Business as unusual

TCM Belgium present @ Launch of the 6th Essenscia sustainability reportCM Belgium was present at the launch of the6^thEssenscia sustainability report, the umbrella of the Belgium industry in chemical products, plastics and life sciences. You may well be thinking, ‘how is such an event of any possible concern to a debt collection company?’.That linkis, admittedly, far from glaringly obvious. TCM Belgium is apartnerof Essensciaandsponsorsthe event, that’s why. Members of Essenscia enjoy a preferential member’s fee for our services.

Talent = sustainable

The proposed sustainability report focuses on 4 themes, and the results are in fact of particular use and interest for all concerned. Asecond, less obvious linkwith sustainability in the report is thetheme ‘Talent’. A subject with which TCM Belgium can readily identify. Qualified, motivated workers are an asset in any sector, but whether a business services enterprise such as TCM makes or breaks all depends on the ability to attract. Surrounding yourself with self-starters who work constructively, feet firmly planted on the ground, with the unfailing ability to imagine themselves in many and various situations (that of the creditor and that of the debtor), and then also to be able to convey and receive the message in clear terms. So, in other words, we need creative multi-taskers!    

Talent challenged

What, according to the sustainability report, are themain challengesin the theme ‘Talent’?

1. Offering young talent anattractive, varied, meaningful job content in order to be the ‘first-choice employer’.

2. Encouraging more young people to go for aSTEM(= science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education and a career in chemistry and life sciences, regardless of gender, ethnic origin or social background.

3. Promotinginteractionandcooperationbetween the world of business and all levels of education via dissemination of pioneering teaching/learning methods and the sharing of skills and knowledge.

4. Investing inlasting careersand lifelong learning, working closely alongside the social partners and social training centres.

5. Preparing workers and staff for thejobs of the futureby helping them to acquire new skills and competences and applying digital technologies.

Talented TCM

These targets can also easily be set for other sectors, for instance our own.1+4.We have astrong (inter)national networkthat also gives us some of the advantages of a multinational without losing those of an SME structure in the process. Thejob content may therefore be just as diverse as the aspirations of any individual employee, according to his/her skills and competence. School-leavers are given a friendly welcome and down-to-business guidance at TCM. Nearly half of the members of the Essenscia research team are women while, here at our end, a good80% of the whole Belgian team is female talent. We even giveinternal schooling, providespace for growth and developmentand remainopen to forms of (internal of external) training proposed by workers and staff themselves. Ourdebt collection sector is a major component in a healthy, functioning economyand procuresthe best-advised solutionfor unpaid bills, and this for all concerned parties. Creditors and debtors alike usually don’t end up having to pay court costs and the customer relation remains intact. Want to work for us? Clickhere!  2+3.For years now TCM Belgium givesjob students, work studentsandtraineesa chance to get busyon our shop floorto gain experience. Clickherefor a testimonial. We are also regularly askedby educational institutes and schools to organize training courses and give advice, to their students and to their administrative and financial staff. The notion offinancial literacyalso broke the surface in the presentation report, something that might well benefit from rather more attention in education. Some of the problems with unpaid bills might become more amenable to solution if consumers were also made aware of their financial rights and obligations and the financial and administrative consequences. Besides, constructive debate often can’t be conducted until all parties are able to argue their case in a reasoned, well-founded manner.  5.TCM Belgium is future-oriented, ditto in matters of digital technology. In our sector we are afront runner inIT innovation(protected online platform and online consulting, tablets forvisitors, API connections, the right technology to make homework easy, …), and we encourage our workers and staff to suggest improvements. These innovations enable our personnel to work fast, transparent, safe and protected, and up-to-date, and all our (inter)national services are constantly interconnected. The work environment changes all the time, not only because of digital innovations, but also because of the(inter)national laws that are often revised and monitored. On a smaller scale we also try to introducesustainable innovation on the shop floor, such as filtering water to reduce the use of plastic bottles, and providing electric charging points for our vehicle fleet.  

As Piet Huysentruyt says: what did we get out of this event?

1. That we’re more sustainability-minded than we actually thought, to be sure, when we take a look at our talent, growth and future ambitions.

Let me cite the title of just one of the guest speakers, Toon Wassenberg (Sustainability Expert, Futurehead), who himself got this from Bill Gates:“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years”.All of our innovations and ambitions look ahead to the long term. We hope that we, as creditors and debtors, may pick the fruits in the years to come. And, most of all, that we might be ready for what we, in part, also help to create (more business = greater need of manpower, monitoring, …), because future expectations are always difficult to estimate. Or, as Niels Bohr puts it:“Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.”(Think like a Freak, Steven Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner).  

2. That there’s still much we can learn in other areas that come under sustainability.“The three hardest words in the English language are ‘I don’t know.’”(Think like a Freak, Steven Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner)

It’s OK to still not (be able to) offer all kinds of hard and fast answers.‘I don’t know’ is in many respects better than bluff. That said, it’s still of course our ambition, and the ambition of any company that hopes to enjoy a long and continued existence to operate as sustainably as it possibly can. Companies may yet achieve eternal life as long as they remember to listen to the stakeholders as well as the shareholders. We need to redefine the social role of enterprise. In what way can we mean more for our environment? We’ll have to make serious efforts to soften our ecological footprint, and we might also do rather more to give consideration to our social role towards debtors.    

3. That governments have the responsibility to communicate a clear policy for the long term. In our sector there’s still so much to do in that respect. Laws are often applied, revised, …, but sometimes the logic is wildly off the mark if it’s not tested in practice. Governments often don’t have sufficient knowledge or else aren’t well enough informed in the matter. Politicians are quick enough to talk on sensitive and populist subjects in connection with collection, so they won’t necessarily always come up with the best solution. See, e.g., our article‘The real role of collection in the war on debt (at school)’.

Business as unusual

TCM Belgium present @ Launch of the 6th Essenscia sustainability reportCM Belgium was present at the launch of the6^thEssenscia sustainability report, the umbrella of the Belgium industry in chemical products, plastics and life sciences. You may well be thinking, ‘how is such an event of any possible concern to a debt collection company?’.That linkis, admittedly, far from glaringly obvious. TCM Belgium is apartnerof Essensciaandsponsorsthe event, that’s why. Members of Essenscia enjoy a preferential member’s fee for our services.

Talent = sustainable

The proposed sustainability report focuses on 4 themes, and the results are in fact of particular use and interest for all concerned. Asecond, less obvious linkwith sustainability in the report is thetheme ‘Talent’. A subject with which TCM Belgium can readily identify. Qualified, motivated workers are an asset in any sector, but whether a business services enterprise such as TCM makes or breaks all depends on the ability to attract. Surrounding yourself with self-starters who work constructively, feet firmly planted on the ground, with the unfailing ability to imagine themselves in many and various situations (that of the creditor and that of the debtor), and then also to be able to convey and receive the message in clear terms. So, in other words, we need creative multi-taskers!    

Talent challenged

What, according to the sustainability report, are themain challengesin the theme ‘Talent’?

1. Offering young talent anattractive, varied, meaningful job content in order to be the ‘first-choice employer’.

2. Encouraging more young people to go for aSTEM(= science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education and a career in chemistry and life sciences, regardless of gender, ethnic origin or social background.

3. Promotinginteractionandcooperationbetween the world of business and all levels of education via dissemination of pioneering teaching/learning methods and the sharing of skills and knowledge.

4. Investing inlasting careersand lifelong learning, working closely alongside the social partners and social training centres.

5. Preparing workers and staff for thejobs of the futureby helping them to acquire new skills and competences and applying digital technologies.

Talented TCM

These targets can also easily be set for other sectors, for instance our own.1+4.We have astrong (inter)national networkthat also gives us some of the advantages of a multinational without losing those of an SME structure in the process. Thejob content may therefore be just as diverse as the aspirations of any individual employee, according to his/her skills and competence. School-leavers are given a friendly welcome and down-to-business guidance at TCM. Nearly half of the members of the Essenscia research team are women while, here at our end, a good80% of the whole Belgian team is female talent. We even giveinternal schooling, providespace for growth and developmentand remainopen to forms of (internal of external) training proposed by workers and staff themselves. Ourdebt collection sector is a major component in a healthy, functioning economyand procuresthe best-advised solutionfor unpaid bills, and this for all concerned parties. Creditors and debtors alike usually don’t end up having to pay court costs and the customer relation remains intact. Want to work for us? Clickhere!  2+3.For years now TCM Belgium givesjob students, work studentsandtraineesa chance to get busyon our shop floorto gain experience. Clickherefor a testimonial. We are also regularly askedby educational institutes and schools to organize training courses and give advice, to their students and to their administrative and financial staff. The notion offinancial literacyalso broke the surface in the presentation report, something that might well benefit from rather more attention in education. Some of the problems with unpaid bills might become more amenable to solution if consumers were also made aware of their financial rights and obligations and the financial and administrative consequences. Besides, constructive debate often can’t be conducted until all parties are able to argue their case in a reasoned, well-founded manner.  5.TCM Belgium is future-oriented, ditto in matters of digital technology. In our sector we are afront runner inIT innovation(protected online platform and online consulting, tablets forvisitors, API connections, the right technology to make homework easy, …), and we encourage our workers and staff to suggest improvements. These innovations enable our personnel to work fast, transparent, safe and protected, and up-to-date, and all our (inter)national services are constantly interconnected. The work environment changes all the time, not only because of digital innovations, but also because of the(inter)national laws that are often revised and monitored. On a smaller scale we also try to introducesustainable innovation on the shop floor, such as filtering water to reduce the use of plastic bottles, and providing electric charging points for our vehicle fleet.  

As Piet Huysentruyt says: what did we get out of this event?

1. That we’re more sustainability-minded than we actually thought, to be sure, when we take a look at our talent, growth and future ambitions.

Let me cite the title of just one of the guest speakers, Toon Wassenberg (Sustainability Expert, Futurehead), who himself got this from Bill Gates:“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years”.All of our innovations and ambitions look ahead to the long term. We hope that we, as creditors and debtors, may pick the fruits in the years to come. And, most of all, that we might be ready for what we, in part, also help to create (more business = greater need of manpower, monitoring, …), because future expectations are always difficult to estimate. Or, as Niels Bohr puts it:“Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.”(Think like a Freak, Steven Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner).  

2. That there’s still much we can learn in other areas that come under sustainability.“The three hardest words in the English language are ‘I don’t know.’”(Think like a Freak, Steven Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner)

It’s OK to still not (be able to) offer all kinds of hard and fast answers.‘I don’t know’ is in many respects better than bluff. That said, it’s still of course our ambition, and the ambition of any company that hopes to enjoy a long and continued existence to operate as sustainably as it possibly can. Companies may yet achieve eternal life as long as they remember to listen to the stakeholders as well as the shareholders. We need to redefine the social role of enterprise. In what way can we mean more for our environment? We’ll have to make serious efforts to soften our ecological footprint, and we might also do rather more to give consideration to our social role towards debtors.    

3. That governments have the responsibility to communicate a clear policy for the long term. In our sector there’s still so much to do in that respect. Laws are often applied, revised, …, but sometimes the logic is wildly off the mark if it’s not tested in practice. Governments often don’t have sufficient knowledge or else aren’t well enough informed in the matter. Politicians are quick enough to talk on sensitive and populist subjects in connection with collection, so they won’t necessarily always come up with the best solution. See, e.g., our article‘The real role of collection in the war on debt (at school)’.