Good employment practices

NS aims to be an attractive employer, where everyone feels at home. This is achievable by ensuring that the workplace and the management staff reflect the rest of society as a whole. For this reason, NS makes sure that it is a diverse and inclusive organisation. We actively work towards the recruitment and retention of women, non-western employees and people having difficulties in the labour market. We expect the same from our suppliers. The interaction between our public responsibility and our commercial goals makes working at NS very interesting, regardless of an employee's position. That's because every employee at NS contibutes to the optimisation of the services we provide to passengers, and together we make a difference.

People with labour market problems and non-western employees

People with labour market problems, such as young disabled people, people working under the sheltered employment act and our own employees with disabilities, are offered the opportunity to get experience working at NS. NS strives to increase the number of non-western people in its employment, especially in management roles and better paid positions. Among other things, we were involved in the founding of Agora; an overarching national network working towards cultural diversity in the management systems of organisations.

Work experience places for refugees

NS is closely involved in the foundation UAF, which supports highly educated refugees is their search for suitable positions in society. We make paid work experience places available for people with a refugee background. This gives them the opportunity to get work experience and to continue on to permanent positions. At the same time, NS believes that people with a refugee background add value to the organisation. The expand our horizons and offer an international perspective.

Training and educating employees

In order to achieve better results, it is sometimes necessary to have new knowledge and skills. Our employees take the initiative here themselves, but we assist them in following training or education. It is often perfectly possible to do such training in the workplace, for example through the courses offered by the NS Leercentrum or through a work experience place within another department. In addition, we continue to invest in trainee programmes and MD programmes. We also use a Learning Management System and an online learning environment for our employees.

On 28 August 2012, the TechniekFabriek officially opened its doors. This company school is an initiative by NS, involving collaboration with the ROC van Twente. In two years time, students are trained to be mechanics (MBO level 2).

Employment guarantee

With the TechniekFabriek, NS is helping to deal with the growing deficit of well-trained technical staff in the Netherlands. The TechniekFabriek trains students to be mechanics (MBO level 2). The students follow a total of 2 years in-house training at NS, during which they engage in practical learning. They receive professional training, a bursary in the first year, a salary in the second year and a 100% employment guarantee upon receiving their diploma. After that, they can undergo further training (for example, to MBO level 3 or 4)

Practical learning

Within the TechniekFabriek, NS and the ROC's of Twente and Amsterdam work together to train expert technical talent. NS offers the students practical experience with train engineering and the ROC takes care of the necessary (technical) theoretical subjects. The teaching locations are on NS premises in Zwolle and Amsterdam. The students follow the training course ‘mechatronica’, but the syllabus is supplemented with NS-specific training in the fields of safety and quality, and the NS basic training regarding the operation of trains.