Royal attention in Genk
Belgium's King Philippe recently visited H. Essers, a logistics services provider mainly for the pharmaceutical and chemical industry, at its new headquarters in Genk, to learn about measures to combat skills shortage.
Since global supply chains are currently battling with massive capacity bottlenecks, structural steps must be taken to raise the level of activity and enable more people to enter the labour market.
H. Essers employs almost 7,000 people at 85 locations in 19 countries – and is currently seeking 350 more employees in the region alone. To assist recruitment, the company has set up the H. Essers Academy as its own training centre. H. Essers also promotes the inclusion of people with disabilities.
Company CEO Gert Bervoets sees the Danish "flexicurity model" – flexibility and security for employees and employers - as an "inspiration" for Belgium. H. Essers was founded by Henri Essers in 1928 and generated sales of EUR 797 million in 2020. (sh)