Underwear brand Hunkemöller recently presented its latest campaign ‘Sheroism’, which inspires women to be as authentic as possible and to admire each other’s beauty. The campaign is part of the new, broad brand strategy. Internally, Karlijn Hendriks, Global HR Director, primarily emphasizes creating joy at work and a positive attitude.
We want our employees to feel comfortable, support each other and have fun at work
Leading position
Karlijn Hendriks joined Hunkemöller in January 2016 as HR Manager Netherlands. Today, as Global HR Director, she is part of the trading board and is responsible for 7,500 employees, including 1,300 in the Netherlands. “Hunkemöller is a fantastic company to work for", she begins. “As a leader in the lingerie industry, we create attractive products and operate in a dynamic retail world."
She sees the challenges of the current retail landscape, such as rising costs and tight labor markets, causing shoppers to think twice before making a purchase. “As market leaders, we have to find ways to overcome these challenges", she says. “And we want to do that with a positive attitude. After a low there is always a good phase. It’s all about: What do you need to get out of the slump? What can you do to create value for your brand, your customers and your employees? That’s a question we’ve been asking ourselves lately.”
We encourage each other
A key aspect of the new brand strategy is the goal of inspiring and empowering women to be their most beautiful and authentic selves while empowering each other. “The beauty of this goal is its breadth", explains Karlijn. “We not only want to strengthen our customers, but also our employees. It is important to us that our employees feel comfortable at work. Of course people work to make money, but it’s fulfilling to also have a nice place to work. That you can say: ‘I had a nice day.’ We call this happiness at work."
“We examined what really matters to employees. Not only do they want to earn money, but they also don’t want to live too far from their work. They want to be flexible, but also know where they stand. They want to feel safe and have responsibility. And they want to be able to balance their work well with the other roles in their lives, for example as a mother or friend. Our goal is to support these wishes as much as possible.”
Values
When developing the new brand strategy, the company values were also adjusted. “Most of the values were still appropriate, we just tightened them up a bit"says Karlijn. “We reflected on what is important to us and what behaviors and leadership styles we want to support. Therefore, we changed the values Sexy, Fun and Passionate to Empowering, Playful and Responsible. This better reflects our values. As an underwear brand, we inspire women to love themselves, regardless of skin color or size. We also encourage women to support each other. Internally we will make great progress in this regard."
Leadership programs
Hunkemöller is currently developing new leadership programs that are primarily aimed at the 750 branch managers. “They have the greatest influence on the business and know the needs of their team best", explains Karlijn. According to Karlijn, their goal is to create a pleasant and familiar atmosphere in which both employees and customers feel comfortable. “When customers come in, they should feel light, comfortable and familiar. The world out there is sometimes very intense. And it can also be a little playful. Especially in these times when that is not a given. We say: celebrate the small successes together, have fun together and enjoy yourself. The customers also feel this. Lingerie is a way to pamper yourself and a visit to a lingerie store should reflect exactly that: a place to dream, to do something that feels good. Of course we have to work hard, but everything doesn’t always have to be so serious, we can also laugh sometimes."
Discover current job offers here