BBI JU

Have you heard of BBI JU? These 5 letters actually stand for "Bio Based Industry Joint Undertaking", a structure resulting from a public-private partnership between the European Commission and a consortium of bio-based industries. "Our main remit is to conduct research into the production and marketing of bio-based products, i.e. products made from organic waste," explains Nicolo Giacomuzzi-Moore, head of the BBI JU's Administration and Finance unit. Together with his colleague Killy Andzouana Oby, HR Manager, he talks about the recent collaboration between HR Partners and BBI JU in the turbulent context of the health crisis.

WHAT'S THE CURRENT STATE OF WELL-BEING?

"When we went from one day to the next into confinement and 100% teleworking, we very quickly wanted to assess the impact of this exceptional situation on the well-being of the staff, a total of around thirty people," explains Killy. So we looked on the market for an external partner capable of carrying out such a survey based on a scientifically founded approach. And that was the case with HR Partners, which is working with the University of Leuven on this project.

"It's important for us to be able to call on the expertise of external consultants to carry out such assignments, which we can't do ourselves given our workload," adds Nicolo. "For our staff, it's reassuring to know that these initiatives are being carried out by an independent external partner specialising in the field, both in terms of objectivity and confidentiality," adds Killy.

POSITIVE RESULTS

And the results of the staff well-being survey? "The feedback from our colleagues was quite positive: the feeling was that we had done our utmost to ensure their well-being. And this feedback also enabled us to take concrete action, such as providing ergonomic screens or chairs in employees' homes," explains Nicolo.

"These results also showed that it was essential to prepare carefully the return to the office, given the change in habits brought about by 100% teleworking", adds Killy, "It was also this change in habits that prompted us to set up a whole series of small training courses to make teleworking a better experience. These one-hour courses were offered once or twice a week for many months.

A RETURN-TO-WORK STRATEGY

HR Partners has also contributed to the development of a back-to-work strategy, in a context of growing interest in the New Way of Working. "We brainstormed with HR Partners on the content of a new, tailor-made survey to understand employees' expectations for this return to work. Number of days in the office and teleworking, flat or individual offices, digitization of processes... all aspects were addressed, which enabled us to also take their opinions into account in the back-to-work strategy that has been effective since September. As was already the case for the first survey, HR Partners' involvement met our expectations and added real value to our strategic vision," concludes Nicolo.