Zuidberg HR

By focusing entirely on product innovation, Zuidberg transformed itself from a simple production company into a Performance Pioneer and world market leader. After forty years, the focus is still on product innovation, but support services, such as HR, have now also joined in on the growth. “We want to be a fully-fledged sparring partner.”

HR Consultant Annelies Winters started at Zuidberg in 2018. At the time, her job was still described as human resources. “We dealt with the operational matters, such as drafting contracts and recruiting and selecting new employees. That is how we spent all our time. We could hardly ever get involved in projects or strategy formulation. We simply did not have the people or opportunities for that”, says Annelies. “For a long time, HR lagged behind the rapid growth that Zuidberg was experiencing.”

HR as a beacon for staff
That changed rapidly in the last year. There is now a great HR team with four consultants and manager, Gerlo Schutte. Gerlo: “I started here as a consultant and since July, as HR manager, together with the team, I get to set the direction which we are clearly steering in. We aim for an HR Department that is a beacon for production managers, team managers and employees. If they have a question or a problem, the HR Department is there to help find an appropriate solution tailored to their situation. We want to be a fully-fledged sparring partner.”

‘You are never just a number here’
In Zuidberg's new strategy, which has also been implemented within HR, teams and individual employees take centre stage. Gerlo: “A different way of working is being implemented, we, as HR have an important facilitating and stabilising role in this. When decisions are taken within the company, we have to keep a close eye on what the consequences are for the individual employees.”

Annelies adds: “With four hundred employees, Zuidberg is naturally a large organisation. That is sometimes scary for job applicants. But Zuidberg always has its eye on the individual. This is partly why the teams were recently reduced in size, so that a manager has more opportunities to get to know all his team members personally and the team members all get to know each other really well. Another advantage of a large organisation with different disciplines is that you have more opportunities for variety and growth, both in your job and within the organisation. In addition, you can work within several disciplines, for example in both the press shop and in the welding shop.”

Growth requires culture change
Safety and quality are the two core values that are paramount at Zuidberg. Gerlo: “How those two values are highlighted now differs from team to team. Now that we have grown so much, it is essential to create unity in this respect throughout the organisation. That doesn't happen overnight. That takes time and requires a cultural shift. That, too, is a task for us. With every change, we have to ask ourselves how it can be applied on the shop floor in the best possible way.”

Developments in the HR profession
External factors have also changed in the HR field in recent years. Annelies: “Society is changing, and we see this reflected in our work. Different generations have different needs. Nowadays, there is more customisation. New laws and regulations, such as additional maternity and paternity leave and the new generation pact, also mean that your work is never standard. In short, HR work can be very complex and that is exactly what makes it really exciting.”

Great challenges ahead
“There are a lot of changes within Zuidberg,” concludes Gerlo. “Zuidberg has made great strides recently. Soon, there will come a time when we have to sit back and examine whether we are still on course with our strategy and how we ensure that we are staying true to it. Our team is holding steady for now, but we still have plenty of exciting challenges ahead.”