A healthy, sustainable behavioral change

Voerman is very active when it comes to employee well-being. For years, the company has been at the forefront of initiatives that contribute to achieving a healthy lifestyle and work-life balance. Two years ago, Voerman partnered with the Pim Mulier Institute to launch an innovative program that applies insights from top-level sports to the business world. We talked about this with Chris de Jong, Chief People Officer at Voerman.

Chris explains, “As a company, we are working on the sustainable employability of our people. We aim to ensure that everyone feels comfortable and fit so they can make the most of their talents and career at Voerman.” The focus areas differ between older and younger employees. What applies equally for everyone are the cornerstones of a healthy lifestyle: healthy eating, enough sleep and, above all, exercise.

Chris continues, “Of course, we all have some idea of what it means to live a healthy lifestyle, but doing it is another thing. For employees who are interested, we conduct ‘health checks’ on a fairly regular basis. This involves a physical check-up and recommendations for living a healthier lifestyle. While that may be a good start, the Mulier Institute came to us with a suggestion that put things in perspective: ‘We can do these health checks, but the outcome is pretty much known from the start. We would much rather put together a program in which we work with you to initiate lasting behavioral changes.’ That aligned well with our vision, so we ran a pilot program with an initial group of 18 employees in 2022 and continued with a second group of 16 employees in 2024.”

Live the lifestyle!

The program revolves around inspiration, information, and experience. Based on their work with top-level athletes, the Mulier Institute applies the insights gained to other areas, including business. Participants take part in the program for almost a year. They attend inspiration sessions on nutrition, sleep, and exercise, track their performance via a smart watch for several months, and participate in a 24-hour workshop at the institute.

Chris continues, “Practicing and gaining experience are important elements of the program. The 24-hour workshop is meant to be inspirational, but most importantly, you get to taste healthy cuisine, work out and, above all, live the lifestyle. That is really the only way to effectively initiate sustainable behavioral change. Information is soon forgotten, but you take experiences with you for the rest of your life. An individual plan of action is drawn up with each participant—what exactly will you do, and when?” 

Achieving more together

Does the employee population face a challenge when it comes to achieving a healthy work-life balance? Chris says, “A trigger to start the program was the trends we see among the 24- to 35-year-olds in our society: the Millennials. They appear to be having a particularly tough time of things. Among Millennials, there are many who struggle with issues like finding fulfilling work, always being ‘on,’ and having a busy social life during the weekends. Research shows that compared with the generation before them they have over five times more stimuli to process, yet no one has yet learned how to deal with this properly. This situation potentially leads to problems such as stress, emotional exhaustion, insecurity, and feelings of futility.

With the Pim Mulier program, we are doing something about it. We are looking at the lessons learned from our Olympic handball team, for example—many members of which pursue university studies at the same time. But don’t get me wrong, a focus on Millennials is not the only starting point. The program is equally suitable for older employees. In fact, we very much welcome a mix because this also helps build bridges between these groups of employees. They get to know each other better, learn to understand one another, and are therefore able to achieve more together. That is also sustainable change!”

Connection

Chris concludes, “We are a family business and prefer to look at things from a long-term perspective. As an employer, we also seek connection, and we see each employee as an individual who contributes in some way. We try to listen carefully to our people, to help them ultimately be a fit and happy member of the team who feels right at home, enjoys contributing to the group effort, feels connected to the organization, and is passionate about their work.”