04 Social impact

In addition to reducing our footprint and contributing to food security, we also want to have a positive impact on the social environment. We do this by supporting a healthy diet, being a good employer and being transparent when it comes to dialogue with our stakeholders.

In order to create a positive social impact, we focus on the following activities:

The potato, a healthy product

Potatoes are full of beneficial, important nutrients like vitamin C, B1, B6, magnesium, zinc, carbohydrates, iron, folic acid and fibre and are naturally free from gluten. This makes the potato an ideal addition to a healthy and varied diet. In areas where food is scarce due to poverty or war, the nutritious and quick-growing potato can offer huge benefits. And the potato is a great asset to consumers who prefer food with fewer calories too. In short, the potato is good for everyone.

How we contribute:

1. Developing even healthier potato varieties and concepts
2. Information about the potato's contribution to a healthy diet
3. Helping people with financial problems in the region or improving the income levels for small households in developing areas.

We are devoting more attention to the potato's role in the consumer's diet. That is why we conduct research on taste, digestion and different health aspects.

We demonstrate that there are more options within the daily diet than just well-known fries. For example, a healthy alternative to the popular ‘roast potato’. By using a potato such as the Vivalda, with a creamy texture, you do not need to add extra calories using cream cheese, for example.

In 2020, we carried out a flavour study in the USA. The varieties Vivalda, Sifra and Noblesse came out as the tastiest potatoes in the test.

Along with Yale University and the University of Massachusetts, two leading universities with links to culinary food service, we are working on expanding awareness of potatoes among chefs and generation Z students. Chefs in training serve the students roast potatoes without unhealthy additions. There are numerous advantages: students eat healthier food, they get to know about healthier options using potatoes, and they become potato ambassadors in North America.

Healthy potato concepts:

The potato concepts that we are developing must fit into a healthy diet.  We are studying the various diets in the markets which we supply.  As well as health, the position of the potato on the plate and appreciation of the potato’s appearance, packaging and preparation are important.  The following concepts have been developed:

AGUAPAN

Peru is at the heart of the original potato varieties. Local growers have transferred their varieties from generation to generation. Unfortunately, many of these growers and their families live in poverty and have very limited access to healthcare and education.

In order to improve their economic and social conditions, and to compensate them for the enormous diversity of varieties, we have invested in the AGUAPAN initiative. This initiative is a hands-on, social initiative that is sponsored by HZPC and supported by various organisations in Peru, such as the International Potato Center (CIP).

The most important goal is to support the families of growers and their communities. At the moment, 43 families in Central Peru are receiving support. There is also a pilot project which aims to market the potatoes from these growers. We are supporting this pilot by highlighting these potatoes within the sector.

Potatoes for the foodbank

We have a long-term relationship with Voedselbank Noordoost-Nederland  We help families with financial problems, by providing them with potatoes. In 2020, 40 tons of potatoes were donated to the Voedselbank  Noord-Oost  in Meppel.

HZPC keeps you growing. We can fulfil this pledge to the outside world if our employees make the difference.  That is why we constantly invest in developing our people:  in professionalism, well-being and vitality. We create roles around our employees’ specific skills. They are given the freedom to take the initiative and take on responsibility, which we keep ‘low’ within the organisation.

Living up to our values

We have a collective vision: ‘We stimulate the development of responsible food for the global population.’ This vision is what we stand for; it proclaims our right to exist as a company and how we want to associate with one another and our environment. Our employees can relate to our mission and corporate values.

Our focus areas:

1. – Results and innovation

Innovation is a spearhead in operations. It helps us support the realisation of (long-term) operating results and the continuity of our company.  It also requires people who are able to adapt their own contributions to match what we need as a company.

2. – Personal development and responsibility

At HZPC we focus on taking individual responsibility.  This requires people who are able to make choices based on their own knowledge and insights. There is sufficient opportunity to take the initiative and responsibility within HZPC. There is a generous training and development budget

3. - Employability

Long-term employability is central to our HR policy. This calls for people who are able to anticipate (future) changes throughout their career on a constant basis.

After HZPC Holland, HZPC France has also been certified as a Great Place to Work. Great place to Work is an international standard which indicates how the organisation is evaluated by its employees.  The score for HZPC France was one of the highest scores of 2021:

1. Credibility  = 82%
2. Respect = 80%
3. Fairness = 82%
4. Pride = 82%
5. Friendliness = 82%
6. Trust = 81%

Total score = 84%

Sustainable employability

Since 2018, we have been working with the ‘Huis van werkvermogen’ (House of Workability).  This method focuses on emphasising the factors that could impact on current and future employability. On the one hand, this concerns identifying individual strengths. These enable people to realise continued success within HZPC. On the other hand, it's about flagging-up reasons, if there are any, for a diminished ‘fit’ with HZPC’s working environment.

Sustainable employability is stimulated by:

• Life-stages schemes (including schemes which make it possible to continue to work to an older age)
• The recruitment of new colleagues with a view to the future (or: not just filling the job openings that are available, but getting an idea of the candidate's opportunities for advancement within HZPC)
• Offering development opportunities aimed at current positions as well as possible future positions within HZPC.

The HZPC team has an international spectrum. There are no fewer than 23 different nationalities employed in our company. The group of inter-cultural colleagues is also stable (compared to previous reporting) at 8%. This concerns colleagues who have completed professional training in a country other than the one in which they are working. Collaboration without borders is evident amongst all the different nationalities.  This makes our company unique.

Collectively, they represent 445 FTE (on 31-12-2019). Of these, 314 employees have Dutch nationality and 131 have a non-Dutch nationality. Their average age is 44.6. If we examine the diversity of our teams according to age, it is clear that there is a good (and balanced) spread across the various age categories.

Composition of the personnel base 2020/2021

(Dutch entities, subdivided per SBA – Strategic Business Area):

Split between male and female within the different locations:

Of all our employees, 83% have a permanent contract and 17% have a fixed term contract.

Training and development

One of the important spearheads in HR policy is the ‘Learning Organisation’ theme.  As an organisation, we have embraced the concept of the learning organisation. A project team, made up from colleagues from various roles within the organisation, works with the Directors on further elaborating the concrete steps along the learning pathway that we are following.

We are investing in training and coaching (future) employees in various ways. One of the pillars in our learning range concerns the HZPC Academy, a digital learning environment. There are also various ‘in-house’ courses which are offered on an ongoing basis. For most people, this involves the learning route in combination with the digital learning environment from the HZPC Academy (blended learning). This includes, among other things, the programmes ‘HZPC career centre’ and ‘HZPC Personal growth programme’.

Over the past few years, the HZPC Academy has offered training relating to the functionalities of the Aurora programme. We have also organised the first WE Learning Week  and further expanded the range of courses and workshops. All employees had access to events and tailor-made, certified programmes.

Training 2020-2021

Number of user licences (active)             419

Number of courses completed                281

Training on Prevention of child labour     104 employees

Young HZPC

Employees up to the age of 30 can take part in Young HZPC. Young HZPC aims to unite our younger colleagues and enable them to grow and develop. Young HZPC is growing too. Young HZPC is now made up of 50 international colleagues and organises various activities throughout the year (which are sometimes open to all colleagues too), such as the Directors lunch, knowledge sessions and an annual study trip.

Sick leave

Our sickness absence rate rose in 2021 from 2.6% to 3.8%. This is the result of a few long-term sickness issues. This is a relatively high level for us, compared to previous years. We are focussed on absenteeism. We hold structural conversations with the company doctor in order to closely monitor any developments. We also offer coaching programmes where we can spot mental health issues that could potentially lead to absence.

Coronavirus

In 2020-2021, we worked from home a great deal. In order to work safely, e.g. in the R&D centres, COVID protocols were applied. Within HZPC, we primarily focussed on what could be realised, within the restrictions. Or, in Friesian: ‘As it net kin sa’t moat, dan moat it mar sa’t it kin.’ (If you can't do it like you should, do it like you can). Our annual Potato Days in 2020 was an interactive, online event where growers, customers and also employees could meet each other virtually. In 2021, it was a hybrid event.

HZPC has relationships with lots of different stakeholders. There is a different role for each of these stakeholders; the role of employer, purchaser or client, supplier, supporter or producer. We want to be transparent in all we do, with respect to these stakeholders. And we also maintain good relationships within which we can engage in effective dialogue. We deem this so important that we have established it as one of our core values:

In order to ensure we are a transparent organisation, we spend a great deal of time focussing on communication. Examples of communication include: publishing the financial annual report, a bi-annual CSR report, regular growers’ meetings, the publication of our magazine for growers ‘Ruggespraak’ (4 times per year) and the organisation of our annual Potato Days.

We have charted our most important stakeholders and defined them as follows:  affiliated growers, affiliated breeders, employees, consumers, customers, governments, (food) science, suppliers, social organisations, certificate holders, umbrella organisations.  We enter into dialogue with them in relation to our topics and take action based on their feedback.

Connecting Growers programma

We are an organisation run for and by growers. Twenty years ago, almost all of the certificates for our association were in the hands of active growers. That was in 2018-2019, now it is just 50 percent. This is due to the fact that many growers, who are no longer actively involved in growing, hold onto their certificates. These certificates, therefore, rarely change hands.  The interests of active growers are different to those of inactive growers. So, we want to ensure that they are properly represented and are able to own certificates.

We would like active growers to be better represented. That is why, with our 2021 harvest, we are implementing the ‘Connecting Growers’ programme. This programme will enable us, at HZPC Holding, to buy certificates worth 1.5 million euros on the market and give these to our active seed (potato) growers in the European Union. The certificates will be shared out in proportion to the acreage of seed potatoes per HZPC grower.

The programme is a success. Of all the European growers that are affiliated to HZPC Holding B.V. in Belgium, Germany, Finland, France, the Netherlands and Poland - around 80% are taking part. And this number is gradually increasing.