Imbema

Inspiring collaboration with Imbema

Imbemais a socially responsible and forward-thinking family-owned business based in Haarlem that helps organizations—in industry, the energy sector, and transportation & logistics—create a safe and efficient work environment. Imbema has approximately 200 employees in the Netherlands and four different locations: Haarlem, Nieuwerkerk a/d IJssel, Vlaardingen, and Den Helder.

In conversation with Marianne Stam, HR associate at Imbema.

It is not new for Imbema to be concerned with the health and vitality of their employees. Previously, they offered employees a medical examination biannually, through the same party for nearly 25 years. "We wanted to shift the focus from medical to preventive. In addition, we are working on AVG and this made us look for a party with a digital working method and attention to the privacy of our employees. In this too, we would like to move with the times. In our search we quickly arrived at Simple Check" said Marianne Stam.

Complete unburdening

"In the end, Simple Check turned out to be the party that met our requirements in several areas." Marianne continues. "In our online search, the first thing we came across was Simple Check's website. We saw the bus and were immediately curious. We then scheduled an introductory meeting at Simple Check's office in Hoofddorp. The enthusiasm of the consultant and the Health Check team during the meeting and the mobile working method by using the health check van were two important reasons why we chose Simple Check. We also found the piece of cooperation and thus teamwork very important. In certain aspects we wanted to be completely relieved. For example, we did not want to know who would or would not participate in the health check, because we would unconsciously form an opinion about it. This is not up to us. Simple Check therefore took the entire registration process out of our hands to prevent this. In addition, Simple Check helped with the communication campaign prior to the Health Checks by providing posters, invitation texts, flyers, etc."

Offered Health Check:

• Sustainable Employability Index (DIX) from TNO
• Psychosocial Workload (PSA) from TNO
• Lifestyle inventory
• Blood tests (cholesterol & blood sugar)
• Body proportions (BMI, abdominal fat, fat percentage and visceral fat)
• Blood pressure
• Hand squeeze force
• Lung Test
• Resistance Check
• Additional examination (depending on the employee's position):
  • Hearing test
  • Vision test
  • Physical load test

"What was also nice was that the health check content could be used as customized. The content of the Health Check was adapted to the different functions of our employees. Fully tailored to the possible health risks of doing their jobs!"

Marianne Tribe

Imbema

Preventive attention in the mental area

In addition to thephysical testand thelifestyle questionnaireadministered on the bus, Imbema has also opted to focus on preventive mental health measures. This led them to theSustainable Employability Index (DIX)and thePSA, or Psychosocial Workload Assessment. Both are assessments developed by TNO that provide insight into current and future performance and offer insight into perceptions of safety, inappropriate behavior, work pressure, and other working conditions. “The moment our colleagues got on the bus, clear connections were immediately made between the questionnaires and the further assessments. This allowed for very concrete tips and advice to be provided. What was also really great was the way all results are fed back into the online dashboard. You don’t just see the results; you’re also linked to various knowledge articles, videos, and tip cards. I actually sat down to explore this myself—it was really fun and interesting!”

Anonymous group reporting

Marianne continues enthusiastically: "What was also very nice is that the group report and the presentation of those results really helped us a lot. We now put this report next to every intervention we think of to see if it fits well with the goals we have set. The group report was presented by your consultant first at the HR level, but eventually also to the management and the MT. This was because, in our opinion, some results needed more attention than we had thought beforehand. It turned out that there was room for improvement in the area of lifestyle, but also in the area of personal leadership in combination with work pressure and stress. Because this was communicated so clearly, together we were able to take a number of important steps towards an effective sustainable employability policy."

Vitality campaign focusing on:

1. Physically fit
2. Mentally fit
3. Fit for the future

"These three themes recur alternately on a monthly basis in the form of tips and articles on the intranet, vitality gifts and digital workshops, among other things. For example, the "Supermarket Safari" and "Manage Your Stress" workshops have now been given. Employees may also make non-binding use of conversations with a lifestyle coach in order to work specifically on the goals that are important to them."

Applications

Of about 200 employees, about 56% participated in the Health Check. "This was as expected, though. Our employees were used to a different provider, with different tests. They had to get used to this. People also had to get used to the online portal. Trust was at the root of this. Many people had questions like "What about privacy?" and "Can you see my data too? We are confident that the registrations next time will be higher than this year. What helped is that the Health Check team on the bus was able to answer the questions and that Simple Check thought along with us about the communication prior to the program. Once across the threshold, fortunately, most employees turned out to be actually enthusiastic about their participation in the health check and the online portal containing clear and inspiring feedback on the results."

In conclusion

Imbema chooses to repeat the Health Check every two years and in the meantime make use of the expertise of Simple Check by offering lifestyle coach talks and workshops. We as Simple Check look back on an inspiring cooperation. The fact that a company chooses to use our health checks preventively and to include them in a sustainable employability policy is actually what we do it for. So thank you Marianne, for the trust and the fine cooperation!