Summertime

Complete dedication

Our dream team works incredibly hard throughout the year to serve our customers impeccably, with dedication and integrity.

Our situation is no different from many other sectors. Demand for our services is enormous (we understand and are grateful for that), and to avoid "long Schiphol queues," we have to pull out all the stops to meet that demand—at the quality level we demand. And while everyone works with pleasure and dedication, the workload is structurally high. We do (almost) everything we can to reduce that workload.

Reducing workload; what we do

• We have, again recently, recruited good and experienced new employees.
• We actively and continuously recruit employees who are willing and able to join our team. We recruit through social media, our networks, search agencies, job fairs, and more.
• We offer our employees a training program that focuses not only on improving legal knowledge and notarial professional rules, but also on professional and social skills to continue to create a customer-focused and high-performing work environment.
• We have ergonomically tailored the workstations to the user and the work to be performed, so that comfort is maximized and the risk of failure is reduced.
• We promote the job satisfaction of our employees. Therefore, we offer them attractive and transparent employment conditions, with an eye to the future, personal development, and flexibility. A modern set of employment conditions that perfectly aligns with our identity as a notary office with the motto "Good for each other" and the market in which we operate.
• We maintain a human touch. We're not ruled by spreadsheet management, but demonstrate genuine commitment to each other. We support and assist each other whenever necessary or desired. We have low staff turnover. Our experienced employees are often long-term and demonstrate loyalty and dedication.
• We will automate tasks that can be automated as innovatively as possible. By optimally utilizing state-of-the-art digital information and communication technology, we can run our practice lean and efficient .
• We have a flexible pool of self-employed people from which we can draw during peak periods.
• We also work on cases for our clients outside of office hours. Some start as early as 7:00 a.m., while others don't leave the office until after 10:00 p.m. We also work on weekends.
• We make choices. We divest certain types of work or outsource them to third parties with whom we collaborate.
• We are attempting to prioritize more strictly. We prioritize cases with a deadline or an urgent nature.
• We inform clients in the quote that the processing time—exclusively for family law cases—will be longer for a certain period than our usual and expected standard. If there is no deadline or urgency and the longer processing time is unacceptable to the client, we will not accept the case.
• We may announce a temporary freeze on accepting new cases.

Reducing workload; what we will definitely not do now

What we will definitely not do now to reduce the workload is:

• The interim increase of our fees. We believe that everyone, including those—or especially those—with a more modest budget should have access to notaries.
• We will no longer prioritize urgent cases. It is precisely the most vulnerable, those who are seriously ill or terminally ill, and who have an urgent need, who can continue to count on our priority care.
• We're ripping off customers by foisting them a standardized , one-size-fits-all deal. Every customer receives the attention they deserve. And we take that time, even if it means testing the patience of others.

Summertime

We are open as usual during the holiday period and continue to work with our customers on the matters they have entrusted to us.

Our employees are going on vacation (in phases), which means our staffing levels will be slightly smaller for a while. The first group has already been and is back, rested, recharged, and well. The second group will be on the road for two to three weeks starting August 1st. And that makes us happy. We encourage taking vacations because they're essential for recovering from the significant efforts made in the past period. Vacations are essential for a good work-life balance and for being able to spend time with loved ones in a relaxed atmosphere.

Yet, we've noticed that not everyone is always adept at completely switching off from work. They might be sitting by the pool or in a quiet spot they've found, still emailing, WhatsApping, or calling the office or clients...

Summertime and the living is easy.