Staff shortage is now the driver of automation
In early June 2026 Statistics Netherlands (CBS) published new figures on how Dutch companies deal with their staff shortages. The core message: automation, often with AI, is now the most chosen solution. For the first time more companies reach for technology than for the classic answers such as higher wages or extra recruitment campaigns.
For anyone working in an SMB, the most important lesson is not in the average, but in who leads and who lags.
The figures in a row
64 percent of Dutch companies face a shortage of suitable staff. To soften the consequences, 29.7 percent are turning to automation, up from 24.7 percent in 2025. In one year that is a significant jump.
But the difference by company size is large. Of the large companies, 40.4 percent are turning to automation. Among medium-sized companies it is 28.1 percent, and among small companies of 5 to 50 employees only 20.1 percent. The companies that often feel the shortage hardest are investing least in the solution.
That has consequences. One in five small companies with a staff shortage, 20.1 percent, say they have to scale back production. Among large companies that is only 8.7 percent. Where the big players automate, the small ones brake.
And AI use itself?
There too you see the same gap. In 2025, 29.8 percent of SMBs with 10 to 249 employees used at least one AI technology. Among micro-companies of 2 to 9 workers it was 13.8 percent. The larger companies pull ahead, the smallest stand still. That matches the broader state of AI in the Dutch SMB sector.
The figures tell no story of unwillingness. They tell a story of barriers: no time, no in-house knowledge, and the feeling that AI is something for large companies with an IT department. That very feeling is by now outdated.
AI does not replace people, it relieves your team
The mistake small companies make most often is thinking that automation means replacing people. In practice it works the other way around. With a shortage of often a few FTE, AI helps not by letting someone go, but by allowing your existing team to do more with less routine work.
Think of classifying and preparing incoming requests, summarising case files, drafting standard correspondence, updating data between systems. Work no one misses and that now eats hours a week of your people's time. We wrote earlier about how to make your existing team more productive with AI without replacing anyone.
Why the front-runners do not buy yet another tool
The difference between the companies that get a return and those that keep muddling through rarely sits in the number of tools. It sits in whether you truly take the repetitive work out of your process. Yet another subscription does not solve that. A layer that sits on top of your existing systems and actually takes over the work does.
That is why, faced with a shortage, we do not start with a tool, but with the question of where the most hours leak away in your firm. An AI audit maps that in 14 days, and shows which part of that work you can automate without hiring.
Not lagging in the statistics
The CBS figures show a divide that is deepening in 2026. Large companies automate, small companies scale back production. Which side you are on is still a choice.
Fourteen days later you know which part of your staff shortage you can absorb with smart automation, without replacing your team. Growing along with the front-runners starts with knowing where your hours leak away.
