Customer testimonial: Consumentenbond

Consumentenbond approached The Mental Move to use their services in the field of preventive mental care. Why The Mental Move is such a good fit for the Consumentenbond is explained by Rieneke from her role as lead sustainable employability. Curious what the collaboration has yielded so far? Then read on.

If, like Consumentenbond, you switch to a holacratic form of organization, working with self-managing teams, you are forced to adjust your absence policy accordingly. With holacratic working, you let go of the traditional management layer. You work from a hierarchy of goals rather than people.

The responsibility around absenteeism guidance, which you traditionally place with the manager, became a responsibility of the new role ‘Coach Sustainable Employability’ at the Consumentenbond. A nice and personal way to continue the 1 on 1 contact around this theme. To also pay preventive attention to the well-being of colleagues, they engaged The Mental Move. The goal of Consumentenbond is to improve sustainable employability and to work preventively on mental complaints.

Rieneke further explains the choice of collaboration: “We were looking for a partner who could focus on prevention because we wanted to separate this from absence counseling. We like the approach of The Mental Move. Employees are encouraged in a proactive attitude towards their mental health.”

“The e-consults and the platform are appealing and, very importantly, the employee is in control. At The Mental Move you are helped by psychologists who quickly see what is going on and, if necessary, immediately start a business care process. This collaboration allows us to fully focus on the absenteeism piece again.” – Rieneke Koning

The Mental Move ushered in the collaboration through a kick-off webinar for the entire organization. At this webinar, Consumentenbond colleagues got an idea of what we can do for them. Afterwards, all employees were given access to the prevention platform where they can work independently and completely anonymously. On this platform, in addition to self-help modules, they will also find a Mental Helpdesk. In the latter, you look together with a psychologist at what you need at that moment. We pro-actively organize theme workshops such as Getting a grip on stress and regularly send out a newsletter. In this way, colleagues are introduced to topics focused on their mental health in an accessible way.

From within the organization, Rieneke hears only positive sounds from employees who have had an e-consultation. “Everyone is grateful that Consumentenbond offers this. Also, the quality of The Mental Move is good.” Employees find their way to the prevention platform well and participate in the workshops.

About the business care programs, Rieneke says: “One of our employees had a breakdown and, with the help of a psychologist from The Mental Move, was reintegrating after only 2 months. If this person had been on a waiting list for regular care, six months would have passed. We can now switch gears much faster, which really adds value for both the organization and the employee. It is great that we can really offer employees what they need in their process. The absence supervisor is also involved in this. This creates a triangle with the psychologist and employee and there is good mutual coordination.”

“The way of contact is not intrusive, there is a lot of thinking about what we need and what The Mental Move can offer. We do it together and make something valuable out of it every time. This makes it really feel like a collaboration rather than an externally hired party. Ruth is extremely approachable and transparent, for example, the feedback after the kickoff was shared immediately. In short, we are taken care of in absence prevention and that is exactly what we need right now.” – Consumentenbond

Also curious what a collaboration with The Mental Move could mean for your organization? Contact us without obligation!