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About us Organization University Services

HR & Health

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José Weitenberg-Kroontje

‘Within the HR & Health cluster, we are offering all kinds of services and developing instruments to help staff to live up to their potential. To this end, a healthy and safe work environment is indispensable. Our cluster is made up of passionate professionals, a talented group of people with exceptional expertise. Virtually all services in the field of HR and health are represented within our team.

We are an evolving cluster that works together with faculties and service units to further professionalize our services. In addition, we are also strengthening the interconnection within HR & Health. The culture is warm and social. People are interested in each other.’

José Weitenberg-Kroontje, cluster director of HR & Health


Organizational structure of HR & Health

All products and services provided by the HR & Health cluster are divided into five areas: Occupational Health, Safety, and Sustainability, HR Services, HR Advice, HR Specialists, and Strategic Policy Advice.

See below for more information and contact details for each area. With the creation of University Services (the service unit to which HR & Health belongs), these fields were translated into five departments and one team.

Occupational Health, Safety and Sustainability

Our Occupational Health and Safety department aims to provide a healthy and safe work environment for every staff member. Over 20 professionals are working intensively on working conditions and health. Our experts are divided into various teams, each specialized in various topics such as work and organization, staff welfare, occupational healthcare, absenteeism, ergonomics, sustainability, biosafety, radiation safety, and others. The culture is one of caring and dedication. The Occupational Health, Safety, and Sustainability department supports staff members, encourages healthy behaviour through the Balans programme, and ensures a safe work environment.

It is the UG’s internal health and safety service. This department advises and supports our faculties and service units in organizing the business processes and working conditions in such a way that staff members can carry out their work in a safe and healthy manner. This has a direct impact on the productivity and wellbeing of the UG community. Our door is always open to all UG staff members who have questions about the health-workplace relationship.

Contact

  • General contact address: amd@rug.nl, tel.: +31 (0)50 363 5551 (secretariat).
  • Medical affairs contact address: amd.medisch@rug.nl, tel.: +31 (0)50 363 5534 (secretariat).
  • Correspondence and visiting address:

    Occupational Health and Safety (AMD)
    Visserstraat 49
    9712 CT
    Groningen

  • Department head: Ton Modderman

HR Services

UG’s HR Services is the driving force behind streamlined HR processes and staff administration. HR Services comprises two crucial subdepartments specializing in the administrative processing and monitoring of workflows: HR Operations and HR Services Specialists.

The HR Operations subdepartment comprises the Employee Service Center (ESC), Staff Administration, and Archiving teams. The ESC responds to questions from staff at the reception desk, by phone, or via email. The Staff Administration team manages staff data, and the Archiving team staff members are responsible for managing, organizing, and maintaining staff-related documents and data.

HR Services Specialists comprises the Cross Border Labour, Quality and Information Management, the PhD Scholarship Desk, and HR Assistants teams. Each team has a specific role: The Cross Border Labour team advises on working across borders. The Quality and Information Management team safeguards quality through workflow management and generating reports from Power BI/AFAS. PhD Scholarship Desk staff members are fully involved in the processes of the PhD Scholarship Programme experiment. HR Assistants work at a faculty or service unit and are thus the point of contact for HR-related operational questions. The department guarantees efficient staff management and meets legal obligations.

HR Services has an open culture, staff members work together intensively to complete their work, and there is clear leadership. HR Services staff is a mix of various ages. There is ample room to develop your talents.

  • Head of department: Linda Riedstra.
  • Team leader: Yvonne Tel.

Contact

Our desk is open for visitors from 8 January 2024 on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 9:00 to 12:00 and from 13:00 to 16:00 hour.
On Wednesday and Friday, we are open from 9:00 to 12:00 hour.

  • General email address: hrs@rug.nl.
  • Telephone number: +31 (0)50 363 9191.
  • Correspondence and visiting address: Academy Building, west wing (second floor), Broerstraat 5, 9712 CP Groningen.
HR Advice

The HR advisors and business partners are divided into three teams, each led by a team leader. HR Advice takes a personal approach, where the HR advisor is the daily contact point for both managers and staff members when it comes to intake, promotion, and outflow. The HR Business Partners team advises, among others, faculty boards and service unit managements on strategic themes.

HR Advice strives to act as the link between faculties, service units, and other teams in the HR & Health cluster. As colleagues, we stay connected to each other, for example through work meetings and knowledge teams. This way, we safeguard a consistent set of employment practices at the UG.

Contact

  • General email address: hradvies.bs@rug.nl.
HR Specialists

UG’s HR Specialists are professionals in the HR field, each with their own expertise. These specialists are divided into three teams:

General and Legal Affairs team

The HR specialists of the General and Legal Affairs team are the specialists in the fields of labour law, administrative law, terms of employment, the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU), and relevant laws and regulations. The team’s expertise focuses on the terms of employment policy, legal advice and legal representation, labour law, absenteeism casuistry, social safety and integrity, conflict mediation, CAO, laws and regulations, and organizational development/reorganizations.

Learning and Development team

Staff members of the Learning and Development (L&O; Leren & Ontwikkelen) team know all about supervising, coaching, training, and issuing advice aimed at the professionalization of individuals, teams, and the organization.

The team’s expertise focuses on organizational development, team development, career coaching/guidance, developing and delivering training courses on career, leadership, personal skills, and social safety, as well as the online learning and development portal.

Labour Market and Recruitment team

The Labour Market and Recruitment team (A&R; arbeidsmarkt & recruitment) is dedicated to and knowledgeable on all matters and problems related to recruitment and selection. In the A&R team, all specialists in the labour market are brought together, both on the demand side and on the supply side. The A&R team supports the organization with the following services: advice on the labour market, recruitment and selection (general and per vacancy), advice on the profile, vacancy description, and market approach, the From Work to Work programme, Dual Career Support, hiring external staff, special positions, and vocational programmes BBL and BOL.

Contact details

If you have any questions or comments, please contact hr-experts@rug.nl.

The heads of department of HR Specialists are Gerald Lier and Agnes Themmen.

Support HR & Health

In addition to content professionals in the fields of HR and Occupational Health, Safety & Sustainability, the HR & Health cluster comprises two support teams:

Secretariat team

The secretariat ensures smooth coordination of appointments, preparation of meeting minutes, managing appointments of the management, and providing support with organizing events and administration concerning HR & Health workshops and training courses.

  • Head of department: Gerald Lier
  • General email address: hr-experts@rug.nl.

Communications team

The Communications team issues advice to and facilitates the HR & Health cluster in the area of communication within the cluster, as well as from the cluster to the rest of the organization and the labour market. We do so by providing proactive and incident-driven solutions to improve the cluster’s products and services by means of communication.

  • Head of department: Gerald Lier
  • General email address: hr-experts@rug.nl.
Strategic Policy Advisors

HR & Health’s Strategic Policy Advisors (Strategische Beleidsadviseurs, SBA) team leads the policy development, information analysis, and implementation of new HR policies within the UG from our cluster. In this role, the strategic policy advisors function as important advisors to the Board of the University and the directors of our faculties.

In line with the UG Strategic Plan 2021-2025 and the University Services Strategic Plan 2023 & 2024, the team deals with key themes such as:

  • Recognition and Rewards
  • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Leadership
  • Online Learning and Development
  • Attractive employment
  • Social Safety

Contact details

HR & Health Strategic Policy Advisors

Downloads

See the organizational chart of HR & Health to view a schematic representation of the organizational structure.

Last modified:01 October 2024 1.16 p.m.
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