Members of the World Employment Confederation-Europe have elected Sonja van Lieshout, global head of public affairs at Randstad, as their new president. 

Van Lieshout succeeds Herman Nijns, Randstad chief executive Southern Europe, UK, and Latin America, who served in the position since 2021.

“I am honored to take up the role as WEC-Europe President for the next three years,” van Lieshout said. “During a time of profound changes across societies, I am confident that our industry holds a distinctive capability to support policymakers, employers, and talent in successfully navigating labour markets as committed partners. Ensuring equitable access to fair and quality employment opportunities for everyone is a crucial goal which I am delighted to continue pursuing with a strong, dedicated team.”

Van Lieshout started her career in the industry 20 years ago and successfully served two terms on the WEC Europe executive committee as chairs of the public affairs and the sectoral social dialogue committees, from 2017 to 2023. In addition, she is a member of the WEC Board and Executive Committee at a global level. She assumed the role of Randstad’s global head of public affairs in 2021 and is responsible for representing Randstad towards its external European and international stakeholders in terms of advocacy, stakeholder engagement, and public affairs thought leadership.

Nijns added, “It has been a privilege to serve as president of the World Employment Confederation Europe over the last three years, and it’s with great pleasure that I hand over the baton to my Randstad colleague Sonja van Lieshout. Sonja is exceptionally well-positioned to continue leading WEC Europe, ensuring the unique position of the industry and its players to unlock the potential of diverse forms of work.’’

Sander van ‘t Noordende, CEO of Randstad, said, “As Randstad, we strongly believe that the world of work must be driven towards equity, with a focus on achieving access to fair and quality work for all. An important channel in achieving this is through social dialogue and active participation in industry bodies, like the World Employment Confederation Europe. I’m especially proud that our own Sonja van Lieshout will be at the helm of WEC Europe as its newly-elected president. She enjoys our full support and we wish her every success in this role.’’

WEC Europe also announced that it has expanded its executive committee from seven to nine members. Newly elected members include:

• Kate Shoesmith, REC/UK (Vice-President – from a national federation)
• Antonio Bonardo, Gi Group Holding (Vice-President – from a corporate member)
• Laura Spangenberg, ABU/NL (Chairwoman of the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee)
• Isabelle Eynaud-Chevalier, Prism’emploi/FR (regular member)
• Sébastien van Dyk, ManpowerGroup) (regular member)
• Jakob Tietge, Dansk Erhverv/DK (regular member)

Menno Bart from The Adecco Group, current chairman of WEC-Europe’s public affairs committee, as well as Agostino Di Maio from Assolavoro/Italy, regular ExCo member, were both re-elected for a second mandate. All members of the executive committee are elected for a three-year term.

Shoesmith said, “This leadership role within the World Employment Confederation-Europe reflects our commitment to Europe. Regardless of the political context, Europe remains a major trading partner for the UK. We’ll offer our perspective and our support to build better, more inclusive labour markets that support economic and social growth.”

Bonardo said, “I look forward to putting my experience and knowledge of institutional issues relating to the promotion of the role of private employment agencies within labour markets across Europe, to get WEC-Europe recognised by European stakeholders as an authoritative voice on employment and social policies.”

WEC Europe is the voice of the private employment services industry at the European level, representing 30 national federations and corporate members.

Separately today, the World Employment Confederation announced it has completed the renewal of its board, started in September. Three members will join WEC’s Board for the first time: Caroline Pfeiffer, as representative of the Manpower Group; Jurriën Koops (ABU / The Netherlands), Andrea Resigkeit (GVP / Germany) and Mohamed El Derwy (Target HR / Egypt) as regular Board members.

Pam Sands from Kelly will take a different mandate and become the chair of the corporate members committee. Geraldine King (ERF / Ireland) received a renewal of her appointment as chair of the National Federations Committee. At the same time, Alfred Budschitz (Agest / Chile) was also re-elected as a regular board member. Mandates on WEC’s Board last three years.

WEC members also endorsed the membership application of Engma, the first-ever Chinese company to join the global organisation as a corporate member. Nichole Zhu, Director for Government and Public Relations, will be the company representative on WEC’s Board.

The General Assembly also backed the change in the National Federation representing Germany, as the GVP (the Gesamtverband der Personaldienstleister) was formed following the merger of BAP and iGZ, the two associations representing staffing companies in the country. Membership status also changed for Kelly following the sale of its European staffing activities to Gi Group Holding. The US-based company now stands as a Global MSP pure player.

On a less positive note, WEC members registered the resignation of AETT, Peru’s National Federation, and it accepted the request for suspension of membership of FAETT, one of the National Federations in Argentina, due to considerations linked to the country’s challenging economic climate.