Understandable language, clothing for women: working conditions must be more inclusive

This article was last updated on May 28, 2025

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Understandable language, clothing for women: working conditions must be more inclusive

Policy in the workplace is too much based on the ‘standard’ adult, white man. Employers should take more account of the increasing diversity in the workplace, also in the interest of the safety of employees. That says the Social Economic Council (SER) in a new advice.

Conversations that the SER conducted with experts and people from practice shows that the additional effects of diversity on working conditions are still underestimated too much.

In the workplace, women, the elderly and people with a non-Dutch background are increasingly walking around. More should be taken into account with them, for example when making risk assessments and drawing up measures, says the SER. “Not everything is just as safe for them,” says chairman Kim Putters.

For example, women can be more sensitive to certain substances than men, the elderly can get other disorders now that they continue to work for longer. Language is also part of the various working conditions: for example, labor migrants do not always understand the Dutch (occupational health and safety) rules.

Risks

Employers should respond more to things like this. “It is not yet happening everywhere, because those risks are not in the picture,” says Putters. A third of the companies do not yet have a good overview, concludes the SER. Especially in sectors that work with hazardous substances, things are not going well.

“We argue for a revision of standards to guarantee the health of all employees,” said the SER. “Moreover, current standards may be outdated and no longer correspond to recent scientific insights.”

Not only a diverse workforce leads to changes in the workplace with which employers must take more account, the SER also points to the growing role of technology, such as artificial intelligence. On the one hand, that can limit the workload, but can also lead to too monotonous work.

Good employer

The SER therefore argues for better arbor rules and that is the task of the government, says Putters. “In the Labor Inspectorate, but also that knowledge about hazardous substances becomes more accessible to companies.” This is necessary so that companies can better visualize the risks themselves, he continues.

Because of the tight labor market, employees themselves also look at these types of labor rules, the SER sees. “A company where you can work healthy and safe has a good employer.” Looking more at diversity is therefore also in the interest of our economy and society, says Putters.

“Work ultimately also contributes to the health of people and working pleasure. It is therefore about preventing outages, but also about taking care of healthy employees.”

In total, around five percent of all diseases are due to unfavorable working conditions, the SER report says. This concerns around 1.6 billion euros in healthcare expenditure. “You don’t want victims and you also want to prevent those costs,” says Putters. “Every victim is one too many.”

Scherfvest for Women

Defense currently works On a Scherfvest, a kind of bulletproof vest, especially for women. “Smaller shoulder pieces, better fitting around the chest, so that you are better protected as a woman, all kinds of adjustment options,” a designer sums up. There were already female sizes, but the men’s model was still the basis for that. “In the general research, the woman is often forgotten, so there is now much more attention for that.”

Making adjustments like this takes time, says Colonel Jan Vonk. “I have 50,000 soldiers that I have to dress. To get their wishes clear, there are already a big task. There are also few factories that can make 50,000 jackets. When making the old clothing in 2015, the market was not yet so far thought about female forms. Now there is money and we can integrate it.”

The most important thing is to find the right balance between the individual and the group according to the Colonel: “At the Ministry of Defense, we have a lot of people, while the people who come in are individuals. To find the right balance in and keep looking at what is going on and then implement it, that is the art.”