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'Give your employees more responsibility'

'In business, the realization is growing that your people are an important success factor. If you invest in your people, it will inevitably pay off. Trust and ownership among employees leads to commitment and innovation, the first to appreciate that are your customers.' - Robert Verkroost, Associate Partner
Robert HR zit 1

Robert Verkroost | Associate Partner

Robert Verkroost is a Human Resources Director with extensive experience in service, financial and logistics organizations. In particular, he has expertise in acquisitions, reorganizations and integrations, and in setting up an HR strategy with the complete HR processes and instruments for this.


Responsibility at Berendsen

At Berendsen, a large textile service provider, he found out that it pays off to give employees more responsibilities. 'Here we have made low-skilled and unskilled workers responsible for direct service and customer satisfaction in self-managed teams. In this vein, Berendsen quickly became a leader in quality.'


Vanuit eigen kracht en overtuiging

'In a master's in change management, I learned how to make people realize changes from their own strength and conviction, and in a follow-up course in Sociotechnology, I learned how to optimize work processes to what people can do to excel in them. As a result, I look more at what people can and want to do than at their education level. I have often applied these methods later'


Good communication

After this, Robert worked in a completely different industry. He became HR director at GGN, the largest bailiff organization in the Netherlands. Here, intervention was needed in the organization. He began with a radical harmonization of the terms and conditions of the 25 original societies, followed by a large-scale restructuring.

'That was tough sometimes. We had to take unpleasant decisions. Large-scale transfer of people, closing of branches and ultimately the departure of 600 of the 1500 employees. That never goes without a hitch, but especially through good consultation and good communication it was successful.'


Exciting game

In 2018, Robert was asked via Boer & Croon to work as HR director for package delivery service DPD. Here, among other things, he has worked hard to get sufficient and stable capacity for the rapidly growing organization. 'That was an exciting game, especially in the Corona time, when people ordered much more. A company that was already at the limits of its growth suddenly got 40% more volume. It was important to look differently at migrant workers, as an essential group of people to invest in. This mind-shift is not easy. Still, we were able to retain many people by giving them the right training and career opportunities, which are simply not granted to them elsewhere.'