Interview Stephan van Galen, manager University Services: 'I was quite nervous in the beginning’

_{Text: Thomas Vos}

A major organizational change and merger at the time of a pandemic: the new UG service department University Services got off the ground in an extraordinary period. What is it like to lead such a process? What will happen next? And how do we ensure that University Services becomes an even more attractive place to work? General manager Stephan van Galen explains.

Nervous

'I was quite nervous when we started the organizational change. There was a critical report about the functioning of the Office. Of course that hit us and the rest of the organization hard. And then we were also in the middle of a pandemic," says Stephan van Galen in his room in the temporary Administrative Building on Muurstraat.

Critical report

In late 2020, the Klaassen Report on the functioning of the Office of the University was published. The Office had to change in order to keep up with lightning-fast developments, both within and outside the world of higher education. An organizational change began in 2021, and a merger with the University Services Department (FB) followed in 2022. Thus was born University Services. As general manager, Stephan was in charge all along, toegether with deputy manager Marion Stolp.

Proud

Although the reason for it was less positive, Stephan looks back on the organizational change in a good way: "We collectively felt that we were working to improve the university. The problems applied not only to the Office, but also to the rest of the university. So we began a constructive process with colleagues from both the Office and other faculties and departments. Marion and I are proud that we made that positive switch so quickly. In addition, the process was very open. Nothing was decided in advance. This applied, for example, to the structure of the clusters and staff departments.'

Employee Council

Without the Employee Council, however, it would not have succeeded according to Stephan: 'They were very helpful to us. They didn't give us passive feedback afterwards, but actively contributed ideas about the approach, for example about communication. They also shared good ideas about involving employees in the organizational change. I am happy about that cooperation.’

Real estate organization

On 1 October 2022, the organizational change culminated in an official merger between the University Services Department and the Office. According to Stephan it was an important milestone, for several reasons: 'For the first time we now have an integrated Real Estate organization with policy and building management and maintenance together. There had been a need for that for many years. And I think the new Procurement Organization that came into being with this is also a milestone. You can already see great collaborations within and between these departments.’

What’s next

But there is still a lot to do, Stephan also realizes: ‘We have asked the clusters and staff departments to create a Products and Services Catalog in which they indicate what work they do and do not do. Currently, the work is often still too non-transparent and based on personal connections with colleagues in the faculties and other departments. Such a catalog provides clear frameworks and could help us manage the workload. Sometimes that means a difficult conversation with the faculties, but I think we really need to have that. The Advisory Boards we set up for each cluster and staff department with faculty representatives are an important tool for this.’

Strategic Workforce Planning

Related to this is Strategic Workforce Planning that is in progress at the moment: 'If we know what work we do and don't do, we can also see if we have the right people within the organization. We then know, for example, what we should or should not invest in. This means cutting back in some places, also because of the shortage that University Services still has in 2023. But we do this in a natural way. If there is a vacancy, we will in certain cases look at whether we can perhaps take up the vacated work in another way,' Stephan said. 'At the same time, we are working the working group recommendations per cluster and staff department.'

Connection

How does he see his role in the rest of the process? Stephan: 'As general manager, I try to make the connection between faculties, departments, the Board of the University and University Services. What do they need? And in addition, as chairman of the MT I take care of the connection between the clusters and staff departments, so that there is good cooperation. I am glad that I can take this up together with cluster directors, each with perspectives from different fields. And of course with Marion as deputy director.’

Gold mine

Stephan hopes to be leading a manageable, flexible and clear organization in five years: 'We have to be an attractive employer. There is a lot of loyalty now, people have been working here for a long time, and we have to keep that. Good working conditions. But we must also take advantage of all those young people at the UG. That it becomes a sensible choice for them to want to work at University Services when they graduate. The labor market is tight and getting tighter. We really are sitting on a gold mine here in that sense, with so many young talented people. I hope to be able to contribute to making University Services even more attractive to them as well.’