Learning & Development

6.1 - Our vision 👀

We believe that every Fritser has the ambition to grow and develop themselves in one way or the other. This will be a different path for everyone, and you are the best person to know in what direction you would like to go, however your manager is always there to support you in this. 

The fundamentals of our vision on performance management and development are the following:

• It is a continuous dialogue

• Holistisch approach; goal, skill and value based

• It only works when we are doing this together:

  • Employee is responsible for their own development

  • Manager plays a crucial coaching role

  • All done is a safe, supportive environment 

At Frits we aim to facilitate your own growth journey as best as we can with the right tools and support where needed. Therefor we introduced the Frits Growth Cycle and work with a tool called 'Treams'. 

  6.2 - Frits Growth Cylcle & Treams 🚀

   6.2.1 Growth cycle 

The visual (in Dutch) above shows the Frits Growth cycle. It is a yearly cycle and consists of multiple components in a certain order. This may change over time as we learn what works and does not work. Below we will explain more about the separate components of the growth cycle, and what is expected from your and your manager. 

6.2.2 Treams 

At Frits we use the tool Teams for our growth cycle. During your first week at Frits you will receive an e-mail with the log in details. Use this link to go directly to you own Treams environment. 

Treams will be sending you regular reminders per e-mail for example when a colleague is asking you for feedback or the next component of the cycle will kick off. 

6.2.3 Bi-yearly growth conversation 

The bi-yearly growth conversation takes place in January and July, and motivates you to actively think about your performance and development. With your manager you will look back at the last couple of months, but first and for most you will be focussing on the future. This conversation will also be input for your goals. You will be doing this using a template with a couple of questions both you and your manager prepare before the actual conversation takes place.

6.2.4 Growth check-in 

The monthly growth check-in takes place in the months of March, April, May, September, October and November. The goal is to discuss your progress regarding your development and set goals. Discuss what's needed: how are you feeling? what is going well? are there any challenges you are facing? how would you like to be supported in those? You will also be using a template in Treams to prepare for this check-in. 

6.2.5 360 feedback

Feedback is fuel for your growth. With feedback you discover your strengths and development opportunities. The best feedback is the feedback you ask for yourself.  This is the reason you will be asking feedback from your colleagues as least twice a year, in June and November. Treams allows you to do that in a simple way using different feedback templates. As a manager, we always advise you to also ask feedback from your team members. 

Important to remember; you can ask for feedback from your colleagues at any time, for example after you have given a presentation or a project you finished with your team. We always recommend to follow up the feedback given through Treams with a face 2 face conversation in order to provide more detail

Here you will find the guidelines for employees and managers in order to request feedback (in Dutch). 

6.2.6 Setting goals  

Goals provide direction and focus. In Treams you can set goals with a clear deadline. In the growth cycle there are 2 set moments, in February and August, to set your goals for the next period. However you can always add new goals in the meantime. We believe in the power of agility: divide your goals into smaller (sub) goals and continuously track progress. This way you ensure that the goals motivate you and that you are in charge of your own plan.

Use the SMART method for setting your goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, Realistic en Timely. Here (in Dutch) you find more tips to help you set SMART goals. Always discuss your goals with your manager. 6.2.7 Salary conversation  

  6.3 - Feedback 🗣

As mentioned before, feedback is fuel for your growth. By receiving feedback, you discover your strong and development opportunities and you can improve the collaboration with your colleagues. This is the reason we find the feedback topic very important within Frits.

In 2022 we have started with feedback workshops for all Fritsers (on the payroll) as well as all new Fritsers will follow the same feedback workshop in their first couple of months after joining Frits. Here, in Dutch or in English, you can find the documentation with all tips and tricks on how to ask, give and receive feedback. 

Although Treams is a great tool to ask and receive feedback, we always recommend our Fritsers to have an actual conversation about the feedback given for further detail. 

6.4 - Development / study guidelines and budget 💰

Yes, there is development budget for Fritsers, but we have to spend it wisely. There are no set amounts you get every year for example, however everything is up for discussion if it benefits your career at Frits. 

Please find the guidelines in here (in Dutch). Here you can see with who you can discuss the possibilities to get budget for a study, online course, training, tickets to a conference, you name it.

6.5 - Frits Advisor Journey (Frits Adviseurs Reis) 🎒

The goal of the Frits Advisor Journey is to offer concrete growth paths for our advisors within Frits combined with the tools and support needed in order to develop yourself. You can find more information here (in Dutch). 

6.6 - Internal application process 💥

As mentioned before, we believe that every Fritser has the ambition to grow and develop themselves. This also means that every Fritser has a chance to develop themself in another position within Frits. Therefore, we have an internal application process. Before applying, talk to your manager, he/she will support you in this. 

In these slides you can see the the workflow of the internal application process.

  6.7 - WFT courses & Lindenhaeghe 👩🏽‍🏫

At Frits we organise our studies (for advisors en back officers) at one place: Lindenhaeghe. At Lindenhaeghe it's possible to do several studies, like your WFT's and PE exams or keeping up to date with your PA. When we decide to give you budget for a study, we'll sign you up for the course at Lindenhaeghe.

For the advisors and back office roles within Frits it is mandatory that you achieve certain certificates (depending on the role) called WFT’s (Wet Financieel Toezicht) or PE (Permanente Educatie) Exam.

• As an advisor you need the following 3 WFT’s a minimum: Basis, Hypothecair Krediet and Vermogen. Every 3 years you need to pass your PE exam so your certificates won’t expire.

• As a back officer you need WFT Basis as a minimum, however having more WFT’s is be beneficial in your job and professional development. For this reason Frits promotes such initiative.

Mandatory training (WFT's)

What is mandatory training according to the law? ''Mandatory training is training that the employer must provide according to national law, European law or collective agreement.''

Since 1 August 2022, it is no longer permitted to agree a study-costs clause with you as an employee in the case of training courses that Frits is obliged to offer according to law. This means that Frits must offer mandatory training without any costs. Mandatory training means the WFTs we have described above (behind the two bullet points). Furthermore, the law states that the time that the employee spends on the mandatory training must be regarded as working time. Study time is also considered as working time and we calculate the study time on the basis of the indication provided by the study program. If possible, the training should take place during working hours. 

Make sure you request your study time and exam time in Bamboo under study days, so your colleagues and manager know that you are absent.

In short: Mandatory training must be offered free of any costs. Frits must also pay any additional costs for books or any other (online) study material, (re-)exams, possible accommodation costs and travel expenses. In addition, Frits also have to give employees the opportunity to follow the training during working hours.

Extra WFT training

Frits supports and encourages their employees to expand their knowledge. Therefor we introduce the following policy (read 6.4 also) for any extra (WFT) certificates you prefer to obtain outside the mandatory ones for your role. 

Frits pays for a self-study package including 1 exam and 1 re-exam in the unfortunate case this is necessary (hopefully you need only one 😉). Extra exam costs will be at your own expense. The saved Frits costs in case you succeed the first time will not be paid or deducted from other study costs.

Make sure you follow the policy as explained in the slides and always register your teaching and examination days via Bamboo under Study days.

PE - WFT's

Every three years, all mortgage advisors and other employees with the relevant WFT certificates must take a PE exam in order to stay qualified.
Frits will pay the full costs of the training/exams. If you do not pass this exam, you are not qualified to give mortgage advice and can therefore no longer exercise your job. 

As Frits, we obviously make sure that all people who have to pass their PE exams receive the right online study material for this. Most of the time we can even organise a collective exam at the office. If you are unable to take the exam at the office, you can always schedule it yourself. Frits will cover most of the costs, including the first two exams. If you have to take a third exam, we will discuss it together. 

In addition, we would like to give you guidelines for requesting study days in Bamboo. For mandatory PE WFT training, we look at the guidelines from the training itself and at previous years. In most of the situations, you are entitled to get in total half a study day and half a day for training/examination. If you need more days, for any reason, you should discuss it with your manager. Make sure you request the study days always in Bamboo under study days.

PE - SEH (Erkend Financieel Adviseur)

Frits will pay the full costs of the training/exams for keeping track of SEH qualification, only for in-house advisors. The EHA (Erkend Hypotheek Adviseur) and EFA (Erkend Financieel Adviseur) qualifications for in-house advisors require an investment in time of 2 days per year. These days can be taken during working hours. Please make sure that you request these days in Bamboo under study days.

ZZP advisors and qualifications

Every ZZP advisor are expected to up date, organise and pay their own qualifications. 

Important for everybody

When a qualification is received, everyone always makes sure that the certificate is uploaded directly into Bamboo.