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Meet Marieke, one of our People & Culture Specialists. She focuses on setting up remote working within Temper. And that's not surprising; she lives in Portugal, making her the first employee to work remotely. For this reason, she is called our remote ambassador.
Temper co-founder Niels describes Marieke as follows: "Marieke is the personification of what Temper stands for. Flexibility comes first and you adapt your work to your life. Many people have the idea of doing something like that, but she just does it. Very inspiring! We asked Marieke how she experiences remote working so far and what she is proud of.
Marieke, could you tell us something about yourself?
"I am Marieke, I come from Friesland and I am currently living in beautiful Portugal. I've actually always lived everywhere and nowhere since I was a child, including often abroad, so I've always had that at heart. After having worked in HR for a number of years, I wanted to develop more on a personal level. I took a yoga teacher training in India and after a few months of travelling and teaching yoga, I returned to the Netherlands. In the Netherlands I came to the conclusion that I really wanted to live abroad for a longer period of time, so I've been living in Portugal for about six months now."
Why did you start working at Temper?
"I wanted to combine teaching yoga with a permanent job. I responded to the vacancy for People & Culture Specialist at Temper, asking whether this could also be done remotely. And this was possible! The fact that I could work at Temper from Portugal was the first reason to seize the opportunity, but not the only one. Besides this, during the application process I already noticed that Temper has a certain vision and mission that really appeal to me.
This vision corresponds to my own. This is mainly about personnel policy and dealing with staff, which in my view should be based on trust and flexibility. In my opinion, this does not happen or happens too little in many companies, as a result of which, unfortunately, there is still a lot of micromanagement. Take, for example, working from home, which, despite the corona crisis, is still considered difficult in many companies. You often see that attention is paid to how many hours you work instead of the actual output.
In my view, it's about giving someone confidence. Make sure you have the right people in the right place, and trust in their knowledge and skills. I really see this reflected in the culture at Temper, as well as in the mission and values such as we own it and we move to improve."
One of our values is We own it. What are you proud of?
"That I am the remote ambassador of Temper: the first employee to work from abroad. And that I am also the one who can set up remote working here. It's so nice to be able to use my own experiences in setting up this process! And also to be able to show that it is possible and to inspire others. I am really proud of that.
I also notice that many people say it's tough and a big decision to work this way, but to me it doesn't feel like that at all. If you want it, just do it. It seems like a big step, but it's really not that big. And it doesn't mean it has to be forever. I adjust my work to how I want to live my life. At the moment, that is living in beautiful Portugal where, besides work, I can enjoy the outdoors and nature. For me, this ensures a good balance between work and private life. In the end, we own it counts for your own life too: this is what I have in mind, this is what I am going for. And Temper is a perfect match for that."
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