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Frigo has warehouses (in Breda and Moerdijk) where no fewer than 260 trailers can be loaded and unloaded every day. The pallets in these trailers are then transported via either containers or trailers, via road transport or inland shipping to there final destination. In almost 25 years Frigo has grown into a company with more 100 employees and a storage capacity of over 85.000 pallets. We spoke with Erik Janse. the business development director responsible for the operation of these warehouses.

‘Unwritten’ Rules

“Realize that as Frigo we still have the size where everyone knows each other. This gives a very accessible culture were we can still address each other one mistake or little incidents, because of our size we can keep a clear eye on the number of incidents. Fortunately these incidents are limited to parking damages where someone accidentally hit a post or overlooked a parked car. We would very much like to keep it this way. That is why we do not accept team meetings while our employees are on the road, this also applies to our contractors. As Frigo, we don’t do the transport ourselves, we hire the transport via different companies. Often we work with smaller, well-organized family busineses, with long-term driver who are really involved in their profession and know the importance of safety on the road. The fact that we rarely / never receive calls from other road users having complaints about incidents involving Frigo containers says it all. These are the unwritten rules that fit our pragmatic culture.

Sustainable Accessibility

“Our employees are roughly divided into 2 catergories: Office staff, approx. 40 to 45 people, and warehouse staff, approx. 60 people. Obviously for our warehouse staff it is important for them to be physically present at our warehouses to do their job. For our office staff we offer a lot of freedom: after all, it’s about the work that needs to be done. This can often be done independently of place and time. Of course we encourage this, people can start between 06.00-09.00h, so they can avoid rush hour. this also applies to hybrid working.”

 Focussing on electric bicycles

“Public transport isn’t really an option for us, given our locations. I estimate that less than 5 percent of our employees frequently use public transport to get to work. However, the electric bicycle is very interesting for us. Currently about 25% of our employees travel via bicycle. We want to significantly increase the ‘Market share’ of the bicycle compared to the car in the coming years. We will also set up an incentive scheme for speed pedelecs, for example.

Sustainability is an important core value!

“It goes without saying that a relatively young company, like Frigo also wants to create a sustainable image on all fronts. This also applies to our mobility. That is why all our company cars, approx. 15 cars, have been electric for the past year or two. In addition, all our warehouses are equipped with solar panels. We even have an application for a wind turbine, which takes a little more time in terms of permits than expected. We also pay as much attention as possible to the distance between where our employees live and where they work. Especially now that our location in Moerdijk will soon be operational, we ask people to work there if it also has significant advantages in their commute.”

Attractive Employment

“It’s certainly true that there is a relationship between the way we set up our mobility policy and our attractiveness as an employer. This is also a way how we can distinguish ourselves. Because when you realize that the current tightness on the labour market will not improve in the coming years, it is important that we as an employer make more effort to attract people or retain them longer. The way in which the work commute is organized can help us with this!”

You can read the full interview (in Dutch) and also a small interview with our colleagues Cor and Tiny Dalemans via the link down below:

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