Hanneke Ensink - System Controller, DOC Kaas, the Netherlands.

“Just before the pandemic broke out, I sold my house and was looking for a new place. But then the coronavirus came along, so I temporarily moved in with my parents on their farm. It’s quite a big place and my sister, my brother-in-law and my two nephews all live here too. Unfortunately, my nephew has a heart defect, so he’s vulnerable, as are my parents. So I set up a completely separate working area to reduce the risk of infection, and that’s working out. It’s easier, of course, to communicate with colleagues directly and I miss our spontaneous exchanges. On the other hand, I was less distracted and could concentrate on work better. I have to get used to how video conferences work – at meetings, we often all talk over each other, whereas now we have to be a lot more structured, so I take notes on everything. Right now I’m back in the office two days a week and that’s so good! I’ve also managed to buy a house but I’m glad I was able to live with my parents while the restrictions were in place. It was anything but boring. Once everything is back to normal, ideally I’d work from home one day a week. Maybe that’s what we learned during this period of remote working, that we can do things like that more easily. I should add that all the information from DOC Kaas and all the measures taken were really good and just right. We even received a bunch of flowers, sent to our homes, as a thank you for all our efforts. That was really heart-warming, and great for the flower industry too!”