News - May 31, 2017. Decos was a finalist for the 2017 Crowning Glory at Work prize on Wednesday in Garderen. This honor bestowed by the National Platform for Long-Term Employability (NPDI) is awarded to companies that “differentiate themselves in a positive manner for promoting long-term employability of its personnel.” Unfortunately, they just missed the prize, which was awarded to Conservator Group.
The jury, led by Richard Weurding (director of the Dutch Association of Insurers), praised Decos for its passion, space and attention to its people. “Decos is very much ahead of its time, not only with its futuristic, paperless office, but also as an organization,” according to the jury. “They are innovative in their work methods with robots and scrum teams, and 85% of the employees hold shares in the company. Decos gives its employees a tremendous amount of space and freedom.” Achmea and Azora were also nominated for the prize along with Decos and Conservator Group.
“First of all, I would like to congratulate Conservator Group”, said Bert Hendriks, CCO of Decos. “Obviously we would have liked to have won, but we are incredibly proud that we were among the four finalists in the Netherlands. That is a huge achievement and it serves as wonderful recognition for our team. We hope that we can motivate other companies to take action as well. Healthy and happy employees are invaluable to any company.”
“A visiting organization recommended Decos to the NPDI,” explained Charlotte Massaar, Human Capital Lead with the company from Noordwijk. “They were pleasantly surprised by the initiatives we have in place for our employees, such as voluntary health check-ups, chair massages, eating breakfast together and enough space for relaxing with the Xbox or VR headset for instance.”
All submissions were subjected to an NPDI company review and an extensive assessment by TNO. Decos, Achmea, Conservator Group and Azora came out as the finalists. A visit by the jury gave each company the opportunity to convince the jury of the company’s long-term personnel policy. The seven-member jury then listened to the management teams, HR departments and employees of the nominated companies.
The unique company culture at Decos – no hierarchy, a lot of collaboration, fully paperless – did not go unnoticed by the jury. CCO Bert Hendriks: “The fact that our people work together in agile, self-directed teams is the main reason why our employees are happy and involved. It gives them a high level of freedom and autonomy.”
What’s more, Decos, which had previously attracted a lot of media attention by being the first Dutch company to work fully paperless, places high value in the personal and professional growth of its employees. “We give our people the space to work on things they are passionate about, so that they can grow and further develop themselves – and they are happy to go to work each day,” says Hendriks. Decos management is even more motivated to continue along this chosen path, now that an independent jury has confirmed it’s on the right path.