Royal Jaarbeurs: the inspired, sustainable and innovative host for the whole of the Netherlands. A place where you meet, inspire, learn and grow. We'd love to tell you what's going on at Royal Jaarbeurs and the way we do things. How? By getting to know our strongest point: our people. Nikki de Coole (29) has been working as a corporate recruiter in Jaarbeurs's People & Sustainability team for a year now. As soon as her working day is over, she is fanatically playing padel on our indoor pop-up padel court. We play a game of padel with Nikki while she talks about the importance of vitality in the workplace.
Before starting at Jaarbeurs, Nikki worked as a recruiter at temporary employment agency Work-on. In that role, she worked a lot with Jaarbeurs's customer service team. "My challenge was to find suitable temporary workers for the exhibition floor. I immediately got a very nice feeling at Jaarbeurs. Suddenly the cooperation stopped and I was looking for something new." On Linkedin, Nikki saw the vacancy for corporate recruiter. A position that was tailor-made for her. "I had a slew of fun memories from that time. Candidates I placed back then are still working here and have since grown into positions like account and event manager. A hugely good sign that temporary workers who enjoy working here so much are being hired for permanent positions."
From corporate recruiter to 'vitality recruiter'
Nikki gets to deal with all kinds of HR-related issues within the People & Sustainability team, including vitality. A subject that is hugely important to her. "Vitality is a broad concept. Everyone knows that you should eat fruit and vegetables and exercise. Yet I think for a lot of people, their mental vitality is underexposed. I myself have become enormously aware of the importance of my own mental vitality in recent years. This is closely linked to my physical vitality." For Nikki, this was the trigger that she wanted to contribute to employee vitality in addition to her position as a corporate recruiter. "I find it super interesting to deal with sustainable employability of employees. How do you make sure people are in place and also stay healthy?"
"Padel and recruitment have more in common than you think"
Vitality on the shop floor
Nikki is actively promoting Jaarbeurs's first so-called Vitality Week this autumn. During this week, employees can take all kinds of courses and workshops that contribute to an energetic and productive working environment. For example, employees can take up a sporting challenge with kickboxing or zumba, participate in an ice bath challenge or learn how to get the most out of their sleep. "It is super fun to see how much enthusiasm there is for Vitality Week. During this week, we inspire our colleagues to pay extra attention to physical and mental vitality. If I am fit and mentally well, I perform at my best. I hope several colleagues will also become aware of this."
Recently, Nikki and several colleagues attended a vitality training course from the Helen Dowling Institute. The Helen Dowling Institute, a partner of Jaarbeurs, provides professional psychological care and conducts research to continuously improve it. "I am really happy that my employer pays so much attention to vitality. One of the tips I immediately applied is to get up an hour earlier every day. This gives me quiet time to take a long shower, read a book and have a leisurely breakfast. This way I have more overview in my head and start my day calmly."
Padel ambassador
Jaarbeurs recently opened an indoor padel court on the exhibition floor. Nikki was the first to book a court and is Jaarbeurs 's biggest padel ambassador this summer. "Padel ideally contributes to my physical vitality. I started playing padel over 1.5 years ago and how cool is this to be able to do it at work. I was at the forefront, #padelbijJaarbeurs, I had to be like the chicken with that."
"While enjoying a game of padel, I get to know many new colleagues"
Hit the ball baby one more time
Within Jaarbeurs, there is a padel group app and I encourage everyone to play a game of padel after a working day. There are now over 30 colleagues in the app. "I get to know lots of different colleagues from other teams. This while playing a game of paddle with each other. It really is a win-win. Just last week I went padelling with two colleagues I didn't even know, this was really super fun." For Nikki, padelling contributes to her vitality. "It gives me enormous peace to sweat it all out on our padel court after a working day. Then I come home in the evening and feel tired but fulfilled."
Until 1 September, Jaarbeurs 's indoor padel court is open with six double courts. The temporary padel courts are a joint initiative of Jaarbeurs, Heineken and Rekré Sports and is co-facilitated by Majesty Padel. More information: www.padeljaarbeurs.nl/en
