Manager in the heart of bol logistics

Travelling is in Safak’s blood. Every few years, he takes a sabbatical to travel the world with his family. When he’s not travelling himself, he ensures that bol.com goods are travelling smoothly to customers. He’s Manager at the heart of bol.com logistics. Together with his teams, he’s responsible for all our logistics processes. Every day is different in this job. It requires responsibility and flexibility. And that’s what Safak loves about exploring the world, too.

“My girlfriend and I have been together now for twelve years and for eleven of those we have spent a month travelling. That was until a few years ago, when we both really wanted to travel for more than just a month. We promised each other that if we couldn’t get unpaid leave, we’d quit our jobs. We were still young, and we wanted to enjoy that! We were able to arrange a year off and had a magnificent trip. Eventually, three of us returned to the Netherlands, because, while we were away, we found out my girlfriend was expecting. After such an exhilarating journey, we decided we would plan a longer trip every five years.”

“Our preferred destinations are places where there are very few tourists. We love to discover different cultures. We encourage each other. I live a very structured life but when I travel, it’s easier to let that discipline slip. Besides, you don’t miss anything when you’re travelling. Life in the Netherlands just goes on as usual. That’s why it can be so refreshing to immerse yourself in a totally different culture with the people you love most.”

“I don’t just work so I can go on holiday. But without holidays, I wouldn’t be able to work so hard. Having something to aim for is particularly satisfying. Travelling together with my family and letting life happen all around us — that’s what it’s all about.”

“Our children are very adventurous and open to everything because they’re growing up with our travelling habits. Whether you’re white, brown, purple, fat, or thin — or you speak Spanish or English — it’s all the same to them. They’ve experienced luxury, and also been in poorer circumstances. They’re not growing up in a cocoon. They’re seeing the world as it really is. That is important to us.”

“I’m really happy I made the move to bol.com. The culture and working environment here are excellent. I can organise my work myself, and work together with colleagues who are very helpful. Besides that, in this culture it’s okay to make mistakes, if we learn from them. That also applies for taking responsible risks, as long as we tell and align the impact of the risk.”

“At bol.com there are no pre-defined ways of doing things. Together with the team we map out our own route. And everyone goes all-in for what we decide. The teams and logistic partners of bol.com are jointly responsible for our on-site logistics operations. We call this MAX — manage and execute. We ensure that everything runs smoothly at all our sites, because if it doesn’t, the consequences for our customers and partners are considerable. If something goes wrong, they’ll have a problem, too. This is why we’re always on the lookout for potential improvements. Can we speed up the process? Can be make it more reliable? It requires considerable commitment to costs and quality.”

“A lot of the logistics at bol.com we do ourselves. We have our own machines, our own warehouses and our own IT systems. Together with our logistic partners we control everything. Thousands of people work here every day to keep goods flowing, and we manage that together. We all complement each other and that makes the job fantastic.”

“There’s never a dull moment. There’s so much going on each and every day. Besides transparency and responsibility, we’re also expected to be flexible. The structure of logistics is changing all the time and that’s what makes working at bol.com so exciting. I enjoy this job just as much as travelling ;-)”