For twenty years, H&L Services has specialized in loading and unloading general cargo from containers or trucks at customer sites. Our company has an excellent reputation, but we cannot do an optimal job without our motivated employees. We let two of our employees do the talking, who then turn out to be brothers.

How did you end up at H&L Services?

Peter: “I started there back then because my father was working there at the time. So until his retirement, we were actually colleagues.”

Marco: “I still worked there as a job student, and later I started there as a permanent employee. My father and brother were already working there then. So you could almost speak of a small family business, albeit that we are now 80 employees and, unfortunately, we are not in charge.”

What specifically do you have to do at H&L Services?

Marco: “Actually, it’s pretty simple: we manually unload containers, putting the loose goods on pallets, which we then wrap and place in the warehouse, where the warehousemen continue working on them. But we equally load containers, so in other words the opposite procedure. Loading and unloading is all done manually.”

That sounds like a very physical job. Is it challenging?

Marco: “It does indeed demand a lot from the body, but on the other hand, once the work is done you get to go home. So no 9-to-5 mentality here: once the required containers are unloaded or loaded, the working day also ends. Why stay longer, is the justified reasoning of our boss. I have done jobs where I was twiddling my fingers at one point, but had to stay because it was not yet five o’clock. That can’t be the intention, can it?”

Do you enjoy working for H&L Services?

Peter: “The fact that, except for some brief interruptions, I’ve been working there for seventeen years says it all, doesn’t it? Pleasantly disturbed colleagues who become friends after a while, the freedom you have to fill in your work yourself which makes you a bit your own boss… And as my brother says: done is done here. When the job is done, you get to go home.”

Marco: “Apart from the fact that people here reason on the basis of productivity instead of hours worked, it is nice to work here because there is a very pleasant atmosphere among colleagues. There is no difference in rank here: a newcomer will not be looked at or treated differently from someone who has been working here for, say, ten years. If you show a willingness to roll up your sleeves, you will be accepted.”

Any assets?

Peter: “There is often a pleasant competitiveness here: see who loads their side of the palette first. I like to go along with that once in a while. It also helps in that respect if you’re missing a screw when you come to work here. Especially since it’s such physical work: occasional laughter provides the ideal counterbalance.”

Marco: “Finally, I would like to mention as an asset the great variety: you are always working in a different warehouse, because we are active throughout Flanders. And since there are now 80 of us, you are always working with someone else. Ideal for those looking for a job without routine, like me!”