In the more than 25 years of my appointment, I have worked for various departments and divisions at UU, mainly as a lecturer, but also as a mentor, researcher and policy officer.
For several years now, I have found my home base at University College Utrecht (UCU).
Workload
The university’s most important asset is its employees. The high and continuous workload, right through all layers of the organization and independent of position, appointment or seniority, seems to be a denial of this fact. The work-life relationship is unbalanced for many. Committed and motivated employees lose pleasure in their work, their colleagues and the organization.
The well-being and job satisfaction of employees can and must therefore be improved, by organizing and steering more on human values and less directly on financial pictures. Financial frameworks ultimately determine the limits of the possibilities. But within these, choices are made that ultimately affect the individual within the collective. This sometimes requires fundamental discussions, critical but constructive.
Individual and collective
A well-functioning collective is composed of individuals who enjoy going to work, find honor in their work, can cooperate pleasantly and communicate respectfully with each other – regardless of position, appointment, seniority and so on. Therefore, more attention must be paid to the individual employee as part of the most important capital that unites the university.
In the University Council, as a VLAM representative, I want to focus explicitly on improving individual well-being within the professional organization that is the UU.
This deepest motivation led me to a seat on the PhD Council 25 years ago. Later that continued in the Faculty Council of Law. Experience in university participation is therefore not foreign to me. I am always critical but always constructive, both towards the employees and towards the organization that is the university.