Nabuurs

“As a family business with twenty locations, it sometimes felt like we had twenty separate ‘households’. Since using Oneteam, successes and great moments are shared across the entire organisation, which strengthens our family culture and helps colleagues feel truly connected to the whole.”

– Elise de Bruijne, Marketing and Communications Specialist at Nabuurs

About Nabuurs

Nabuurs is a third-generation family-owned logistics provider, active in last-mile delivery for the hospitality sector, transport to supermarket distribution centers, and a wide range of warehouse and fulfilment services.

With over 1,500 employees working across twenty locations in the Netherlands, there’s a lot happening in many different places at once. Around 800 to 900 people form the core team, supported by a large group of temporary workers.

Drivers start early, warehouse teams work in shifts, and planning and support teams work from the office. Each group operates in its own rhythm, which makes internal communication both essential and challenging.

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The challenge

Before Oneteam, internal communication took place through memos in the HR system. Reading a memo required employees to open an email, click a link, log in, and complete two-factor authentication.

“The barrier to simply reading a memo was just too high,” says Elise de Bruijne, Marketing and Communications Specialist at Nabuurs. “Lots of people dropped off before they even saw the message.”

Onboarding also lacked structure. New employees received ad-hoc explanations on-site, but no consistent introduction to the organisation. “From the moment someone was hired, there was basically a black hole,” Elise recalls. “Who do you contact? Where do you park? What are the house rules? Nothing was clearly arranged.”

As the company grew, another challenge emerged: how do you maintain a strong family culture across twenty sites? “In practice, we’re one big family made up of many ‘households’ - our locations,” Elise says. “The connection on each site is strong, but we also wanted colleagues to feel part of the wider organization.”

WhatsApp didn’t offer a solution either. Messages blended with private conversations, notifications came in at all hours, and using it meant sharing personal phone numbers. “On your day off or in the evening, you don’t want work notifications popping up,” Elise notes. “We needed something more professional and less intrusive.”

It became clear that Nabuurs needed one central platform to make communication simple, improve onboarding, and help colleagues across all locations feel more connected.

The solution

That realisation aligned with Nabuurs’ decision to revisit its Employer Value Proposition and internal communication approach. One key question guided the project: how do we stay closer to our people and make information genuinely easy to access?

“It wasn’t driven by complaints,” Elise explains. “We just knew things could be clearer, faster and easier for everyone.”

A project group with colleagues from both office and operations compared several tools, looking at usability, features, pricing, flexibility and long-term development potential.

“Oneteam scored best across the board,” Elise says. “The wide range of features, price-quality ratio and the clear ambition to keep improving made it stand out. Plus, the references from existing customers gave us extra confidence.”

To be sure the app would work in practice, Nabuurs ran a demo at two locations from different business units. “People were enthusiastic right away,” Elise recalls. “It was intuitive, and everyone could start using it immediately.”

The fact that Oneteam brings internal communication, onboarding, surveys, forms and training into one platform sealed the deal. “It’s so helpful not having to send people to five different places,” Elise says. “With just one app, you cover the essentials.”

The approach

Nabuurs chose a careful and phased rollout. A project group was formed with site managers, HR, back office, quality and safety, warehouse management, driver development and marketing.

“We first mapped out exactly what needed to go into Oneteam,” says Elise. “Which onboarding content, which forms, which surveys. Getting this right upfront gave us a solid foundation.”

Each location onboarded at its own pace, with lessons from earlier sites applied immediately. “The speed of adoption really varied per site,” Elise says. “Size, enthusiasm and how well we could explain the ‘why’ all played a role. But as soon as teams started using forms and surveys themselves, adoption took off.”

To keep structure and consistency, Nabuurs created a Leadership Circle supported by DKT members (Domain Knowledge Team). Each site appointed one DKT member responsible for local setup and adoption. “We can’t manage everything centrally,” Elise explains. “We provide guidance, examples and policy, but each location knows its own reality best.”

Every location works toward clear KPIs:

• 100% adoption
• 100% completed onboarding
• 100% participation in mandatory Quality & Safety training
• WhatsApp fully replaced by Oneteam

DKT members receive monthly performance insights directly in Oneteam and create local action plans to move closer to their targets.

The results

Since implementing Oneteam, Nabuurs has seen clear improvements. The biggest gains are simplicity, speed, and higher engagement.
“The threshold is so much lower now,” Elise says. “People read messages, respond to posts and even share photos themselves. That was impossible with the old memo system.”

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More connection between locations

Oneteam helps make the family culture visible across sites. Drivers often share photos from the road: their truck in a beautiful spot, a sunrise during an early shift or a moment they’re proud of.

“It really fits who we are,” Elise explains. “People feel strongly connected to their own site, but Oneteam helps us share successes across all locations. If a site wins an award or a driver becomes a finalist at a national championship, everyone sees it. It strengthens the sense that we’re one organization.”

Onboarding as a strong foundation

Where onboarding used to lack structure, Oneteam now provides a clear and consistent start for nearly every new hire. Of the 1,119 registered employees, about 94% have completed the full onboarding program.

“It removes so much uncertainty,” says Elise. “People start with more confidence because they know what to expect and who to contact.”

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Forms that streamline daily work

Locations now handle everyday tasks smoothly through forms, such as:

• ordering work clothing
• reporting vehicle damage with photos
• assessing first ride-along days for new drivers
• submitting leave requests
• handling offboarding
• referring potential new colleagues
• submitting ideas or wellbeing initiatives

Some forms are used company-wide, while others are tailored to specific locations. “Each location has freedom to create new forms, but within clear guidelines,” Elise notes. “We want flexibility without losing structure.”

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Surveys and continuous feedback

Instead of one lengthy annual survey, employees now receive four short questions each month. This gives Nabuurs a steady stream of input rather than a single moment once a year. New hires receive extra check-ins after their first day and again after three months, helping Nabuurs understand how they’re settling in.

“We get feedback much sooner now,” Elise explains. “We don’t have to wait a full year to find out how people are doing.”

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Flexibility that fits a complex organization

With twenty locations and a wide mix of roles, Nabuurs quickly realised a one-size-fits-all system wouldn’t work. Oneteam’s flexibility and the product team’s willingness to adapt features have made a big difference.

A clear example is the annual Quality & Safety training. “We wanted the training to reappear for each employee exactly 360 days after they complete it, not once a year for everyone at the same time” Elise says. “That wasn’t possible at first, so we shared our needs with Oneteam and they’re now building this into the feature. That kind of responsiveness really matters to us.”

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High activity across the platform

The engagement numbers from the past year highlight how widely Oneteam is used:

• 531 posts by employees
• 4,835 high fives
• 670+ comments
• 92.5% adoption

“We check the activity numbers regularly,” Elise says. “They stay consistently high, which we’re very happy with.”

Conclusion

For Nabuurs, the value of Oneteam lies in making communication easier, speeding up processes, and strengthening connection across all locations. All without overwhelming their employees.

“It’s incredibly practical for colleagues,” Elise explains. “They can arrange everything on their phone without sharing personal numbers and they control when they receive notifications. Compared to WhatsApp, that’s a huge improvement.”

The impact goes beyond convenience. “Because Oneteam sits in the center of everything, communication lines are shorter and we stay closer to our team,” she says. “People feel better informed, and we receive more input and ideas from across the organization.”

Looking ahead, Nabuurs is exploring new possibilities, like using the new Performance Management solution in Oneteam. “We’re curious to see what it will bring,” Elise adds. “Oneteam keeps evolving and that fits us perfectly. The clearer and more visual everything becomes for employees, the better.”

“Ultimately, that’s what it’s all about,” she concludes. “Simple communication, clear information, and a workplace where people feel part of the whole. Oneteam helps us move closer to that every single day.”