Hallo! My name is Bas. I currently work as a project leader at the UG. Back in 2016, I started working at the university as a student assistant for the Pre-University Academy. After being part of the first cohort of trainees from 2019 and 2021, and a short subsequent stay at FSE, I came to where I am now: Research & Impact at University Services.

Working at the UG has many advantages: good salary, nice colleagues, the bicycle scheme, enough training opportunities, and almost all of my friends are jealous of our amount of leave hours. Besides that, in my opinion, the greatest advantage of working at the UG is the freedom I get to do activities I think are important next to my regular job. That is why I am active in networks like YoungRUG and Younglink (part of Noorderlink). Both organizations are very beneficial to me: they provide me with professional and personal development, and a large network. And, for the managers among us, I can use all that to the advantage of my team.

The importance of retaining talent

Time and time again, through these networks, I see the talent and energy of young professionals, and the new and refreshing ideas that surface. When it comes to that, the UG is built on an inexhaustible goldmine with all its graduating students. Many people want to work at the university; we’ve got a strong employer brand. Attracting talent does not seem to be a problem, holding on to it does.

Retaining talent is a point of interest for the UG; the thing is that the possibilities within the organization can be quite unclear. Did you know that every employee has at least three development days every year to develop the knowledge and skills which are beneficial for their job and to strengthen their position on the internal and external job market? And that the UG has to facilitate that by compensating study and travel costs, under certain conditions? And that you can do this development during work hours? You can find all of this in the Collective Labor Agreement of the Dutch Universities (Article 6.10). What can also be unclear, mainly for support staff, is the career trajectory within the university. For a scientist, it is very clear: from a PhD position, there’s a clear path upwards. It is more difficult for support staff. YoungRUG tries to provide insight into this kind of information for young professionals so they can accurately develop themselves within the university. That is one of the things we do to help retain talent for the UG.

Recognition and Rewards

An essential part of retaining talent lies also in its appreciation. Hard work is being done for scientific staff, which is necessary. From Arts to Spatial Sciences, and from Behavioral and Social Sciences to Religion, Culture and Society, great things are being done that the world should know about. Regarding that, Recognition and Rewards is doing great things. However, appreciation for support staff is lagging behind. The R&R programme targets only scientific staff, and after that, focus will shift to support staff. But why would you spend money on the same process twice, especially now during the budget cuts? YoungRUG rings the bell on this topic. Last year, for example, we presented a plan to change the name “support staff” to “professional staff”, which is a very conventional term in universities. We hoped this would be an easy step in the direction of more recognition for support staff. Unfortunately, the plan was not adopted.

The point I am trying to make is that the UG could do more to retain talent and it should invest in that. A good example is the UG traineeship, which ran from 2019 to 2024. It provided the university with two cohorts of motivated and trained young professionals who want to work at the UG. Of the first cohort, ten out of eleven work at the university, and of the second, it is eight out of twelve. It is a shame that the budget cuts take away this kind of opportunities for young talent while they contribute so much, and the UG needs them. In the next few years, many UG colleagues will retire (not replacing them will apparently solve the budget cuts, but who would do the work that’s left behind?), so we should make sure their vast amount of experience and knowledge is transferred to younger and motivated (new) colleagues.

Building a stronger UG together

A job is more than just ticking boxes on your to-do list; it is development, for yourself and your team, and, consequently, for the UG. We develop together. YoungRUG contributes to that by creating a community in which we develop and share knowledge. We are all colleagues, regardless of what salary scale we’re in or in which part of the organization we work. During my traineeship, when I worked at FSE, I noticed that nobody had the slightest idea of what the Faculty of Science and Engineering was. Now, when I tell people from outside the UG that I work for University Services, they look puzzled. That is why I always say I work for the UG. For the outside world, we’re one organization; sometimes, that could be a little bit more clear for the people inside.

Doing things that are not part of my job description during work hours has brought me many things. Organizations like YoungRUG (and Younglink outside of the UG) provide me with low-key opportunities to develop myself and the possibility to be part of a network of like-minded colleagues. Because of that, I can do my work in a better way, I know what’s going on, and I have more fun during work days. Working life can sometimes seem really serious, but we should make it fun together. Before you know it, we’re all nagging and rusty employees, while no-one is like that naturally. Moaning about something is easy, doing something about it is more fun. That is how we make the university a place where everyone wants to keep working. We do it together, because we are the UG.