Section 4

THE ORGANIZATION

The year 2021 was turbulent and busy also for the organization. Covid-19 didn’t make it any easier, but everyone again showed their creative side. Last year we followed up by working within the principles of self-organization. Together with support from internal coaches, teams took steps to gain more insight into how they can contribute to meeting the library’s goals and those of the program team in which they work.

New foundation ABC Huis - streamline HR processes

The past year was the first year for the new ABC Huis foundation. The administrative merger between Artiance and the Kennemerwaard Public Library was established on 1 January 2021. Since then, the management team at the ABC Huis oversees the Artiance foundation and the Kennemerwaard Public Library. Control and HR also operate from the ABC Huis for both organizations. All departments that directly provide services to residents now fall under the Kennemerwaard Public Library or Artiance respectively. Many issues that once belonged to the other two organizations had to be (re) organized for staff members who now belong to the ABC Huis. Our HR department has also worked on streamlining the internal processes and regulations of both organizations with the goal to conform as much as possible. The administrative HR processes in the personnel and salary administration have been reorganized. There is a new staff member manual and there is a clear absentee process for all three organizations, but the expense allowance scheme also came under review, as did the insurances and laws that had to be adhered to by the organization. This streamlining will continue within HR in 2022.

Sick leave

The percentage of sick leave compared with previous years has further decreased. The average percentage for sick leave in 2019 was 8.3%, in 2020 6.04%, and we closed in 2021 with an average sick leave percentage of 4.95%. We maintain a new process for sick leave with clear guidelines on the roles and responsibilities within the process. Furthermore, all three organizations bear the excess for the Ziektewet (Health Insurance Act) and the WGA (Insurance for Partially incapacitated employees). This is to provide increased job prospects for the sick and disabled (ex) employees, and to be able to manage the costs of absenteeism and work disability. In alignment with good employment practice, we have agreed on a collective disability scheme as a secondary labor condition for our employees. This is to protect our staff and to limit loss of income caused by work disability as much as possible. Sick leave and long-term employment demand continual attention. The Arbodienst will be streamlined in 2022 and we will focus more on prevention to encourage vitality and to prevent sick leave.

Staff

The Kennemerwaard Public Library had 154 employees (average 80.07 FTE) during the year 2021. There were 80 FTE - 66 permanent FTE and 14 temporary FTE.

Volunteer contribution

It was an eventful year too for our volunteers. A lockdown, the restrictive opening hours of the library and the many activities that had to be cancelled or could not even be organized contributed together to making it an unpredictable year. It was a year that proved how dedicated and flexible our volunteers are at the Kennemerwaard Public Library. As soon as activities are organized our volunteers respond immediately and are ready to get to work. They adapt easily to all the measures and restrictions imposed to safeguard the reception of our visitors and to welcome them to our activities in the various branches. We would not be able to provide many of our activities without our volunteers and much work would not be carried out.

Community SAMEN

The SAMEN community was launched last year. It’s a community where professionals and volunteers examine the underlying teamwork together. The group shares experiences and inspiration to reinforce the partnership in a fun and easily accessible way, with ideas for projects, actions, meet-ups, and work documents. By creating more interaction between the volunteers and staff members, we get to connect and make good use of each other’s talents, knowledge, and energy. This way we can all continue to develop, increase our services and make the teamwork even more fun.

"I really enjoy giving something back to the community through volunteer work, based on my knowledge and enthusiasm."

• "A party! Yes, that’s what I experience every time, on Thursday afternoon when I volunteer at the Open Leer Centrum (OLC) in the Heerhugowaard library." • "My children are grown up, but gee its a lot of fun to be back with the little ones at the youth activities in the library! What I do? Firstly, enjoy!"

Quotes volunteers

Supervisory Board (Artiance and Kennemerwaard Public Library)

Members of the Supervisory Board in 2021 were: • Mr. G. Ten Dam, Chairman • Mr. J. Oost, Vice Chairman • Mrs. L. Oskamp, Member • Mr. K. Res, Member • Mrs. E. Hollenberg, Member • Mr. E. Barendrecht, Member • Mrs. L. Danenberg, Member • Mr. D. van Noord, Trainee

Management ABC Huis (Artiance and Kennemerwaard Public Library)

Management members in 2021 were: • Mrs. E. Winters, Managing Director • Mrs. H. Idema, Organizational Development Director • Mr. J. Kaldenbach, Organizational Development Director • Rob Bangert, Organizational Development Director

Works Council ABC Huis (Artiance and Kennemerwaard Public Library)

There were elections for the Works Council in early 2021. This was due to the management merger between Artiance and the Kennemerwaard Public Library. Beforehand both organizations had their own Works Council, but now there is one Works Council ABC Huis that takes care of the interests of all staff members employed at the three organizations.

Members of the Works Council from April 2021 were: • Mariken Gimbrère • Hanneke Hoffmann • Annemarie Kraaier (Secretary) • Sanneke van der Meer (Chairman) • Ria de Ridder • Mieke Vis • Wim Vlaar (replaced temporarily by Nathalie Salvaggio)

The Works Council met seven times in 2021. Another seven meetings also took place with the director and one Algemene gang van Zaken conference with the members of the Supervisory Board. The meetings were both online and in person, dependent on the situation and restrictions at that time. The subjects on the coronavirus and self-organization at the Kennemerwaard Public Library remained on the agenda in 2021. The future and development of the ABC Huis determines a significant portion of the Works Council’s agenda. Streamlining sick leave, the staff manual, expense allowance scheme and various types of insurance were on the agenda.