Growing stronger together

An organisation that keeps professionalising and growing, needs employees to grow with it and who develop themselves. In December of last year, a group of seven production employees started the Beroeps Begeleidende Leerweg or BBL (Professional practical skills course) for Logistics Professional at the Arcus College in Heerlen.

Knowledge & Skills

“Because our organisation is continuously growing, we wanted to place more responsibility lower in the organisation, so that we can take our next steps with strong, professional and motivated teams”, says Nicole Janssen, HR manager at Nedlin. “In 2016, the first group of production managers finished an education course which provided them with the necessary knowledge, skills and tools to take on this responsibility. This was very successful. Keeping this positive experience in mind, we now want to further support and facilitate laundry facility employees, foremen and coordinators in this process.”

Commitment & Interest

These days, finding qualified and motivated people on the job market is not an easy task. Nedlin has also noticed this. Nicole: “This makes it necessary to set ourselves apart as a company. As a family business, we do this through a number of specific values, among other things. For instance, we believe it is very important to involve our employees in our (change) processes, and to continuously stimulate commitment and interest. By providing them with training and offering them opportunities to develop themselves, we hope to contribute to this. Furthermore, this way we can keep knowledge at a certain level and share it within the organisation.”

Occupation & Company

Nicole continues: “We talked to education experts at Arcus College in Heerlen about our intention to prepare the next group of employees for further growth, after the successful experience with the production managers. This was the start of a beautiful collaboration between Arcus, Nedlin and Manpower, resulting in a ‘customised’ BBL training for Logistics Professional (level 2). An education course with the purpose of further increasing and professionalising the knowledge of laundry facility employees who are already working at Nedlin. Jos Remmel, education advisor BBL Customization at Arcus: “The Beroepsbegeleidende Leerweg is an education programme during which an employee receives education for one (part) day per week and works at the company during the other weeks, so that they can apply what they have learned in practical situations. Nicole: “The benefit for us is that company-specific elements for Nedlin can be added to the programme, aside from the important standard elements. This really makes it a Nedlin training.” 

Win & Win

Jos: “In December 2017, the group of Nedlin employees got started. Their education course ran up to halfway January 2019. The first half of this education programme mainly consists of standard elements, as determined by the education inspection, with subjects like Dutch, English and logistics. During the second half of the term, there are more opportunities to implement company-specific elements, such as the laundry process within Nedlin (process and chemistry), specific service agreements per customer group, quality matters, hours and productivity, specific basic technique and continuous improvements. During the whole year there are company visits, in order to get an impression of other locations and see how things are done at other companies. The lessons are often provided by experts. Furthermore, Nedlin experts are often asked to provide specific lesson components”. What is the result of this training for employees who take part? “More knowledge of and insight into the business operations, and tools to improve things”, says Nicole. “So that in the future, employees will have the necessary tools to take on the responsibilities of their respective roles successfully and with more job satisfaction. Aside from that, a completed and certified training (with a degree) will give them a stronger foundation (CV) and more options to grow within the organisation. ‘Last but not least’ it results in more involvement and commitment within the organisation. So it’s a win win situation, for them and for Nedlin.”

Classmates & Colleagues

Hein Dijksma is one of the teachers at Arcus BBL and teaches a few subjects for the Nedlin class: “For me as a teacher, it makes a huge difference to be teaching a class with practical experience. It results in more discussions, in a positive sense. We talk about a lot of practical cases. The students have more input. They provide very concrete examples, and they ask very specific questions. The class that is doing the training right now, is a very close and motivated club. And it’s also a very diverse class. From people with a university background to immigrants who only just learned Dutch. This results in a special dynamic”. Nicole: “We also see this on the work floor. Because the employees do the training together, they develop a special bond. They aren’t just colleagues, they’re also classmates. Everything they learn during their education, can be applied during their work, and they keep motivating each other for this.”

Education & Business

Hein: “This is how we try to connect theory and practice as seamlessly as possible. In the end, it’s still a question of inching and pinching. There is still some discrepancy between education and business. The education inspection decides the final programme. In that way, education is rather rigid; there is not enough room for change, and things are moving too slowly. Still, I think we are doing very well. And we have to in times like these, when qualified and motivated people on the job market are in short supply”. Nicole: “For us, it’s been a very pleasant way of working. It fits our ambition to give education a prominent place within the organisation.”