Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
More insight and less workload thanks to a cleverly designed HR and payroll administration
From 100 to 220 employees in one year
More than two years after the temporary closure of the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, the Boijmans Van Beuningen Depot opened in November 2021. This unique Rotterdam building marks a period of change and growth for the organization.
In a short time, new departments such as Public Affairs were set up, a Hospitality and Events Department was established, and new positions, such as that of depot guide, were created. A number of existing departments were expanded. In the process, the number of employees increased by more than 100 to a total of 220. With so much change, it is imperative that the HRM system and the payroll administration are flexible and adaptable. Lianne Timmer (P&O) advisor, Katja Troost (P&O employee) and Anneke Staal (Head of P&O) explain how they ended up with AFAS and Salure.
Photography: Hannah Rosalie Photography, Heisa
Anneke, Lianne and Katja
Katja, Lianne, Liza and Anneke
Choosing Salure and AFAS
Lianne: “In January 1, 2020 we migrated to AFAS. We were working with another system before that, but we weren’t completely satisfied with it. Then we started looking at other museums and talked to many different parties and explored systems. Eventually we chose AFAS, because AFAS is absolutely the future. AFAS is much more advanced in the field of digitalization and automation than other systems. Our finance department switched to AFAS a year after the HR department. They too feel that the system offers many more possibilities than the system they were working with before.”
Functional management
It must be said that setting up AFAS was more complicated than expected, Anneke adds. “You really need a specialist to set up and manage AFAS. But in the long run you win that time back of course, once something is automated. That’s why we hired a functional administrator who maintains the workflows.”
About the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen
Museums typically exhibit only 5% to 10% of their collection. Most of the art is stored in depots that the public cannot access. Therefore, when the Boijmans Van Beuningen opened the doors of the depot to the public as the first museum in November 2021, it received a lot of international attention. In the depot, visitors can see for the first time all 150,000 pieces of art and how art is stored, restored, transported and packaged. The magnificent addition to the Rotterdam skyline is a great success: in May 2022 Boijmans already welcomed its 100,000th visitor to the building.
Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen. Photo: Ossip van Duivenbode
More insight, less pressure
The biggest advantage of AFAS is the insight, says the team. Anneke: “We can now make reports with management information. We want to do more with this in the future. With AFAS you can very easily make interfaces with another system to get even better insight. For example, it will be interesting when you can relate staff deployment in the hospitality industry to sales. Then you can steer on that. These kinds of dashboards would mean a lot to our entire business operations.”
Insight for all employees
The depot employees are also happy with AFAS, because they can now quickly access their file digitally, make leave requests via AFAS and the claims process has been digitized. Anneke: “And for the managers it is a lot easier to save the performance reviews digitally. That saves a lot of closet space. It gives everyone much more insight.”
Improved workload distribution
In addition, getting real-time information also means fewer spikes in the workload in payroll, Lianne says. “Previously, employees would submit claims on a receipt, which we then had to collect and enter. You can now process many things automatically during the month using workflows. All you have to do is check it. That saves a lot of time. You still have a peak in the payroll administration, but the work is distributed a lot more evenly than before.”
Outsourcing payroll
After Salure supported the AFAS implementation, the museum decided to employ Salure for the payroll as well. Anneke explains this choice: “Payroll processing is a profession in itself. You have to employ professionals with the right knowledge. Especially if you want to guarantee the continuity of the department. You are vulnerable if there is only one person responsible for the entire payroll processing. That’s why we’ve been outsourcing this to Salure since 2020.
The collaboration with Salure is also really a collaboration, Anneke says. “Actually it’s a kind of three-person partnership. Katja enters all the mutations; then Lianne checks whether everything is correct and complete. Then it goes through to Liza who checks and initiates the salary run so that we can pay out.”
Extension of the organization
Lianne in particular has a lot of contact with Liza, a payroll specialist at Salure. At least once a week they talk on the phone, says Lianne. “It is a very pleasant collaboration. Liza is quick to respond, you can always ask questions and if she doesn’t have time, she calls back quickly. She really is an extension of our organization.”
Liza can easily identify with this: “We are well attuned to each other. Lianne, for example, knows a lot about the collective agreement for museums. We complement each other well. I also enjoy working with Lianne to figure things out and to ensure that the system works properly.”
A good example: in November 2021, a private limited company was established for the catering & events department. This is governed by a different collective labor agreement than the one for the museum. So in a short space of time, there were a lot of staff and a new CLA, to which the payroll administration had to be adjusted. A fun and educational challenge, Liza recalls. “The catering collective labor agreement was new for both of us and not the easiest collective labor agreement. You both learn a lot from this. These kinds of issues are precisely what makes the collaboration so much fun.”
Progressing smarter together
Anneke concludes, “What I also really like about the cooperation is that Salure is open to feedback and acts on it. I find that very strong, especially for an organization that is growing fast. Salure really thinks along with you and looks beyond the standard of AFAS. You are heard as a customer and that inspires confidence.”
Progress smarter with Salure
We are happy to give advice on setting up and optimizing your HR and Payroll processes in AFAS. Please leave your details. We will contact you as soon as possible. Let’s progress smarter together!
