read more

My name is Anne-Marie van de Wouw and I work as HR business partner at Modexpress, in my role I am responsible for HR related topics at two of our locations.

19 years ago I started at Modexpress as a front desk receptionist. After a while I was able to grow in to the position of account manager, but when I started working part-time after my pregnancy that was no longer possible.

My name is Anne-Marie van de Wouw and I work as HR business partner at Modexpress, in my role I am responsible for HR related topics at two of our locations.

19 years ago I started at Modexpress as a front desk receptionist. After a while I was able to grow in to the position of account manager, but when I started working part-time after my pregnancy that was no longer possible.

At that time I could make the switch to the HR department, we worked with a payroll office and I took care of the preparation of the salaries. A couple of years later the role of Customer Support coordinator crossed my path; the contact with customers has always attracted me and to do this as part of a team seemed like lots of fun! Eventually I felt more strongly connected to HR work and since Modexpress started to process the payroll completely in-house I was able to start as a payroll and personnel administrator and later grow into the position of case manager, a position where I felt like a fish in water.

My workdays in this role were very varied; although the process steps are the same for every sick employee, they are always at a different stage or gradation of the course of their illness. For each sick employee I made a plan of action, held weekly meetings with them to go over their status and accrual options. After one year of illness, all the necessary pathways must be started and if an employee has not fully recovered after two years, I help them with the WIA application. WIA stands for Wet Werk en Inkomen naar Arbeidsvermogen (Work and Income according to Labour Capacity Act) and is a temporary safety net for the loss of income if you cannot work, or can no longer work fully, due to long-term illness.

I find a respectful cooperation with our sick employee very important, increasing working hours is necessary, but in most cases very difficult. When issues are discussed honest and openly, and there is mutual respect, we can pleasantly work to reduction in absence hours. A sick colleague is often not in the best phase of his life and it is great to support my colleague during this period. I really like the fact that Modexpress gave me the space and responsibility to fill this in at my own personal and appropriately way.

At Modexpress there are a lot of career opportunities and this has always helped me a lot in finding a position that suits me, besides that I like the fact that I can work together with a lot of colleagues! Recently I was asked for the position of HR business partner; a position in which I am responsible for everything related to HR for two of our locations; such as absenteeism, the development of our employees, pool management and making agreements with our temp agencies so that we can respond well and efficiently to our customer demand. It is a selection of tasks that are new for me or tasks that I have performed in my previous positions, they are now combined in this challenging new position and I am looking forward to make something amazing out of this!

Slide or scroll to view all content..

At that time I could make the switch to the HR department, we worked with a payroll office and I took care of the preparation of the salaries. A couple of years later the role of Customer Support coordinator crossed my path; the contact with customers has always attracted me and to do this as part of a team seemed like lots of fun! Eventually I felt more strongly connected to HR work and since Modexpress started to process the payroll completely in-house I was able to start as a payroll and personnel administrator and later grow into the position of case manager, a position where I felt like a fish in water.

My workdays in this role were very varied; although the process steps are the same for every sick employee, they are always at a different stage or gradation of the course of their illness. For each sick employee I made a plan of action, held weekly meetings with them to go over their status and accrual options. After one year of illness, all the necessary pathways must be started and if an employee has not fully recovered after two years, I help them with the WIA application. WIA stands for Wet Werk en Inkomen naar Arbeidsvermogen (Work and Income according to Labour Capacity Act) and is a temporary safety net for the loss of income if you cannot work, or can no longer work fully, due to long-term illness.

I find a respectful cooperation with our sick employee very important, increasing working hours is necessary, but in most cases very difficult. When issues are discussed honest and openly, and there is mutual respect, we can pleasantly work to reduction in absence hours. A sick colleague is often not in the best phase of his life and it is great to support my colleague during this period. I really like the fact that Modexpress gave me the space and responsibility to fill this in at my own personal and appropriately way.

At Modexpress there are a lot of career opportunities and this has always helped me a lot in finding a position that suits me, besides that I like the fact that I can work together with a lot of colleagues! Recently I was asked for the position of HR business partner; a position in which I am responsible for everything related to HR for two of our locations; such as absenteeism, the development of our employees, pool management and making agreements with our temp agencies so that we can respond well and efficiently to our customer demand. It is a selection of tasks that are new for me or tasks that I have performed in my previous positions, they are now combined in this challenging new position and I am looking forward to make something amazing out of this!