Coffee with a CEO: Maudie Derks, Acture Group

“At the time, I was running my own employment agency for temporary workers and it gave me an idea for a solution that would help to improve absenteeism. I thought that if this was beneficial to me, then it would most likely be of interest and value to other employment agencies as well. As a result, I became my own first client and developed a service that reduced absenteeism, accelerated returns to work and increased profitability for the agency.”

“Since founding Acture over 15 years ago, we’ve successfully set up several new entities that cover different markets and clients. In some cases, we’ve delivered a new service entirely, such as a solution that helps us to support clients with both their insurance and service needs. In recent years, we have seen a growing demand for sickness prevention and wellbeing services and were pleased to launch a Total Welfare Management platform which offers support and safety to employees facing mental, physical, financial and / or career challenges.”

“At the moment, I am really enjoying the work we are doing to internationalise the Group. For example, we recently acquired Evermood (Sep-23), MoveUp (Dec-23) and K.i.M. (Feb-24) in Germany; companies that all focus on employee welfare management.”

“At Acture, we strongly believe that company culture is the primary driver of employee satisfaction and wellbeing. We therefore really focus on helping our employees become the best version of themselves. This is one of our core values and an integral part of the way we work. We talk about our values with our people on a regular basis, we monitor employee satisfaction and we’ve seen consistent increases over the past three years.”

“What would you do if your company was five times bigger than it is today?”

“In 2017, Acture was featured in a national television show, where our way of working was heavily criticised. After the show, some of our colleagues were questioned about their personal life and we saw a slight drop in new business. The case was even discussed in parliament.”

“I divide my tasks into those that energise me and those that don’t. I try to do as many energising tasks as I can. Luckily, my work gives me a lot of energy!😉”

“Great! We have a great working relationship with Sander and Onne. They challenge us when necessary and give us room to operate in our own way when we need it.”