2023-12-03 07:15:29
Le Forem and Marie-Kristine Vanbockestal, it’s over. The one who was general administrator for twelve years passes the baton to Raymonde Yerna. Interview as a review.
Don’t wish him a good retirement. This Thursday, November 30, when she receives us for a last interview as boss of Forem, Marie-Kristine Vanbockestal immediately warns us: “It may be a coquetry, but I ban the word retirement. Because I plan to stay activestill participate for a few years.”
On his desk, a bouquet of flowers greeting his departure. Chocolates too. Twelve years after moving into his attic office located on the 7th floor of the Forem headquarters located on Boulevard Tirou in Charleroi, his mandate, which lasted 18 months longer than expected, is definitively ending. At 66, after 12 years of trying to improve the employment situation in Wallonia and the effectiveness of Forem, Marie-Kristine Vanbockestal says she still has many projects in mind. “I’m not excluding anything,” she sums up.
Liège, industry and employment: continuity rather than rupture. This is how she sees the next day. “I got up at the same time this morning, it’s a day like any other“. No fear of heights, therefore, on this last day. She recounts her desires.
“If a minister asks me to advise him, why not.”
A return to politics? “If a minister asks me to advise him, why not,” suggests the woman who has long co-led socialist cabinets in the Walloon Region. And on the lists? “Maybe at the municipal level, but we’ll see, I still have a few months to think about it.”
Administrator at FN Herstal – “a great chance” – she shows herself open to taking on other mandates in the industry. She will also succeed Michel Forêt as president of the non-profit organization “Le Grand Liège”, an association promoting the province.
But his priority is to continue “in the same area“. Employment, training. In the association with Duo for a job, or in a homework school, “because it is, on a micro scale, a way of improving the employment situation.”
A paradoxical labor market
Exactly. What assessment does she draw at the end of her twelve years at the head of the public operator? The number of job seekers is stagnating at around 225,000, while the employment rate is not taking off… She is keen to deliver her analysis, emphasizing the importance of nuances.
Car the situation has become elusiveshe says: “The more I advanced in my role, the more I saw the job market become more complex. And since covid, it has become extremely paradoxical. From now on, we cannot account for the situation of the labor market with the only indicator of job demand.”
The employment rate is not more satisfactory, she believes. “It has the advantage of being comparable from one European country to another, but it is only a survey carried out every three months. It is therefore declarative. And if a person has worked even for one hour in the last fortnight, this is taken into account.” Result: the Netherlands has a better employment rate. But in terms of full-time equivalents, Belgium is ahead.
The different employment thermometers are malfunctioning? In any case, they no longer take into account the new realities, the current complexity, insists Marie-Kristine Vanbockestal. “For several years we have been experiencing an unprecedented situation which is disturbing the authorities and observers. Since the 1970s, we had become accustomed to a deteriorating job market. In this context, operators like Forem had a fairly positive, because they were trying to limit the damage, they had the role of savior.”
“For foreign investors, it’s a good signal to know that we have a large labor reserve.”
But the context has changed. The situation recovered around 2015. The job offer has become abundant, shortages have appeared. She is positive: “In this context, for foreign investors for example, it is a good signal to know that we have a large reserve of labor”, in which we can include part of the 500,000 long-term patients .
Quality of supply and demand
It is still necessary to examine the quality of the job offer, but also that of the applicants.
Regarding the offer: “Forem has never received so many from companies, but I would be curious to know what that represents in full-time equivalents. When we worry about shortages, I would like us to also worry about the nature of the supply, because that is one of the causes.“
Requirement: “The relationship with employment has changed after covid. Other values have emerged in society, the search for meaning has increased and the worker can be more demanding than during the oil crisis,” she notes.
There is also a concern for education. “School is the alpha and the omega. The head and the hands. This requires well-respected teachers, but we see that they are taking to the streets, that they are not happy.” She has already repeated it several times, but around 90,000 Walloon job seekers (43%) do not have a secondary school diploma, which makes their entry into the job market very complicated.
“Le Forem makes its ‘best effort’”
“I can hear the criticism. But we’re doing our ‘best effort’.”
And the Forem in all this? If the world of work has been turned upside down, one thing has not changed during her twelve years in office: the criticism leveled at the ship she piloted. Too expensive, not effective enough… Marie-Kristine Vanbockestal is not offended. “I can hear the criticism. But we’re doing our ‘best effort’.”
Is it still the right answer, has it adapted to this changing market? “The quick reading is: there are so many job offers and job seekers, what is Forem doing? We have to be nuanced, objectify the situation and challenge unfounded criticism.”
It calls on all stakeholders: politicians, social partners, influencers. “We have all the necessary information, we cannot say that we do not know the situation. We raise awareness in schools. And we have fantastic support and training tools. We have to work together! We must help us fill the training centers!” Because, she notes, information campaigns are not enough.
His appeal is addressed in particular to business stakeholders. “The social partners must ensure that the speeches coming out of the company are mobilizing. They may also need to review its codes, its requirements.”
More than 20% of job seekers who graduate from Forem training are not hired, without knowing why, due to lack of feedback, she regrets. That being said, she notes “the arrival of a new generation of HR managers who listen to young people and who are ready to negotiate with them on the basis of new mechanisms.” Furthermore, despite the criticism, “we have never had so many companies – 80,000 – Forem clients and their satisfaction rate is 80%”, she replies.
Forem agents overwhelmed
Internally, the agents responsible for supporting the unemployed have gradually had to evolve into a role of control, or even sanction. Some are reluctant, cases of burn-out are increasing. “On average, a Forem agent has a portfolio of 260 job seekers. In Denmark for example, it’s 60.” In these circumstances, personalized support seems impossible.
“That said with the greatest respect for people, I think that we still need to professionalize the profession,” she admits, however. “These employees went from an administrative function – calling a job seeker to inform them that an offer matches their profile – to exercising a profession which confronts our agents with sometimes very complex situations when it comes to people who are very far from employment.”
The private sector as support for the public
“Sanctions? I have doubts. I think the element of coercion will not produce the expected effect.”
Among these, some are reluctant to attend the training courses offered by Forem. Some believe that more control is needed, or even sanctions, through loss of benefits for example. “This speech is in keeping with the times. I have doubts. I think that the element of constraint will not produce the expected effect. It is not because the deadline for limiting your allowances is approaching that you will suddenly be equipped to go to work.”
Wouldn’t the private sector be able to be more efficient, as the Walloon Business Union suggests? “What the UWE says does not shock me. We already entrust certain job seekers to third parties on the basis of calls for projects. In the current state of the job market, having more resources is a plus . But I believe in public service. We need a single labor market coordinator, otherwise it can become anarchy.”
Employment in Belgium
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The summary
- After twelve years at the head of Forem, Marie-Kristine Vanbockestal closed the door of her office on Boulevard Tirou one last time on November 30.
- She received L’Echo for an interview in the form of an assessment of her action and the state of the Walloon job market. A situation that has become more complex and calls for a nuanced analysis, she pleads.
- She also talks about her personal future, which she sees in the association, why not at the political level. Active, in any case.
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