Dienstenaanhuis becomes largest private employer in the Bruges area

No other company in the region grew as fast as Dienstenaanhuis in recent years. The Bruges-based cleaning company currently employs 1,700 domestic helps - from Bruges to Houthalen - through the service voucher system. Entrepreneur Nico Daenens took over 11 smaller companies in the last five years and is already looking towards the future.

In 2004, Nico Daenens started the company single-handedly. Today, Dienstenaanhuis employs 1,700 people all over Flanders. It has 22 agency offices in all the Flemish provinces and occupies a top 20 position in a very diverse sector, in which more than 2,000 players are active.

In the cleaning industry, the biggest challenges are a high turnover and absenteeism. Nico Daenens nods. "The job is not to be underestimated physically and mentally. Those who work full-time as cleaning assistants often have 10 families they visit every week. The desires and needs of their customers are different every time and that is not always easy to deal with. Nevertheless, I think the job of domestic help is so beautiful. It is important that our domestic workers feel good about themselves and know how important they are. Not only because their help allows older people to live at home longer and families regain free time, but also because it boosts their self-esteem."

"Many people ask me why exactly I started in the cleaning sector. The answer is simple: I became enthusiastic when I did an internship in a cleaning agency during my studies. The cleaning business is essentially people work, and to add more professional knowledge and pride to the sector appealed to me."

Nico Daenens - CEO Daenens

Happy

Nico Daenens uses the example of the quarterly employee magazine of Dienstenaanhuis. "We asked our staff to come up with a name for it themselves. But instead of some obvious names, they ended up with 'Happy'. Exactly the feeling we want to convey, both to our customers and to our employees. It is precisely why we have a lot of people who have been with us for a long time."