“Coffee? We have very tasty ones,” says Claire de Rouville, head of facilities when we cross the granite threshold of a huge building on the Rokin in Amsterdam. Except for a wall of living moss, the entire bottom floor is a large white space. Soft piano music pings over the perfectly concealed speakers, an exotic-looking tree grows from a terracotta pot. Ohpen is a ‘ruthlessly effective cloud-native core banking engine‘. Claire: “We do software for banks, but in the cloud.”
Above the piston coffee maker hangs a sign with the coffee options: ‘extraordinary espresso‘ or a ‘companionship cappuccino. “We’re having poke bowls for lunch today,” says Claire as she sweeps coffee residue into a shiny designer waste bin. “Our building is quite large, the coffee machine is deliberately placed downstairs so that people get moving and meet each other here. measure for the bonding. Health is very important to us.”
Lunch is ready on a four-meter-long mint green kitchen island. ‘Ohpeneers’ quietly gather around the thirteen different pastel-colored containers with toppings for the poke bowl. In addition to the avocado, seaweed salad and peeled edamame beans, there is also an extensive bread and spread department. A fresh ginger-apple shot is ready for everyone. “Uh Claire, where is the salmon?” Sjoerd wants to know. Claire forgot to take the fish out of the refrigerator. “Not that I’m spoiled or anything, but I just knew there was salmon and I didn’t see it,” says Sjoerd.
Photos Simon Lenskens
In the canteen disguised as an exclusive yoga studio, software developers Latif Ozturk (42), Omar Yazeji (32) and CEO Matthijs Aler (49) sit at a long white table. A crackling fire is projected on a large screen. “We were just talking about how the noble sport of golf is becoming increasingly popular among young people,” says Mathijs. He watched the Ryder Cup this weekend with his fourteen-year-old son. Latif and Omar didn’t watch golf. “I come from Syria, golf is not that popular there,” says Omar. The Turkish Latif also knows few people who play golf.
“We have a sports mentality here in the company,” says Matthijs. They train together three times a week in the basement of the office, which has been converted into a gym. During working hours, the company provides yoga and kickboxing classes that employees can participate in for free. “Since I started working here, I have started living a much healthier life,” says Latif. Today they exercise at half past four. “Then I have a protein shake and work some more,” says Omar. Matthijs: “We are not concerned with the aesthetics of muscles, but with one health mindset which also influences the quality of our service to customers.”
Look around you, you only see fit people here. No one uses that elevator there
“Look around you, you only see fit people here. No one uses that elevator there,” he says head of people Serumi Bakker (46) at. She recently introduced ‘Walk’nTalks’: fixed laps at set times that employees can walk if they want to meet outside. “Wanting to be healthy is a choice,” says Serumi. Matthijs downs his ginger shot: “Our absenteeism due to illness is far below average, almost no one here is ill for a long period of time.” Latif nods in agreement: “I have been working here for more than six years and I have never called in sick.”
Matthijs shows us the gym with boxing ring in the basement that he had built ten years ago. He also often trains with us. “Look, it’s not that we wouldn’t hire someone with a BMI of 30, but it’s also about discipline.” On his phone he shows videos of top boxer Remy Bonjasky, whom he hired to become a fighter clinic to be given to Ohpen employees. “The mentality of one couch potato just not a good fit for us.”
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