https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en New and updated briefings from Leap Trends. Leap Company collects public publications about organisations and orders them by four organisational conditions: structure, culture, leadership and technology. Each condition contains themes, each with its own page at https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/themes/<slug>. For the most discussed themes, that page has AI-compiled conclusions with the publications they rest on. A briefing is an AI-compiled overview of what several organisations publish on one topic, with the source for every figure. en Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/algorithmic-management-in-warehouses-delivery-and-retail https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/algorithmic-management-in-warehouses-delivery-and-retail Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT Technology Software hands out tasks, measures the pace and draws up rosters. Research links heavy algorithmic management to more stress and accidents; Europe and the Netherlands are drafting rules. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/agent-washing-and-the-cost-of-agent-projects https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/agent-washing-and-the-cost-of-agent-projects Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Technology Gartner expects over four in ten agent projects to be cancelled by the end of 2027. Meanwhile use at large companies is growing fast. The difference lies in whether an agent was needed in the first place. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/customer-aggression-towards-frontline-staff https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/customer-aggression-towards-frontline-staff Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Culture Industry bodies in retail, hospitality and public transport report more aggression, especially towards young staff, and are asking government for help. The national survey shows no rise yet. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/technician-shortage-in-manufacturing-and-ai-onboarding https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/technician-shortage-in-manufacturing-and-ai-onboarding Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Technology Factories are looking for more technicians than there are. Deloitte sees AI as a way to get new people working independently sooner; scaling AI in the factory remains stalled for now. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/ai-literacy-and-the-ai-act-obligation https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/ai-literacy-and-the-ai-act-obligation Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Technology Article 4 of the AI Act requires every organisation that uses AI to take measures for AI literacy. Since 2 August 2026 this has been enforceable. Most organisations are only at the start. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/the-managers-role-in-how-employees-use-ai https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/the-managers-role-in-how-employees-use-ai Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Leadership Research links employees' use of AI to support from their own manager. HR doubts whether managers are up to that role. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/burnout-sickness-absence-and-employee-engagement https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/burnout-sickness-absence-and-employee-engagement Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Culture In 2025, 21 per cent of Dutch employees had burnout symptoms, the highest figure since the series began in 2015. Women stand at 23.5 per cent, men at 18. Engagement is falling worldwide. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/ai-use-and-strategy-as-seen-by-leaders-and-staff https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/ai-use-and-strategy-as-seen-by-leaders-and-staff Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Leadership Managers use AI almost twice as often as their staff and think the direction is clear. The front line sees it differently. Four datasets, one direction. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/job-losses-and-reskilling-in-the-european-car-industry https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/job-losses-and-reskilling-in-the-european-car-industry Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Structure European suppliers announced a combined 104,000 job losses in 2024 and 2025. Reskilling lags behind, partly because HR is often brought into the restructuring late. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/decision-making-and-development-speed-european-carmakers-vs-china https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/decision-making-and-development-speed-european-carmakers-vs-china Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Structure Chinese carmakers develop a new model 25 to 30 per cent faster. Four analyses from 2026 locate the brake mainly in decision-making and processes, rather than in technology or labour costs. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/ceo-turnover-tenure-and-the-first-time-ceo https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/ceo-turnover-tenure-and-the-first-time-ceo Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Leadership More CEOs left their jobs worldwide in 2025 than in any year since records began, tenures are shrinking and most successors have never done the job before. The bench behind them is thin. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/european-chemical-closures-and-industrial-clusters https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/european-chemical-closures-and-industrial-clusters Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Structure Since 2022, European chemical companies have announced closures covering 9% of their capacity, a fifth of it in the Netherlands. Firms on a cluster depend on each other, so policy is looking at the cluster. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/engineering-managers-writing-code-and-directing-ai-agents https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/engineering-managers-writing-code-and-directing-ai-agents Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Leadership In software teams, managers are doing more technical work themselves, while engineers increasingly direct agents. The two roles are moving towards each other. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/genai-pilots-productivity-gains-and-the-bottom-line https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/genai-pilots-productivity-gains-and-the-bottom-line Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Technology Eight in ten employees say AI makes them more productive. The share of organisations that see those gains in the figures has been flat for two years. The gap lies between pilot and practice. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/management-layers-ai-and-the-strain-on-remaining-managers https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/management-layers-ai-and-the-strain-on-remaining-managers Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Structure Two in five organisations cut management roles last year, and AI is increasingly the reason given. The managers who stayed are exhausted. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/engagement-and-workload-of-managers-and-their-teams https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/engagement-and-workload-of-managers-and-their-teams Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Leadership Three institutes have measured a fall in manager engagement within a year, steeper than among their teams, while layers disappear and more lands on their plate. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/psychological-safety-of-middle-managers https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/psychological-safety-of-middle-managers Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Culture Research compares the psychological safety of middle managers with that of their bosses and their teams. Yet it is the middle layer that has to model that safety for teams. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/working-from-home-office-days-and-works-council-consent https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/working-from-home-office-days-and-works-council-consent Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Structure Three employers wanted more office days on orders from head office. Asus and Caterpillar lost in the subdistrict court; Booking.com is there now. Working from home has become a working condition. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/dutch-civil-service-cuts-and-which-tasks-to-drop https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/dutch-civil-service-cuts-and-which-tasks-to-drop Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Structure Dutch central government must save €3.4bn on its own operations by 2035. The Court of Audit sees no plans for which tasks will go, and new rules almost always require extra staff. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/school-leaders-work-stress-time-use-and-turnover https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/school-leaders-work-stress-time-use-and-turnover Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Leadership TALIS, the Inspectorate and two labour market studies find the same thing: school leaders have more stress, too little time for teaching and learning, and stay in post for less time. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/trust-and-culture-as-seen-by-executives-and-employees https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/trust-and-culture-as-seen-by-executives-and-employees Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Culture Nine in ten CEOs think employees trust their leadership; fewer than half of those employees say so. The unwritten rules are no longer shared. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/graduate-hiring-and-how-juniors-learn-in-law-and-accounting https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/graduate-hiring-and-how-juniors-learn-in-law-and-accounting Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Structure Large law and accounting firms are hiring fewer graduates and more technologists. Professionals fear juniors will learn the job less well now that AI does the routine work. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/factory-built-housing-capacity-and-the-planning-phase https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/factory-built-housing-capacity-and-the-planning-phase Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Structure Housing factories can build almost 35,000 homes a year and run at about 45 per cent. TNO and Roland Berger locate the delay in the planning phase and in a supply chain set up for bespoke work. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/ai-use-training-and-policy-among-healthcare-professionals https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/ai-use-training-and-policy-among-healthcare-professionals Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Technology More than half of Dutch nurses and carers use AI, mostly on their own initiative, and hardly any have been trained in it. Meanwhile hospitals are adopting AI policies at speed. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/european-diversity-policies-under-us-pressure https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/european-diversity-policies-under-us-pressure Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Culture European companies rarely drop diversity targets out loud. They drop the words, like Lego, or pause programmes, like GSK, which fell from 7th to 224th place in the European ranking. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/governing-regional-care-networks-and-the-azwa-work-agenda https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/governing-regional-care-networks-and-the-azwa-work-agenda Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Structure The AZWA requires 38 Dutch care regions to draw up a work agenda by 15 November. RIVM and the University of Groningen show most regional networks lack central steering and score zero on governance. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/executive-planning-cycles-and-geopolitical-risk https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/executive-planning-cycles-and-geopolitical-risk Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Leadership Executives are planning in shorter cycles and building in more fallback options, because geopolitical events move faster than their view of the risks. Four surveys in a year find the same. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/grid-technicians-and-the-capacity-to-train-them https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/grid-technicians-and-the-capacity-to-train-them Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Structure Dutch grid operators and contractors need some 30,000 extra technicians by 2030. The biggest bottleneck is the capacity to train and supervise new people; work is already on hold. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/entry-level-jobs-for-young-workers-in-ai-exposed-occupations https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/entry-level-jobs-for-young-workers-in-ai-exposed-occupations Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Structure In the US, young workers in occupations where AI takes over tasks hold 19 per cent fewer jobs than expected. The effect runs through less hiring. The bottom rung of the ladder is getting narrower. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/data-decision-speed-and-mandate-in-organisations https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/data-decision-speed-and-mandate-in-organisations Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Structure Executives lean more heavily on data, yet decisions come no faster. KPMG, BCG and McKinsey point the same way: the delay lies in layers and mandates, and those are not changing. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/public-support-for-ceos-who-speak-out https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/public-support-for-ceos-who-speak-out Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Leadership Americans are less and less keen on CEOs speaking out on social issues, and mostly remember the statement they disagreed with. Stanford and Gallup measure the same decline. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/unbossing-and-why-middle-managers-want-to-leave https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/unbossing-and-why-middle-managers-want-to-leave Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Leadership First organisations cut management layers. Now more than half of US managers are looking around, and four in ten stressed leaders worldwide are considering giving up managing altogether. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/ai-in-software-development-and-measuring-productivity https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/ai-in-software-development-and-measuring-productivity Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Technology Software developers are handing more and more work to AI agents. What it yields is unknown: researchers can no longer find a control group, and developers distrust the yardstick. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/shadow-ai-employees-own-tools-and-ai-policy https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/shadow-ai-employees-own-tools-and-ai-policy Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Technology Many employees use their own AI tools alongside the ones provided, often paying for them themselves. Executives think they can see it. The figures say otherwise. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/ai-on-the-shop-floor-and-the-supermarket-team-leader https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/ai-on-the-shop-floor-and-the-supermarket-team-leader Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Leadership AI assistants for store staff are already in wide use at Albert Heijn. Executives expect agents to take over the store manager's admin; the payoff is still rarely visible. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/change-fatigue-and-policy-overload-in-education https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/change-fatigue-and-policy-overload-in-education Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Culture More than half of secondary school teachers feel too much is changing at school, and change fatigue weighs heavily on work stress in TALIS. ROA and the Inspectorate point to an accumulation of policy. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/ai-use-and-ownership-in-the-financial-sector https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/ai-use-and-ownership-in-the-financial-sector Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Technology More than nine in ten banks supervised by the ECB use AI. The ECB, EIOPA and the AFM see governance of that use lagging behind at banks, insurers and asset managers. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/span-of-control-and-managers-hands-on-work https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/span-of-control-and-managers-hands-on-work Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Structure With layers cut, the average manager now has twelve direct reports and still does hands-on work. Gallup found the point where it starts to go wrong. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/admin-time-in-dutch-healthcare-and-the-azwa-target https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/admin-time-in-dutch-healthcare-and-the-azwa-target Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Structure The target is at most 20 per cent admin time in healthcare by 2030. Statistics Netherlands measured 30.1 per cent at the end of 2025, Berenschot 34 in long-term care. Interim targets and a single method are missing. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/who-is-the-agents-boss https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/who-is-the-agents-boss Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Structure In more and more organisations, AI agents take steps in the work on their own, yet almost nobody has sorted out owner, mandate and off switch. A new question of structure. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/automating-tasks-versus-redesigning-work-around-ai https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/automating-tasks-versus-redesigning-work-around-ai Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Structure The share of organisations using AI to redesign entire workflows doubled in a year to 42 per cent. The rest gain hours per employee and have no idea where they go. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/dutch-bank-restructuring-and-ai-in-aml-and-customer-service https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/dutch-bank-restructuring-and-ai-in-aml-and-customer-service Mon, 26 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Structure Dutch banks are restructuring, with AI as a way to cut costs. Anti-money laundering work and customer service shrink first; unemployment benefit claims in those occupations are already rising. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/self-employed-contractors-in-construction-and-false-self-employment https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/self-employed-contractors-in-construction-and-false-self-employment Mon, 26 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Structure Since enforcement against false self-employment began, the number of self-employed in construction has fallen after ten years of growth. Firms hire fewer, rewrite contracts and cannot always find replacements. https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/trust-in-employers-and-other-institutions https://trends.leapcompany.nl/en/briefings/trust-in-employers-and-other-institutions Mon, 26 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Culture Seven in ten people hesitate to trust someone with different values. Only their own employer gets a pass mark for building trust: 58 per cent, against 39 for government.