SEW Energy thrilled with Ganesh and WorldEmp

"How a change meeting led to new personnel"

Frank Korf eigenaar WorldEmp

It is a curious story, the history of SEW Energy from Broek op Langedijk: started in 1996 as a maintenance company in the food industry, for the chip factory nearby. And now, over a quarter of a century later, it is a major supplier in the Dutch energy market. And through a chance encounter, SEW Energy now has its first and soon its second staff member in India. Through recruiter WorldEmp.

It was over a year ago that SEW Energy director Pascal Kool happened to bump into WorldEmp's Frank Korf at the offshore energy networking association AYOP.

From then on, a partnership was born. After all, Kool was looking for new staff for the increasing work and Korf could provide it. WorldEmp does that with a unique remote working concept that links foreign talent to Dutch companies.

Back to the work of SEW Energy for a moment: it provides maintenance services and pipespools (industrial pipes) to Dutch oil and gas operators. "Everything that is above water, we supply. We supply the pipes, the tools and people to maintain those pipes and tinker between them to clean or replace gaskets, for example," Kool explains. They provide customised services. "Welders and fitters put the work together based on drawings. Nothing is straight. Everything has bends, T- and Y-splits." And that customisation has increased considerably. So more staff are needed, for instance to prepare the so-called work packages. But as in many industries, staff are not on hand. "We currently have four, five vacancies," says Kool.

WorldEmp specialises in finding and supporting highly educated foreign staff working for their Dutch employers at modern offices in India. "Frank told me about his concept. I was immediately enthusiastic. Among my colleagues, there was some scepticism at first. Logical, it also means quite a lot to our company, for instance in terms of procedures and computer programmes. These are all in Dutch. But under WorldEmp's guidance, we just started to find out by trial and error. And it works surprisingly well." So well that a second colleague in India is now being sought. Because that's what Ganesh is by now, a real colleague. "In the beginning, we were looking for how we were going to deploy Ganesh. Once the work packages are prepared, that has to be handed over to the production manager.

This is always done physically, so until now there was a link in between. Instructions and drawings have to be printed out, for example. But now we have found a way of working, where Ganesh does that directly himself." So there are now also plans to bring Ganesh to the Netherlands once. "To get to know the colleagues better, remove barriers. To ensure that he will soon be able to accompany the other colleague again in India. Yes, Ganesh really suits us." Still, it is not the case that soon all the work will be done by employees in India. "No, for the vacancies that are still open we are also looking in the Netherlands. The fact that it is cheaper to have someone in India is an afterthought. Here we just couldn't find people, there we can. It's as simple as that. If it stays that way, more Indian colleagues may join us. But it remains a search for the right balance. We are used to working with foreign staff. We have also had Portuguese welders working for us for a long time. But that is in the workshop. In the office, though, this is new."

So this is how SEW Energy from Broek op Langedijk replenished its workforce in an innovative way. And that through shaking hands at a networking meeting. Kool: "That turns out to be valuable. To end up with Ganesh in India in this way."

 
Frank Korf, founder and CEO at WorldEmp