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We place great importance on the development of our employees. That is why we invest in people and in performance management.
In 2023, considerable investment was also made in the development of the employees. The aim is to achieve greater autonomy, resilience and better cooperation within and between our so called Powerful Teams. We are doing this because the RvA needs strong teams in order to achieve its ambitions.
In 2023, one of the themes was the interaction between the Powerful Teams and the MT. The Powerful Teams are expected to make a focused contribution to the realisation of the strategic objectives. This takes place under the name ‘performance management’. From this concept, individual development goals and team goals are formulated that form a guideline in day-to-day work. With this performance management cycle, we have embarked on a new path that fits our organisational philosophy and working with Powerful Teams.
In the Powerful Teams, we place more ownership among our colleagues and the team. We place the management of personal development in the workplace with the people themselves. Through an explicit link with the strategy, awareness of the overall context and especially the operational context increases. There is a noticeable increase in new creative ideas from colleagues that contribute to the organisational objectives of the RvA.
An employee survey took place at the end of 2022. With a response rate of 87%, this survey gave a good picture of how employees experience their activities and working at the RvA. In 2023, the MT and the Executive Board entered into discussions with the Powerful Teams about the outcomes of the survey.
The perceived workload is one of the most important topics. The ‘open and honest communication’ and the ‘role and powers of the Powerful Teams’ are also important. Additionally, discussions have taken place with all Powerful Teams about social and psychological safety within the teams and within the RvA. An experienced trainer supervised this. An experienced trainer supervised this.
Many vacancies were filled in 2023. The RvA hired 12 new colleagues. In addition, 12 people were temporarily hired for the various strategic programmes such as Information-driven Working and as replacements in the event of illness.
Due to ongoing vacancies, the MT decided in 2023 to structurally free up two FTEs in order to better compensate for the understaffing in the Operations department. Ten people in this department left for a job outside the RvA in 2023; that is almost one third of the Operations teams and this has created friction. In total, 17 people left the RvA. In total, 17 people left the RvA.
At the end of 2023, the RvA had 109 permanent employees (average for 2023: 97 FTE). Of the 109 employees who were employed at the end of 2023, 72 are women and 37 men. The average age of the men is 52 years and of the women 44 years. In addition, there is a pool of around 30 external contracted lead assessors and approximately 530 external technical experts from the professional field.
The RvA organised two meetings for the technical experts of ISO 17025 with RvA employees in 2023. The intention is to create a stronger bond between the external experts and the employees of the RvA.
The meetings were well attended. In addition to technical topics, we talked about the RvA strategy and ‘helping customers learn’.
A newly formed Works Council was launched at the beginning of 2023. In 2023, the relationship between the Works Council and the director was characterised by open dialogue and good cooperation.
Over the past year, the Works Council has been involved in the aforementioned HR topics and has been extensively included in topics such as the implementation of the strategy and the abolition of the scheme for the mandatory collective day off in the spring.
The Executive Board thanks all Works Council members for their input.
