Eveliene

The annual WorkPlace Xperience is the place to meet to gather knowledge and see the latest innovations in the field of workplace. 

It is the premier event for all professionals from the fields of Human Capital, Workplace Management and Real Estate to meet and inspire each other. Newas, the company behind the VitaSensation concepts will once more be at the WorkPlace Xperience.

Come and share information and knowledge kennis delen

Together with a number of other knowledge-partners we are attending the WorkPlace Xperience 2024. Come and charge knowledge regarding the subject Healthy and sustainable workplace in the future.

The two days of the Xperience will be all about hearing, seeing, experiencing, meeting, sharing and doing. Be blown away by the latest innovations and projects. Find out how you can create a healthy and sustainable workplace. Discover the VITA Sentation facilities, learn how they improve the health and the wellbeing of the employees.

Over 1.500 professionals attend

Last year’s WorkPlace Xperience edition was visited by over 1.500 professionals. This made the event an excellent meeting place for Vitalitymanagers, Human Resource managers, Real Estate Managers, Chief Happiness Officers, CEO’s, Facility Managers, Mobility managers and Housing managers.

Program filled with inspiration

Currently, WorkPlace Xperience is finalising the two day programme for the event.  It will be a two-day event, featuring many inspiring keynotes, debate sessions, pitches and awards, divided amongst 4 stages. The full details for the event and per day will be updated here.

Knowledge partner Newas

Newas is a proud partner of Smart Work Place, the knowledge-platform. Our core business is to offer tailor-made solutions for rest and recovery both at work and in sports, a growing need. Rest and recovery are issues that have to be adressed in any healthy workspace.

With our own label VITA Sentation, we offer facilities for recovery at work and in (professional) sports-environments. Our broad productrange offers exclusive powernapsolutions, including chairs, –beds and -matrasses. Users can fully adjust their recoverymoment to their own needs and preferences, thanks to the integrated FPS-relaxationtechnology we have incorporated into our productline. This makes recovery so much more than “just” powernapping. Our presence at events like WorkPlace Xperience is a natural fit.

Innovation Hub

We would love for you to visit us at our  NewasInnovation Hub. There, you can experience our innovative FPS relaxation technology for yourself.

Get acquainted with this technological innovation, the revolutionary design-philosophies, our extensive serviceconcepts and our sustainable products. Apart from that, there is ample opportunity to exchange knowledge about current and upcoming projects.

Health and good employership

Are health and good employership high on your agenda and prioritylist? Join us as soon as possible to take the step towards a sustainable, healthy and happy work for the (near) future!

Join us for the WorkPlace Xperience in the Van Nelle Fabriek in Rotterdam.

Location

Van Nelle Factory Rotterdam
Van Nelleweg 1
3044 BC Rotterdam

Looking forward to meeting you April 16th and 17th at our Innovation Hub!

Recharging during the night is possible at the Reinier de Graaf hospital in Delft, the Netherlands. By providing such a feature, the hospital is fully in compliance with the advice handed down by government agencies TNO* and the RIVM* to facilitate a powernap. The Reinier de Graaf employs powernaps as an intervention for nighshifts.
(TNO = Dutch government institute for (technological) research and innovation. RIVM =National Institute for health and environment) 

Night work TNO & RIVM

Despite the proven health risks of night work, little research has been done in to the experiences of night workers themselves. How do they find the impact upon their own health? The RIVM, together with TNO, funded by the GAK-Institute researched this. In the brochure ‘Iinsight in to the impact of night work and possible solutions’ the two institutes present their most important findings.

In the brochure both government bodies state that fatigue at work can pose a grave danger, it increases the risk of error and compromises safety. Structural attention for prevention is a must according to the institutes, they also find that a short recovery moment or powerhap can help to reduce tiredness.

Healthy and safe work in the night

In a lot of Dutch hospitals, people are convinced it is very important that night work should be safe and healthy. Facilitating recovery at work, presents nurses the opportunity to have a short recovery when fatigued or low on energy.

Reinier de Graaf uses VITA Sentation powernapchairs

Recently,  the Reinier de Graaf hospital purchased three VITA Sentation powernapchairs for different departments. Besides their powernap-functionality, the chairs boast severeal other forms of recovery. This makes the application possibilies quite wide. For example, they can be used in recovery in high stress environment, for deep relaxation but can also be used for re-integration of employees.

“I’m so proud that we, as a unit, were able to realise this”

Charlotte Kwaak (Advisor Work and Health)

Enthusiasm amongst nurses

Nurses have responded to the use of powernap-chairs with great enthusiasm. User-feedback is very positive.

“The muscle tension in my lower-back is gone! This had been bothering me for weeks.”

 “To be able to instantly recover at work when using the chair is great. My legs are really relaxed.”

Source: Linkedin Post Reinier de Graaf Ziekhuis and Facebookpage RDG ziekenhuis (both in Dutch)

Findings TNO and RIVM

In the findings and conclusions presented by both TNO and RIVM night workers emphasise their positive experiences with a moment of recovery during their night shift. They feel recharged for the remainder of their shift ánd drive home more alert. One condition, the concept of powernapping has to be accepted by both management and peers alike. Furthermore, a suitable room has to be available for powernapping.

Advice: create sufficient support

One of the recommendations TNO gives is for management to “lead by example” and for organisations to create sufficient base. It is reported dat departments where interventive measures are succesful,  are departments managed by enthousiastic and supportive people.

It is vital that managers themselves also use the facilities and/ or actively promote the benefits of powernapping. The anxiety to powernap at work can be overcome by having a manager who has bought in to the concept. This strongly attributes to the succes of any intervention measure that is offered to employees.

Read more about the study done by TNO and RIVM (link in Dutch)

Enquire about the possibilities

Would you like to know more about the importance of recovery? Or would you like to experience for yourself what a short recoverymoment can do for you, just like the employees of the Reinier de Graaf hospital have?

Please feel free to get in touch with us, we are more than happy to share our experiences and our knowledge. By the way, our client group consist of many different branches with shiftwork, not just exclusively healthcare.

Contact

Reach out to us with all your questions, through e-mail or call us at  +31 (0)344 571444.

Today a study about night work was presented by TNO and the RIVM. (For those unfamiliar with these two Dutch institutes, we have added an explanation at the bottom of this page.) We have listed a number of important recommendations put forward in the brochure ‘Insight into the impact of night work and the possible solutions” below. 

(translation: Insight into the impact of night work and the possible solutions. Experiences from night workers, employers and corporate physicians

Night work has to be made more safe

Fatigue at work is a grave danger. The room for error increases and safety is at risk. It is necessary to focus attention on prevention. A short moment of recovery or a powernap can effectively reduce fatigue.

Employer’s contribution: to introduce a powernap

Employers from their part can also play a part, says lead researcher Prof. dr. Karin Proper of the RIVM: “One can think of things such as education, of providings courses, of supplying specific food and beverages and by facilitating sleep. For instance, a powernap that can be introduced at work. ”

Powernaps

Night workers themselves emphasize the positive effects a powernap has during the night shift. It makes them feel recharged for the remainder of their shift or even the night. In addition to this effect while at work, they also state that they can make their way home more alert, thus reducing risk while in traffic.

It helps a lot if a powernap is accepted by their managers and by their co-workers. What also is very helpful, is when a suited space is provided for powernapping.

Managers that are enthusiastic about powernap increase succes

Lead by example, TNO recommends in it’s findings. It provides insight that in the case of succesful adaptation at certain deparments, these were always managemed by managers that shared a believe in the invertention methods. It is important that managers themselves use the powernap facilities or actively promote the use of those facilities.  Having managers that have themselves embraced powernapping as a succesful intervention, reduces the threshold for others to use them. This strongly increases the succes-rate of offered interventions.

More knowledge regarding (possible) solutions

According to the researchers, it is very important to gather more knowledge about the possible solutions regarding night work. This knowledge ranges from ways to reduce negative effects on health to ways to best realise those solutions at companies.  We are more than happy to share our knowledge and experiences with you and make sure we also reserve sufficient time for this.

Increase employee commitment by starting a pilot

Much research – including that done specifcally for night work – shows that directly involving the target-group in developing and implementing interventions, strongly improves the realisation. We are more than happy to organise a pilot at (one of) your location(s). During a pilot-period, your employees can get acquiainted with our recovery- and powernap facilities. It gives them the opportunity to experience what a short recovery at work can do for them.

A quiet place for a powernap: separate room

In the brochure, it is also put forward that a separate, quiet space to powernap is a beneficiary circumstance. For that very reason, it is advisable NOT to place powernapfacilities somewhere in a public space or on locations where quiet can’t be guaranteed. Preferably, even if space is limited, do not make concessions on these points but try to find suitable solutions. Sometimes, existing spaces such as a quiet room or a lactation room can function very well as a recovery room.

By furnishing a dedicated rest room, we can offer employees the privacy and the quiet they need.

‘More tailor-made work is needed to effectively counter the problem’, say TNO and RIVM.

List of sources

The NOS (Dutch public news agency, sort of Dutch BBC) had an item about the research publication in the 20.00 h  daily news show. The brochure, as PDF, with the research and the findings as presented by TNO and the RIVM can be found here: ‘Insight in the impact of night work and the possible solutions’.

Slotconferentie onderzoek TNO en RIVM

With the publication of the brochure, the debate about night work hasn’t ended yet. Karin Proper, lead researcher from RIVM looks forward to the final conference to be held march 16th at the offices of RIVM. “We will present our research results, but we will also engage in discussions with night workers and a corporate physician. 

More information about our tailor made solutions for night work?

We have extensive experience with intervention projects in health care, industry, transport/ logistics, safety and the technical sector. Our “Fit through the night” approach is highly appreciated by our clients.

Please contact us if you would like to receive more information, we are always open to set up a meeting. This can be at your location or at our office.

Phone.  +31 (0)344 571444
E-mail info@vitasentation.nl

(Source: TNO en RIVM) 

Sidenotes: Nederlandse Organisatie voor Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek (TNO; English: Dutch Organization for Applied Scientific Research) is an independent statutory research organization in the Netherlands that focuses on applied science. It conducts contract research, offers specialist consulting services, and grants licenses for patents and specialist software. (https://www.tno.nl/en/about-tno/mission-strategy/)

RIVM, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, is an agency of the Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS). The Ministry is the owner of RIVM. It provides the facilities RIVM needs in order to do it’s work. The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport is also one of it’s commissioning clients. Even so, RIVM is independent in the performance of it’s commissioned projects. (https://www.rivm.nl/en/about-rivm)