At Dynamic Logistics, everyone gets a chance
As you will probably have noticed, everyone gets a chance at Dynamic Logistics! We have had workers from Poland, Spain, and elsewhere in our workforce for years. It’s a win-win situation, because the workers are happy to be working and they are valuable to our company. Arthur van Benthem, one of Dynamic Logistics’ owners, is happy with his people, as instantly becomes clear when we talk to him.
‘Finding good workers has always been a challenge. In the past, we had a lot of women with school-age children in our workforce. They were flexible and at the time we were able to schedule their hours in a way that enabled them to both work and look after their children. But when we started to grow, we noticed we had insufficient capacity to process all the orders that were coming in,’ Arthur explains.
Polish workers
‘In the Betuwe fruit-growing region, they were hiring a lot of Polish workers for the apple harvest, for example, but that is seasonal work. After a few months, these workers suddenly found themselves out of work. I got in contact with a private employment agency that was looking for work for these workers. Not long after, we hired Polish workers. That went so well that we now have around 60 Polish workers working here during the busy period every year,’ says Arthur.
Proper housing
Hiring foreign workers also created another issue, namely housing. ‘These workers work here for a significant period, and so they need to be housed properly. I think it’s only logical that housing has to meet high standards. We take care of offering our foreign workers housing. What’s important in housing? Well, good Wi-Fi to enable them to keep in touch with their families back home, of course, but also ensuring that every worker has sufficient privacy.’
Good work-life balance
These workers are important for the company’s operations. But, Arthur stresses, that’s not because of the price. ‘Everyone is always quick to think that foreign workers are paid less, but that’s not the case. They get the same wage as their Dutch colleagues. There is no other way, in fact, because we have to pay them in line with Dutch employment law. What is different, however, is that Polish workers want to work more hours. That makes them very flexible workers in our organisation. But, no matter how much they want to, they are not allowed to work overtime for more than two evenings a week here. At Dynamic Logistics, we realise the importance of striking a good work-life balance, which is why we protect our workers from themselves in this way.’
