Our Social Workshop in the Netherlands

Linked to our cozy office(s) in Weesp, is our beautiful warehouse, where the rolls are wound and all orders are neatly picked. We have chosen to make this a social workplace, which means that people who for whatever reason have a labor disadvantage can come here to work.

We do this together withDe Sociaal Werkkoepel, among others. This is a network organisation of companies, social firms and social organisations. They share knowledge and together we ensure that Amsterdammers with a work disability or (temporarily) reduced wage value can find suitable and sustainable work. They do this by connecting parties, organising information sessions and solving bottlenecks. They help us with questions about the content of social work and help us find our way. We also have a very pleasant collaboration with the municipality of Amsterdam and Weesp, who help us with the deployment and recruitment of new colleagues. At the moment, around 35 colleagues work in our social workshop.

As you probably already know if you are reading this article, the concept of The Good Roll is to sell sustainable toilet paper, and especially to give something back from the proceeds. We do this in Africa, by building toilets with our Foundation, but here in the Netherlands we also try to help where we can, through the social workshop.

We believe that everyone who wants and can work should also have the opportunity to do so. Due to the demands of the regular market, there are more and more people in the Netherlands who just miss out.

Over time, the simpler functions are disappearing, due to cutbacks, these functions are divided among the activities of other people. In our warehouse, we offer work that is easy to do and pleasant for many people with a work disability, so we are happy to offer them various functions.

In addition to people with a distance to the labor market, regular employees also work in the workshop. For employees with a distance to the labor market, it is nice to work in a workplace that is as 'normal' as possible, so that the work runs well and smoothly and they get back into a normal daily rhythm.

In addition, as a commercial company, we must of course also ensure that we deliver a certain production performance and quality. By maintaining a healthy mix of regular and limited employees, we ensure that all these goals are achieved, and that everyone goes to work with pleasure.

There can be many different reasons why people have a distance to the labor market. For example, it can be due to a physical or mental disability, or by experiencing certain setbacks such as a burnout. It also often occurs that these people worked in the regular labor market at a certain point, but have been unemployed for a long period of time due to such causes, making it impossible to independently re-enter it.

People with a physical, mental or psychological disability are also eligible for a sheltered workplace. This means that they need more guidance and an adapted workplace.

In a regular workplace, this cannot be taken into account. To ensure that everyone receives the guidance they need, we work together with a job coach. This job coach offers the necessary support to employees with a work disability, with the aim of finding a suitable position where they can get a permanent employment contract. We also let the employees try out different activities in the warehouse, so that they can see what suits them best and what they like doing most.

We are honored to be able to help these people, and grateful that they help us. Besides the hard work they do, there is so much to learn from people who have completely different lives than us or those around us. It is inspiring to hear everyone’s stories and see how far they have come, and how much they grow every day. That is what we do it for!