Racing women and racing men

A real Rensenman

“I’ve only been working here for two years,” says Sven Fisscher, project leader Short-term Projects. “But recently at a dinner my colleague said that I’m a real Rensen man. At first I didn’t feel that way, but now I feel completely at home here.”

The question naturally arises: what is a real Rensen man? Sven starts laughing and thinks for a moment. “Straight to the point. That sometimes leads to heated discussions where I say: hey guys, we all have Rensen on our shirts.” But a Rensen man is more than just being direct. According to Sven, a Rensen man is also someone who doesn’t leave until something works well.

"With other employers I noticed that when the work was done for eighty percent and the hours were up, then it was done and we moved on to the next job. But for me it never felt finished and I didn't have the idea that a customer was really satisfied. Rensen may not be the cheapest and it may take a little longer, but you always have a good result. And I also read that in the customer satisfaction surveys," he beams.

What would you like?

Still, it was a bit of a search for Sven at first. “Commercial director Ruud Cuppé had already asked me once, but I had only just started in control technology. I wanted to learn the trade properly and build up knowledge first. For me, Rensen is one of the top companies in control technology in the Netherlands. To be honest, I didn't really dare at the time. A few years later, Ruud asked me again and that was a good moment for me.”

Sven started working at Rensen as a project manager, but it didn't feel right very quickly. "I saw all those vans driving away in the morning and I also wanted to go outside, to customers. In the meantime, I was able to return to my old employer, but at the same time I didn't want to leave Rensen. I went to technical director Michel van der Leest and explained everything there. He was happy that I had come to him and his first question was: what would you like?"

Together with Michel, Sven discussed what would make him happier and started a new job. It was a good move, but Sven quickly changed jobs again. This time it was not his own initiative, but Roy van Schouwen's. Roy had seen what Sven could do and wanted him as a direct colleague for short-term projects. "Roy can walk into a customer's office and convert everything without being seen. I am good at Cloud and ICT matters and that turned out to be a great combination. And that's how I ended up in a perfect job," laughs Sven. "One day I have a meeting with colleagues or customers and the next moment I'm standing with a screwdriver in my hand converting control cabinets."

Farm boys

Sven is glad he stayed with Rensen. “You shouldn’t come in here with a lot of blah blah. There are people who have been working here for twenty, thirty years and really know what they are talking about. If you come in with an attitude that things have to be different, well, you will hear about it. You do have to prove yourself a bit when you come in,” says Sven, “but once you have shown what you can do, you are more than in. I have seen quite a few colleagues come and go, but the people who stay really fit in here.”

Sven is also not thinking about leaving. “This is really the first company I work for where I don’t feel a threshold towards the management. A previous employer told me when I started working for him that there was no threshold, but I experienced it that way. Here they are just as much farm boys as we are.”

What really impressed Sven was the choice of colleagues for colleagues. “A while ago, management said that the first few colleagues who would reach a target of a certain amount would receive a voucher for a luxury dinner for two,” Sven explains. “That turned out to work and a few vouchers were given away. But the colleagues who had such a voucher then told management that they would rather celebrate with their colleagues. Where do you see that?” Still, you have to be very careful at Rensen, Sven notes with a laugh. “With all those dinners, sausage rolls every week and cake very often, I have gained no less than five kilos since I started working here!”

Want to read more stories from employees and customers? Go to https://www.rensen.nu