Digital Strategy & Execution

Technology and Telecommunications

Royal FloraHolland takes control of its data to make smarter decisions

Case study Royal FloraHolland

Royal FloraHolland, the world’s largest flower auction cooperative, needed a more effective way to track the performance of its software teams. These teams work within an Agile framework, where multiple teams collaborate and release software updates in synchronized cycles, known as Agile Release Trains (ARTs). While this approach allows for faster delivery, it also creates complexity in tracking team performance across various areas. Performance data was scattered across various systems, making it difficult for management to get a clear, unified view of how the teams were performing. As a result, leadership struggled to effectively track progress, identify potential bottlenecks, and optimize team performance to support the business’s fast-paced needs.

Netherlands

Case study: Royal FloraHolland takes control of its data to make smarter decisions

Organizational

Employee Experience

HR & People Analytics

What it is and how to use it effectively

Employee Net Promotor Score (eNPS) explained:

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Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) is a concept that has been used since the 1990s. eNPS provides insight into the extent to which employees recommend an organisation. eNPS is popular because it is easy to measure, calculate and benchmark.

Employee Net Promotor Score (eNPS) explained: What it is and how to use it effectively

Business Agility

Agility and Stability Go Hand in Hand

Agile Portfolio Management:

Agile Portfolio Management in the Public Domain: Agility and Stability Go Hand in Hand

In 2025, the Dutch government faces an ever-increasing challenge: maintaining stability and course between technological innovations, social expectations and the implementation of laws and regulations. Citizens and society demand reliable services and consistent policy, while speed and agility have become indispensable to respond effectively to technological innovations and social expectations. However, many government organizations are still bound to traditional structures that hinder agility and innovation. This contradiction makes it difficult to act decisively and with a focus on the future.

Agile Portfolio Management in the (Dutch) Public Domain

Beloning

Retail and Consumer Goods

'Our salespeople have become coaches'

New Reward Structure at Bruynzeel Kitchens

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As a customer, negotiating discounts on your new kitchen is no longer an option at <a href="https://www.bruynzeelkeukens.nl/">Bruynzeel Keukens</a>. Parent company <a href="https://www.dkggroep.nl/">DKG </a>has radically changed its strategy and since last year has been working with fixed prices. This involves a different way of selling as well as a different remuneration structure. An interview with Caesar Kuipers.

Negotiating the price of your kitchen is still a daily occurrence at many kitchen stores. In the 35 Bruynzeel Keukens stores, too, it was possible for many years to get a substantial discount. With a corresponding reward system for the salesperson. Research among customers showed that they did not like this bargaining at all. They didn't want to get the idea that the neighbor might be cheaper.

Organisatie

New Job and Salary Structure for CaseWare Nederland

CaseWare Nederland

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After a growth spurt, software company <a href="https://www.caseware.com/">CaseWare </a>Netherlands decided to start working agile with the entire organization. That called for a new job and salary house. It took some getting used to for the employees of CaseWare, which develops and implements accounting software. Last year they all started working agile, after the software developers took the lead with the scrum methodology.

Performance Improvement

New Performance Management System at TNO

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The traditional performance review system was time-consuming for TNO’s managers but didn’t always yield valuable results. It was time for a radically new performance management approach, thought HR Innovation Manager Dagmar Beudeker and Senior Labor Law Specialist Eveline Glaser. The result: Empower.

Interview Thijs van Loon and Lianne Hamstra

Innovative Career Model for VodafoneZiggo

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VodafoneZiggo is adopting a dynamic career model that encourages employee growth. Thijs van Loon (VodafoneZiggo) and Lianne Hamstra (Highberg) discuss this groundbreaking approach. “A career model like this has never been implemented on such a large scale.”

Lianne Hamstra

New Job Framework for Topgeschenken.nl

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Online gift shop <a href="https://topgeschenken.nl/">Topgeschenken.n</a>l has grown rapidly in recent years. High time to introduce a job and salary framework. HR Manager Natalia van Schie talks about the collaboration with Highberg.

New Job Framework and Reward Policy for Groendus

New Job Framework and Reward Policy Groendus

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It began a year and a half ago with six separate companies merging into Groendus. Since then, the number of employees has nearly doubled to 130, and both a job framework and a unified reward structure are now in place. HR Director Rosa Rodenhuis shares how this was implemented within one year.

New Collective Labour Agreement and Reward Policy at IKEA

Labour Agreement and Reward Policy at IKEA

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IKEA made headlines with a generous new collective labour agreement (CLA). Equally notable is the company’s newly developed reward policy. Everything is done in co-creation with the trade unions, say Jessica Samrén and Kim van der Hoeven of IKEA.

Pensioen

"Stop the Race Toward More Risk in Defined Contribution Pension Plans"

Curb the Risk in Pension Plans

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Econometric models and the uniform calculation method contain incentives that lead to increasingly higher risk in the lifecycles of defined contribution pension schemes, warns Guyot van Meer.

Inspiration session Oct. 5, 2023 with Jan Anne Schelling, former CHRO of Royal IHC

Inspiration session with CHRO of Royal IHC

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Jan Anne Schelling was CHRO at Royal IHC, a shipyard that went through several downturns in a few years, downsized by over 40% of its employees, was saved from bankruptcy and is still under pressure. How did Jan Anne manage this downturn, what did it mean for attracting and retaining crucial employees, and how does compensation and leadership play a role in it. Personal experiences that can be valuable for the possible coming economic downturn in the Netherlands.

(High Tech) Manufacturing and Logistics

New Pension Plans for Den Hartogh Logistics

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When three pension contracts came to an end at logistics service provider Den Hartogh Logistics, HR director Annelies Balistreri says it presented opportunities for new, future-proof arrangements. Those came about, in close cooperation with the Works Council.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Healthcare and Life Sciences

Equal pay for men and women at VvAA

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Equal pay for men and women is an important issue for VvAA, the cross-professional collective of healthcare professionals and healthcare companies. At the request of HR manager Paul Jacobs, Highberg released a sharp analysis. 'If you lump everything together you really do see a difference.'

Compensation Study for HISWA-RECRON

In preparation for collective labor agreement (CLA) negotiations in the holiday recreation sector, Martin Merks of HISWA-RECRON wanted insight into the compensation policies of a group of members. Highberg conducted the study. "They’re offering more than we had expected."

New organizational structure and remuneration policy for Roompot & Landal GreenParks

Roompot & Landal GreenParks

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After the merger of Roompot and Landal GreenParks, both organizations merged in a short time, with a new remuneration policy in the Netherlands. ‘We want to be the best employer in the sector’, says CHRO Alrik Boonstra.

How do you like decoupling assessment and reward?

Roundtable:

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Forerunners are already doing it: decoupling rewards from appraisals. But that still poses some challenges in practice. HR managers discussed this during a roundtable discussion organized by Highberg.

Webinars salary increases 2025

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Wondering how your salary increase budgets compare to those of other companies? In our periodic survey, we asked organizations what the budgets for the non-union population look like for 2025. In the Nov. 5 and Nov. 13 webinars, we discussed the results. We placed the increases in the context of recent years, inflation, collective bargaining increases, key figures from CBS and the minimum wage, among others. Below we share the report.

Harmonizing Employment Conditions at Coop and PLUS

Inspiration Session – November 27, 2024

Inspsesse

Following the merger between Coop and PLUS, the two headquarters were consolidated into a single office in Utrecht. Employees at this new Utrecht-based head office were working under three different employment terms packages. It became an urgent priority to develop one unified employment conditions package for all three groups, as well as for future employees. Additionally, all staff needed to be integrated into a single HR information system. One of the key principles was that the new package should be motivating and ensure no employee would experience a loss. The new legislation on future pensions (Wet Toekomst Pensioenen) was also taken into account.
Below is a summary of the inspiration session.

Inspiration Session – November 27, 2024: Harmonizing Employment Conditions at Coop and PLUS

Vekoma Transitions to a New Pension Scheme

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Roller coaster manufacturer Vekoma successfully transitioned from pension fund PME to BeFrank in just six months. How did they manage such a rapid change? By involving all employees from the very beginning, says Director of Change Yvonne Paulussen during the first Highberg Inspiration Session of 2023. "Although I would recommend giving everyone more time in a process like this. We worked ourselves to the bone last year."

Inspiration Session – January 19, 2023: New Pension System – Take Action!

New Pension System – Take Action!

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With the new pension legislation on the horizon, companies must make several important decisions. During our January inspiration session, consultant Miriam Morshuis outlined the key action points.

Miriam Morshuis

Start the Pension Transition in a Timely Manner

Pension Transition in a Timely Manner

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The pension transition—resulting from the new pension legislation effective as of July 1, 2023—has major implications for the pension agreements with employees. This requires significant adjustments.

Senior Consultant Daniëlle van Hal

My first months at Highberg (Digital):

Daniëlle van Hal

<a href="https://highberg.com/people/daniëlle-van-hal">Daniëlle van Hal</a> is Senior Consultant Data at Highberg Digital. She has a background in Political Science and Public Administration. We spoke to her about her first months at Highberg.

Working at Highberg: Senior Consultant Daniëlle van Hal about her first months at Highberg (Digital)

Digital

Data & AI

Whitepaper: Responsible-by-Design in the Public Sector

Responsible-by-Design in the Public Sector

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In recent years, the use of data and AI in the public sector has grown significantly. These technologies offer opportunities to carry out tasks more efficiently and effectively, but they also come with risks. How can you ensure that data and AI are used in a responsible and transparent way? And how do you prevent decisions from being based on unreliable or hard-to-explain insights?
In this whitepaper, we explore how responsible use of data and AI can be translated into practice. We introduce the principle of “responsible-by-design”—an approach that systematically maps both the opportunities and the risks. In addition, we offer a set of building blocks: best practices that demonstrate how organizations can take concrete steps toward the careful and ethical use of data and AI.

Dorus-Jan ten Boom

People

Optimizing HR Data Management for CSRD Compliance

HR Data Management for CSRD Compliance

The introduction of the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) significantly raises reporting standards across all business functions, including Human Resources (HR). Organizations now face increased regulatory demands, particularly concerning the "Own Workforce" (S1) reporting requirements. At Highberg, we recognize these new challenges as opportunities to innovate and enhance HR data management practices, transforming compliance obligations into strategic advantages.

Government and Public Sector

From uncertainty to confidence

Success on CSRD S1-compliance:

Success on CSRD S1-compliance: From uncertainty to confidence

With a legislative landscape as dynamic and complex as CSRD, reporting on workforce data is very challenging. To tackle this problem, an international insurance leader reached out to Highberg to guide and help them through this new challenge ahead. Fast forward, the first reporting period has been completed as a success, with a trusted, smooth and accurate report on CSRD S1 as the result.
When approaching Highberg for help regarding CSRD S1 reporting, the goal for the client was to get a helping hand on the operational part of reporting, ultimately resulting in a trusted process of retrieving, manipulating and promoting the required data. After assessing the situation, it quickly became clear that the client faced several hurdles that made the reporting challenging.

Nele Wensauer

Save the Date – DEI Exchange 2025

Highberg DEI Exchange 2025

After successfully running the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Exchange for the past two years, Van Lanschot Kempen and Highberg invite you to join for a third edition. This year’s event is centered around the theme “Accelerating action in the face of pushback”. 
We chose this theme to facilitate the exchange of best practices among DEI professionals, as we want to facilitate ongoing efforts to take the next steps in organizations' DEI journeys!

People Analytics as a service

In today's fast-paced business world, organizations are constantly looking for ways to gain a competitive advantage. One area that has received a lot of attention is People Analytics. By harnessing the power of data and analytics, organizations can make more informed decisions about their workforce, leading to improved performance, productivity and employee experience. However, when it comes to implementing People Analytics, organizations are faced with a crucial decision: should they develop People Analytics capabilities internally (build), purchase People Analytics as a managed service or settle for a hybrid model?

Data-driven insights for fairness and employee satisfaction

Equal Pay and Gender Pay Gap Analysis

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Equal pay for equal work, pay equity, wage equality, pay gap, pay fairness, wage parity - these terms all refer to the same fundamental issue.
At its core, the goal is to ensure that people performing the same work are paid equally, regardless of their background or other characteristics, and that companies can demonstrate this equality.
In the Netherlands, the term "characteristic" typically refers to gender (male/female). However, in other countries, this type of analysis is also applied to other diversity factors, such as ethnicity or nationality.
As the Netherlands follows pioneers like the US and the UK in this field, it is expected that the focus on pay equality will expand over time to include other diversity dimensions.

Strategy & Change

Learn about critical trends driving public sector transformation

Six public sector transformation trends

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At Highberg, we closely follow transformation trends among our clients. We have analyzed our experiences and insights in the public sector from last year, compiled them and translated them into the challenges and trends for 2025 in the public sector.
Our analysis reveals a complex landscape of opportunities and obstacles for large implementing agencies such as UWV, DUO, SVB and the Tax Office, among others. These organizations face the immense task of modernizing and optimizing their services while navigating between strict regulations, technological innovation and societal expectations.
In this article, we highlight six crucial observations influencing transformation in the public sector. These observations not only reflect the current situation, but also provide insight into the future direction as a result of digital and organizational changes within these implementing organizations.

Ralph Hofman

Wilbert Enserink

Six transformation trends in the public sector

Whitepaper: FinOps - The Key to Cloud Cost Management

Whitepaper: FinOps

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Organizations are struggling with rising cloud costs. FinOps* enables them to gain insight into costs and continuously optimize them, leading to more control and better decisions around cloud usage.
*The term FinOps has been around for a while, but in 2019 The FinOps Foundation set itself the goal of promoting best practices, training and standards around financial management of the cloud.

Making a lasting impact with diversity, equity, and inclusion

From rainbow keychains to real change

From rainbow keychains to real change: Making a lasting impact with diversity, equity, and inclusion

Over the past few months, I’ve interviewed over 30 DEI Officers, working in both profit and government organizations. I asked them what works in achieving a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace. Their answers differed, but one thing I got out of all this: an event-driven approach does not work. Only providing workshops, lunches, or handing out rainbow key chains is not moving the needle sufficiently. Improving DEI requires a more sustainable approach and is all about change (management)! Cultural change, changes in processes and policies, improved strategies, and a strong understanding of why DEI is important to the organization. I collected these ideas in this article and shared what I believe truly helps organizations improve DEI!  Many organizations wish to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). In most cases, they start with a series of visible initiatives—workshops on unconscious bias, special activities for Pride Month, or knowledge sessions on cultural diversity. While these events raise awareness, the impact is often limited, leading to what some have labeled a “check-the-box” approach to DEI. However, based on interviews with DEI officers, organizations must shift from an event-driven to a change-driven DEI approach to make a real and lasting impact.

Henrieke van Bommel

The Psychology of Change in Digital Transformation #2

Change in Digital Transformation

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In the<a href="https://highberg.com/insights/the-psychology-of-change-in-digital-transformation"> first part</a> of the blog, we analysed various forms of resistance in digital transformation, ranging from passive inertia to strong reactance. In this second part, we will focus on interventions: specific actions organizations can implement to effectively address resistance. We will delve deeper into the world of behavioural economics and explore the interventions organizations can use to address inertia, scepticism, and reactance. Through practical examples, we will demonstrate how these interventions can be effectively applied for successful change management in digital transformation.

Kyra Koper

Risk, Resilience & Compliance

Top 5 trends in cybersecurity in 2025

"Turbulent times, unforeseen effects" was the title of the Cybersecurity Report Netherlands 2024, and it was not without reason. The past year has shown how vulnerable our digital world can be. A faulty software update led to the cancellation of over 4,200 flights worldwide, public transport came to a halt, and hospitals had to temporarily close their doors. Until that day, most people had never heard of Crowdstrike. Yet a small mistake in this software had a huge impact. 
Fortunately, progress has also been made in strengthening cyber resilience: from improved collaboration between public and private sectors to innovations in AI-driven security. A lot is bound to happen in the world of cybersecurity in 2025 as well. In this blog, I share my vision of the key trends that will shape cybersecurity in 2025.

Veroniek Binkhorst

Making digital transformation transparent through simulation modelling

Digital transformation simulation modelling

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Predicting the concrete impact of a digital transformation on an organisation is a complex challenge. The starting point is often a plan that guides initiatives to achieve organisational goals. But how does this transformation affect our operational efficiency? What bottlenecks arise during implementation? And perhaps the most important question: ‘What does it deliver for the organisation?’ While these questions can be answered in abstract terms (e.g.: ‘more efficient processes’), it is more difficult to substantiate such claims with specific results. We often see in practice that simulation models are an effective but rarely chosen solution for this. These models make it possible to test and analyse in advance, enabling organizations to be better prepared for the implementation of a digital transformation.

Daan Smits

Luna van Vilsteren

Choose a Storage Structure Based on Requirements

Construction principles 12

Construction principles for the IT architect (12): Choose a Storage Structure Based on Requirements

In this blog series, I delve into timeless principles of information science that ensure better "information constructions." This 12th blog in the series continues with the third computer science principle (see my <a href="https://highberg.com/insights/construction-principles-for-the-information-professional">introductory blog</a> for the distinction). Why and when should you choose a relational structure (RDB and SQL), and when is linked data (RDF and SPARQL) a better storage option? Most people think of data in terms of tables to organize it, but this also imposes certain constraints when you want to later modify the structure. What trade-offs exist between the possible solutions?

Rutger Gooszen

Responsible AI

AI readiness scan: are you ready for the future of AI? 

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AI offers outstanding opportunities to make accurate predictions, enhance service delivery efficiency, and develop smarter solutions for challenges. But how do you ensure that your organization consistently derives value from AI? Complete our AI Readiness Scan and discover the next steps for your organization.

How to choose the right Cloud vendor?

How to choose the right cloud vendor?

In recent years, the Cloud has grown from a trend to a strategic necessity for many organizations. The cloud brings many benefits such as flexibility, scalability and better collaboration capabilities. A crucial step in implementing cloud is choosing a cloud vendor. It may seem like an easy decision, but several factors make this a complex process. How do you choose a cloud vendor? And what do you need to consider? In this Insight, we dive deeper into the considerations an organization needs to make when selecting a cloud vendor.

Loran van den Dungen

Mathijs Dubbe

Whitepaper: Cloudtransformation

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In recent years, cloud transformation has evolved from an emerging trend to a fundamental building block for modern IT strategies. Many organizations just struggle with maintaining control during and after transformation to the cloud. How do you maintain this control on the cloud during and after a transformation so that the intended benefits are actually achieved? And what do you need to take into account? In this whitepaper we describe the tools for a successful cloud transformation.

What Scaled Agile Frameworks Don’t Want You to Know

The Secret to True Agility

What Scaled Agile Frameworks Don’t Want You to Know: The Secret to True Agility

Imagine taking a ship out to sea. At first, adding more sails seems like the key to speed. The more sails you add, the faster you move, right? But eventually, the extra sails become a burden: more ropes to manage, more coordination needed, and suddenly, instead of speeding up, you’re slowed down by complexity. The ship becomes harder to maneuver in changing winds, and the crew spends more time managing the rigging than charting a course. 
This is what happens to many organizations when they scale Agile. Initially, scaling Agile seems to promise greater efficiency, better coordination, and increased control. But over time, those additional layers of governance, processes, and roles can create drag, slowing down decision-making, hindering innovation, and reducing the very agility that the organization set out to achieve.

Reinier Kersbergen

Part 3: When and where is AI ethics needed?

It's nice to know that AI ethics is a must when your organization is deploying AI to solve societal problems or better serve the public. Simply putting in the money won't take you very far. Making AI work for society is the work of people after all. But how to do it then? When and where should ethical reflection on AI be introduced in public organizations?  
In this final part of the introduction series on "AI ethics for public organizations," the separate phases of AI usage are distinguished. They are related to helpful ethical questions that are specific to those phases, and we share insights on where to situate the AI ethics capability in your organization.

Thomas Mollema

Mitigate risks and harness potential

Part 2: AI ethics

Part 2: AI ethics: mitigate risks and harness potential

If you want to apply AI to your organization's problems, where do you start? How do you do so in line with the public values you want to protect? Like all technologies, whether AI helps or harms depends on how you use it. But ignorant use of AI is more likely to do harm than do good. This means not reflecting on how AI relates to your organization's goals and values. 'Why is AI ethics necessary for every organization using AI systems?' is therefore the second question this series of introductions on "AI ethics for public organizations" addresses.

Part 1: The basics of AI ethics

‘What really is the ethics of AI?’ We often get this question from public organizations. Joining AI and ethics might seem strange at first glance, but raising ethical questions is essential to make AI work for your organization. No automating technology is a 'quick fix' for the difficult societal problems that public organizations deal with. Only AI systems that are <a href="https://highberg.com/insights/truly-valuable-services-are-sensible-from-the-initial-design" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">'sensible by design'</a>, well thought-out, and steer clear of ethical risks succeed in helping solve large, societal challenges. Think of making health care more effective, efficiently sharing information with stakeholders, and strengthening social security and well-being.  
The role of ethics in applying AI to societal challenges is therefore worth examining.

Pride Comes Before a Fall

Is Generative AI the Digital Tower of Babel?

Imagine a mysterious disease ravaging a remote tribe in Papua New Guinea. The brains of those affected degenerate rapidly, and scientists soon discover the cause—a ritual in which the dead are consumed. This disease, later known as Kuru, spreads as the tribe literally ate themselves.
Now, decades later, we see a similar phenomenon in the world of artificial intelligence (AI). No, our computers haven’t started eating each other (thank goodness!), but something disturbing is happening: Generative AI systems (hereinafter simply AI for readability) are increasingly “consuming” their own output, with potentially disastrous consequences.
Welcome to the world of 'model collapse' and 'shitification' - two-dollar words for a multi-billion dollar problem.

Reinventing organizations

Six public sector transformation trends

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