Oostwegel Collection's Future Workforce
Oostwegel Collection aims to be at the forefront of the hospitality industry, becoming the best in the region at everything we do. This plan involves everyone – our team, partners, and guests. How do we future proof this highly operational organisation? Floortje Gerits, HR Director at Oostwegel Collection, talks about growing together as a family and letting each other thrive.
Article by:
Words - Hanneke Koenen & Chrissy Gunn
Images - Guy Houben
HR's mission
Floortje Gerits studied law at the University of Maastricht before switching to HR. In September 2021, she joined Oostwegel Collection as HR Director. Floortje is a true ‘bon vivant’ and completed training as a winemaker together with her partner Ludo. They have recently purchased a house in Piedmont, Italy, part of which will become a guest residence. At this property, she can truly nourish her hospitality heart and flourish in her winemaker ambitions.
Floortje’s ambition is to prepare Oostwegel Collection for the future. The world of HR can be very traditional, however Floortje has made it her personal mission to prove that the sector can be so much more than that. She is not only here to facilitate – she is here to inspire.
Meaningful Luxury in the Workplace
Meaningful Luxury is instilled in the strategy set out to build the future Oostwegel Collection workforce. Floortje’s next step is to translate this approach into the workplace. Genuine quality and flawless service – at Oostwegel Collection we are always prepared to give one hundred percent. We challenge ourselves to be responsible and care for our guests and the world around us. From the more modest enjoyment to the most refined experience – Meaningful Luxury defines our considered approach to hospitality.
The running of our business is a 24/7 operation, in which Meaningful Luxury needs to be a constant presence at all moments – it is the heart of the business. Floortje’s challenge is to keep everybody on track, to connect them to each other and the company. Everyone within the Oostwegel family should be able to contribute to a quality experience.
Investing in people
We create Meaningful Luxury in all areas of our business and beyond. Our strategy is to invest in people and focus on the long-term vision of preparing the organisation for the next generation. Offering a Meaningful Luxury onboarding programme to everybody in the wider Oostwegel family, we are slowly and steadily building our future workforce, creating loyal employees, ambassadors and partners as we move into the future. In return for our efforts, we place driven, passionate people at the heart of our business.
The pillars of our organisation – People, Place, Gastronomy, Collection – are brought to life in our onboarding programme. Each pillar offers its own experience, including speed dating sessions to establish connections, blind tastings, workshops and guided history tours through the estates, led by Camille Oostwegel Sr. He tells such brilliant stories about the history and culture of the estates! These stories live on in the minds of our team members, who pass them on with the same knowledge and enthusiasm as our founder – making the legacy of Oostwegel Collection highly tangible.
Intuitive Service
One of the qualities of Meaningful Luxury is ‘intuitive service’, in which we anticipate our guests’ needs. To help everyone within our company understand this concept, we have set up a partnership with Sanctum and Oxygen. The purpose of these workshops is to become mindful of the guest experience and how you, as a member of Oostwegel Collection, can positively influence each interaction.
Sanctum particularly influences individual awareness, both mentally and physically. While Oxygen makes you more conscious of body language, and how it can influence your surroundings. Through these workshops our people get to meet the best version of themselves and learn how they can be authentic to our guests.
The OC Academy
Another way we contribute to the development of our Meaningful Luxury strategy, and the formation of ‘intuitive service’, is the OC Academy – a collective that promotes and stimulates inclusivity. Employees and partners can sign up to the OC Academy, and join workshops, training courses and events categorised under our four pillars. Whether it is to learn something new or develop existing skills, at Oostwegel Collection we grow together.
For example, a marketing specialist can work in the vegetable garden, somebody based in the finance department can take an Oxygen class or a wine course, or a member of our cleaning team can follow a leadership programme or take part in a barista workshop. Everyone gets included and gets offered the same learning opportunities. We allow each other to thrive. For Oostwegel Collection, creating experiences of the highest level in every branch of our business – for guests, partners, and employees – reflects true Meaningful Luxury.
Our partners play a big role in our future sustainability. We work with many of them within the region, and feel that it is important to help each other develop and to build ongoing and long term relationships. Much like we do with our guests, we aim to make everyone who is aligned with Oostwegel Collection an associate of our brand, with whom we write new stories and create memories. This is how we make luxury personal and above all, authentic.
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