Anyone who works on the track must set the pace.
Three of the ten tracks are shielded, just past Amersfoort Central. The crane trucks on rail lorries roar over here, further on the sprinters and intercity trains. Groups of workmen in orange vests and black work shoes are busy. They work in shifts 24 hours a day: they are in a hurry.
“This is what you always hear on the radio,” says Jasmijn Heirsch, who shows the job from the roadside. “Due to work, NS is using buses. That is because of us.” A long braid falls over her shoulder from under her yellow helmet.
Heirsch manages these men as executors at Dura Vermeer Railinfra. She keeps an overview of the construction site, gives instructions and ensures that the schedule is met. Six points and surrounding rails have to be replaced in seven days. After that, the NS trains have to cross it again, so delay is not an option. Heirsch: “It is always a race against the clock.”
What does not help: the personnel shortages are great in construction, which includes railway construction. Nearly eight vacancies are open for every 100 jobs, according to CBS figures. There are only more in the hospitality industry and IT.
Construction company Dura Vermeer currently has more than two hundred vacancies. Countless vacancies are almost permanently open, including for executives, the position of Heirsch.
“When you are busy with nuts and bolts, it is less easier to keep an overview and think ahead”
Sometimes she is the sole executor on a large project, where she would rather have been the two of them. “Then you have to give some extra gas.” Or there are just few workers. “Then I’ll put on the gloves myself.” That’s not ideal either: “When you’re working with nuts and bolts, it’s less easier to keep an overview and think ahead.”
Rebuff recruiters
Heirsch regularly rebuffs recruiters who call her or send her LinkedIn messages. Competitive companies (Strukton, VolkerRail, BAM) are also struggling with shortages. “They promise you the whole world. A good salary, a good company – the standard sales pitch.” For now she is fine. “The grass is not always greener with the neighbors.”
Dura Vermeer also sends such messages to professionals, says recruiter Marcha Sajovec. “Whether they want to come and talk without obligation.” This usually leads to rejections. “But sometimes I get a message six months later: now I am interested in a conversation.”
How do you persuade someone like that? Not with high salaries, says Sajovec. “Anyone who only switches for the salary will be gone in no time.” She prefers to offer people the opportunity to grow. That is much more effective. “For example, if you can say to an executive: within a few years you can progress to become chief executive.”
Jasmijn Heirsch also switched three and a half years ago because Dura Vermeer allowed her to continue to grow. At competitor VolkerRail she was team leader of 25 welders. Her technical rail knowledge was still insufficient to become an operator. “I was completely blank.” Dura Vermeer did let her become an executor. “I got the chance to learn it in practice. I am still learning a lot.”
From the verge near Amersfoort Central, she shows a railway line that will soon be replaced. Between the long steel rails and the pebbles are wooden ‘sleepers’ – weathered, with deep grooves in them. These are in desperate need of replacement, says Heirsch. “Look, they’re all cracked.” Beyond thundering cranes, new, larger sleepers, made of concrete, bring in. “Much more solid.”
Call regularly
At least as important as recruitment is retaining your staff, Raymon van Dijk knows. As manager at Dura Vermeer’s Railinfra branch, he regularly calls employees. “Just to hear, how are you? And what can we do to make your work more attractive?”
Recently someone asked for two half days off a week, instead of one whole day – that’s more convenient with the kids. “We’re looking at that now.”
But most people don’t come up with such concrete requests at all, Van Dijk notes. “Just asking the question, that you’re involved, is enough.”
Van Dijk also assigns staff to future projects. Rail manager ProRail has already outsourced plenty of work for next summer. And Van Dijk already knows: his own staff is not enough for him. So he asks his competitors – whom he invariably calls “competitors” – if they might be able to lend staff. If not? Then he still has to say no to ProRail. That happened recently.
In this sector, everyone lends out personnel to each other, says Van Dijk. There are standard contracts for that. “We fish in a small pond, so we really need each other.” In addition, many freelancers are active.
Don’t hijack staff
As a result, Jasmijn Heirsch keeps seeing new faces on the construction site. “In peak periods, it’s a surprise every day who I’m going to work with again.” Although she sees some hired employees of competitors so often – “they are almost colleagues”.
Dura Vermeer even has an agreement with a few companies not to steal staff from each other, says recruiter Sajovec. “We want to maintain a good relationship with the companies we work closely with.” She won’t say which companies those are.
Heirsch was the first female operator in ‘rail infrastructure’ in 2019 and is still one of the few.
Instead of stealing staff from each other, Dura Vermeer prefers to attract more starters into the sector by being visible at MBOs, HBO and universities. Sajovec: “We are there on company days, promote ourselves in study magazines and ensure that interns, working students and graduation students come here.”
Heirsch hopes that more women will find their way into the industry. She was the first female operator in ‘rail infrastructure’ in 2019 and is still one of the few. Perhaps the heavy work in the evening, night and weekend “is a barrier for some ladies,” she says. She herself doesn’t mind at all. She gets a lot of vacation days in return: 48 a year. “And we have a lot of fun together. Then you keep it up too.”
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