Working on vitality
at Alfen, especially now!
Tjitske Lambeck works as HR Manager at Alfen in Almere, the specialist in smart energy solutions, including transformer stations, charging stations, and energy storage systems. A growing organization in technology. Plenty of challenges for Tjitske and her team to recruit, train, and retain people. Plus, especially during these Corona times, they need to keep an eye on employee well-being and vitality. An extra reason to offer employees a workshop on ‘Working on Vitality.’
Continuously recruiting
‘Three years ago I started at Alfen to help facilitate the expected rapid growth of the organization,’ says Tjitske. ‘Recruiting technical staff is, and remains, a challenging task. Fortunately, we have our own company school for MBO students at various levels. We have further developed this recently, for example by creating two intake moments per year. We are also working to ensure a good match between theory and practice.
And developing
In addition, we are constantly developing and training our employees. We want to onboard them properly by offering introductory trainings. We also provide various follow-up trainings to secure their development, both technical and skill-based. For example, we offer communication and feedback trainings, training for our managers, and also a C++ training for R&D employees. We are also working on implementing e-learning through oZone, the learning platform of the A&O fund in the Metalektro sector.
The people of today are the people of tomorrow
We want to keep investing in our people. We have a very diverse workforce. For example, in one month we celebrate the 50-year anniversary of one employee, while in the same month, others start working with us. We try to find people who want to grow and develop. People who are curious about other opportunities within the organization. Not just now, but also for the future. We definitely appeal to the sense of responsibility of the employees themselves. Taking initiative is a requirement here.
Providing tools with the vitality workshop
The ‘working on vitality’ workshop by MEPD has been offered a couple of times in the past months on a voluntary basis. We already knew MEPD, for example from coaching programs. We want to inspire our employees with ‘joy in life and at work’. Work pressure just keeps increasing, especially when combined with working from home. People are quicker to lose their patience. That has an impact not only at home but also in the workplace.
By offering this workshop, there is more awareness. About dealing with work pressure, about a healthy lifestyle, and how you can influence this yourself. For example, we saw during the workshop that people appreciate realizing they’re not the only ones struggling with certain topics. They gave each other tips on how to handle them,’ says Tjitske.
