Striking
A BETTER BALANCE PATRICK VAN OPPEN
At the end of September, more than 20 major organizations in the Amsterdam metro region signed an employer declaration in which they committed themselves to spreading out working hours and transport use during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This affects some 38,780 workers employed by the City of Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Province, the Amsterdam Transport Authority, Loyens & Loeff, ABN AMRO, SADC and Royal Schiphol Group. The Dutch Railways (NS) and other regional transport providers are also involved. Under these agreements, working from home more will become the norm. Those who do commute will plan their journeys during quiet times, outside rush hours. For those travelling longer distances, options will include some combination of public transport, bike or e-bike and car or carshares. All with a view to ensuring better access, less gridlock, fewer delays and cleaner air. Hello Zuidas talked to Sharon Dijksma, chair of the Amsterdam Transport Authority, and Patrick Van Oppen, partner at Loyens & Loeff, which is one of the signatories. Why was a change needed?
rush hour peaks. The important thing is
the responsibility for keeping Zuidas
Dijksma: ‘We’ve been working with various
that employers set up solid systems for
and the Amsterdam region accessible.
employers in the Amsterdam metropolitan
teleworking and help employees towards
Part of our CSR ambition is to reduce our
region for a long time now on measures
a better distribution of working hours and
footprint, so we’re also actively seeking
to reduce rush hour congestion. By
kinds of transport they use.’
ways to do that. By having our people
signing this document, we’re making firm
work from home more, we can reduce
agreements for both during the pandemic
Why is it important for Loyens & Loeff
and afterwards. If 10 to 15% more people
to sign these employer agreements?
work from home, that’s 85,000 to 170,000
Van Oppen: ‘As an employer of more
What kind of assistance is available
fewer journeys a day in the Amsterdam
than 700 people in Amsterdam, we feel
for companies making these changes?
metro region , meaninga big reduction in
it’s important to shoulder our share of
Dijksma: ‘Stichting Breikers offers a free
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CO2 emissions as well.’
