"Job Journey: the tool for enthusiastic employees at school board OOZ"

Nearly 2,000 employees. 38 schools. 12,000 students. That is the impressive size of Public Education Zwolle and region (OOZ). You can imagine that this requires a strong piece of personnel management. The five HR employees have only one goal: happy, enthusiastic employees who are in their flow. Because that is contagious and improves the quality of education. With that vision, they defy current HR themes and take good care of their people. How? OOZ has developed the Job Journey tool together with Popay for this. Janny Huisman tells us more about it.

Janny Huisman has been working with great pleasure at the OOZ school board for 13 years. This includes schools in secondary education, primary education and special education. The locations? You will find them scattered in the Zwolle region, from Hardenberg to Elburg and everything in between. When Janny talks about her work, she starts to glow and then you know: this is an HR advisor in heart and soul. And that involvement is what you prefer to see in all employees. Janny talks about her mission, vision and approach.

Janny, you're on a mission. Tell us, what do you believe in?

“I have chosen the wonderful profession of HRM because I believe that working should be pleasant for everyone. You spend a large part of your life doing that, so it must feel good. bring pleasure. To give energy. That is why it is my mission to create an optimal situation from the triangle of people, labor and organization. By giving employees opportunities to develop (people) and by organizing their work properly (labour), you can help an organization further. When people are busy doing things they enjoy and are good at, they go to work happy. What more do you want as an organization than happy employees? That puts you in a flow. And that enthusiasm is contagious. That is the essence of my work.”

That sounds good. The trends just don't always make it easy for you. How do you respond to developments such as sustainable employability, an aging population and war on talent?

“These current developments certainly play a major role in the HR profession and also within OOZ. We are busy with that. The right person, in the right place, at the right time is important. That is why talent development is one of our main themes. We want to empower people and let them grow. Then they go to work with pleasure and they last longer. This is how we bring in talent, retain them and work on sustainable employability.”

2,000 employees: how do you stimulate talent development?

“Together with Popay, we have developed a very nice tool for this: Job Journey, which we call the TSA app. We had two wishes: an online instrument for our interview cycle and an online instrument where people can express their qualities, talents and ambitions. Enough to talk about and look at the possibilities. And this Job Journey tool is the result! In this way we can give depth to talent development. Employees can start their own career and enrich their daily work. And even better: colleagues can also find each other there. I am very happy with this step, I think it is a wonderful tool.”

Now we are curious! Tell me more, why do you believe so strongly in this tool?

“Because this tool lets employees follow their own route and connects people. In this app you can indicate what your qualities are, what your talents are, what your ambitions are. And that in a very nice way. You fill in your passport, pack your suitcase and go on a trip! Along the way you will encounter activities and training. In this way you work step by step on your talents and you get closer and closer to your final destination. This can be your own tool individually, but you can also connect it with each other, with colleagues. This way you can see as a team which qualities you have. And if you know that, you can use them smartly. This can also be done across teams or even across schools: if you have the same qualities as a colleague at another school, you can work together in your development. As OOZ, we are pleased that Job Journey has now reached the point where we can start using it at all schools.”

That translation to the first schools: exciting or especially fun?

“I really like it a lot. We start with people who are enthusiastic, so I mostly hear positive reactions. What I do find a bit exciting is the search for even more colleagues who get energy from this. But that will happen, that energy is there. The success stories will soon be circulated and then it will spread like an oil slick, I am convinced of that. In a few years I think it will be an accepted and valued tool in the organization.”

When the time comes, how will you test whether this contributes to the HR vision?

“We will see the effect if many employees start using the tool. We will gradually evaluate this. Especially by asking employees what they think. Together with Popay, we will use this feedback to see if any adjustments are needed in the tool. The more users, the more feedback: and then it gets better and more beautiful. Then it becomes a tool of the employees themselves.”

What benefits will the organization experience if this succeeds?

“It is a wonderful instrument to support our vision on talent development. If employees have picked up the tool and the tool is fully integrated, it will benefit both the organization and the people. Win win. Employees will experience benefits because they themselves develop a portfolio with things they are good at and that gives them energy. They come into their own. That will make everyone happy, I'm sure. This way you as an organization get into a positive flow. And that is where the advantage for the organization comes in: this benefits the quality of education. Every school day again!”