public report
2021
Interview Working in the time of coronavirus What did the Covid pandemic mean for the RvA?
Frank: ‘I was certainly nervous in the beginning. For
Mylène Pijnenburg, Internal Operations manager,
the office assessment, the transition wasn’t so huge.
and Frank Bouwkamp, technical assessor, put it
Whether you’re at home or out on site with a client:
fairly bluntly: ‘It was quite intense. Suddenly every-
you’re looking at the same documents. But for the
one was sat at home, and we could no longer visit
witness audits, where we tag along with audits that
clients. That forces you to switch gears pretty
companies and institutions carry out at their own
quickly.’
clients, it was a lot more complicated. You do everything you can to make those assessments
How do you make that switch, as an organisation?
representative. By deploying cameras, for example,
Mylène: ‘It started with the medical labs. When we
so that you have your eyes and ears on location.
were still thinking it would be okay to go, they were
But it’s still tricky. Because you’re not sure whether
already indicating that they no longer wanted to
you’re seeing and hearing everything. You also miss
receive visitors. Within two or three weeks, the
the necessary context: the overall atmosphere, the
whole of the Netherlands was locked down and we
non-verbal signals... And sometimes the connec-
couldn’t go anywhere. Then the switch has to be
tion suddenly drops. Then it’s over and out.’
made: how are we going to facilitate our people so that they can still do their work in the digital work-
Mylène: ‘Trial and error. But we had to. There was
place? We decided to switch to remote assess-
just no time to calmly think it through, test it and
ments. But that was easier said than done. It
evaluate it.”
involved a lot of pioneering.’
THE INITIAL PANIC QUICKLY TU�NED INTO ‚ ‘WE �E GOING TO FIGU�E THIS ‚ OUT TOGETHE� . 14
