skilled workers whom we fully support and guide where needed and necessary. Think help with debt elimination or assistance with appropriate housing. We take away those worries so they can get to work without worry. We have been doing it this way for almost 25 years and have been quite successful, we may conclude. Moreover, our approach is that our people eventually move on to permanent jobs."

These are also challenging times for Ampliar. "We still managed to post the right people to the right projects," says Van Teeseling. "This is mainly due to the national distribution: our people are working and living throughout the country. Thanks to a division into five regions, each with a regional manager, we have an up-to-date view of the local regulations regarding Social Return in all cities in the Netherlands. And so we can rightly make work of Social Return for people and companies that need it."