Bouwinvest’s success depends on the company’s employees. It is thanks to their dedication, commitment and hard work that we can achieve excellent results and that we are able to meet our targets. The aim of Bouwinvest’s HRM strategy is to realise the optimum workforce and the creation of a positive working environment.
Corporate culture
The Bouwinvest corporate culture involves effective and meaningful cooperation between and within departments. It is only by working together that we achieve the optimum results for our clients. We have always sought to recruit respectful, well-intentioned and ethical employees who are prepared to share know-how and information with each other to cooperate on a constructive basis. But we also look for people who are willing and able to embrace change, and who see the opportunities and the challenges. Another very important factor for us is fun: people need to enjoy their work and enjoy working with each other.
Employer of choice
Bouwinvest attaches a great deal of importance to being a good employer. We encourage our employees to find a healthy balance between their work and their private lives. To support the sustainable employment of our employees, Bouwinvest offers good secondary employment terms and conditions: working hours tailored to individual needs, part-time contracts, tools and devices that enable employees to work anywhere, plus a generous leave allowance. On top of this, we have a fair and controlled remuneration policy, in line with the guidelines of the Dutch Financial markets Authority (AFM) and the Dutch Central Bank (DNB).
Evaluation by our employees
Every two years, we conduct an employee survey, because Bouwinvest is keen to know how satisfied, engaged and enthusiastic our employees are. First and foremost, we would like know what we can do to be a better employer.
For instance, the employee survey we conducted in 2015 revealed very clearly that the quality of the working environment had room for improvement. So last year, we reached agreement with the owner of our head office on improvements to the building and the renewal of the technical installations. At the same time, this year we will modernise and adjust the work stations to make them fit-for-purpose according to today’s requirements. The new office lay-out has been expressly designed to support all possible forms of cooperation.
Our approach has been successful, as since the start of our employee surveys back in 2009, we have achieved better results year after year. In 2017, our employees gave the organisation an average score of 8. That is an exceptionally good score. In the financial sector (category < 1,000 employees), Bouwinvest can claim to be one of the best employers in the Netherlands. This score also meant we achieved the Effectory three-star label.
These good results do not mean that Bouwinvest cannot continue to improve its HRM strategy. We plan to devote even more time and attention to cooperation, communication and innovation.
Recruitment policy
Along with the sustainable growth of our assets under management, our organisation will also increase in size. At year-end 2017, Bouwinvest had 162 employees (152.5 FTEs). We expect to see our workforce increase significantly over the next three years. The arrival of a large number of new people means that we will have to devote considerable time and energy to the integration of new employees in our existing (corporate) culture. They will have to be made aware of our goals, our investment philosophy and Bouwinvest’s key messages.
Number of employees (FTEs)
It is a major challenge to meet our recruitment targets, as the growth of the economy is increasing the competition on the labour market. And yet Bouwinvest has managed to recruit and retain new, talented people. Thankfully, Bouwinvest is a very popular career choice for people looking for real estate-related positions. Our current staff members play a very important role in that, as they frequently act as the ideal ambassadors for our organisation.
The fact that Bouwinvest is already thinking about its future staffing needs is also in the interests of our current employees. We are a relatively compact organisation and that limits the career potential within our separate departments. But we do offer opportunities for people to make upward career moves in other attractive positions elsewhere in the company. However, that will only work if we devote sufficient attention – in time – to helping our people develop the right competencies. This is why Bouwinvest is always keen to invest in training for our people.
Labour market profile
In the coming years, we will be looking to devote more attention to our labour market communications. Over the past few years, we have invested heavily in Bouwinvest’s market positioning as an asset manager. This has increased both Bouwinvest’s name recognition and its visibility. To make sure we maintain our position as an attractive employer for potential employees on the highly competitive labour market, we believe it is important to get the message about Bouwinvest as a good employer to the right target groups. This is why we sponsor, for instance, an applied professorship in Area Development at the Technical University (TU) Delft and the Amsterdam School of Real Estate. We also organise conferences for first-year graduate Structural engineering students and we are active in various student and alumni associations for real estate and investment-related degree courses.
