CED lies through its teeth - "The Value Specialist"?
CED says one thing and does the other. “The value specialist” as the company calls itself. But to what degree does CED puts its money where its mouth is? In our previous article about CED you read that CED doesn’t want to do anything but grow, grow and grow even more. But can all of this growth coincide with good, reliable service and decent staff policy?
A first look at CED’s website immediately shows what the company says it stands for. One of the first sentences you see when you visit the website goes as follows: “CED protects and maintains what is valuable in someone’s life.” Saying something and doing something are not one and the same. So much becomes clear when you look at the difficulties that Marisella de Cuba has faced. CED already knew for 5 years what was valuable to her, but it only takes a nazi club called ‘Vizier op Links’, complaining about her activism, for CED to throw Marisella out of the door.
The slogan of CED goes: “What is valuable should stay valuable.” Experienced and knowledgeable staff is valuable for the service quality of CED. CED says that what is valuable should stay valuable which is in stark contrast with their minimum wages, staff shortages and a growing percentage of flex workers. “What is valuable should be exploited as much as possible” seems a more fitting slogan.
What is valuable should be exploited as much as possible
CED is proudly shouting that it wants to grow further. On their website they brag about acquiring the French company Eurexo and the fact CED is market leader in the Netherlands. The ambition doesn’t stop at the border. CED has in its turn been acquired by BlackFin. These ambitions go hand in hand with a decrease in quality of service. The goal is not to be good at CED’s core business, but to make as much profit as possible. Staff is marked as a financial burden and not as human beings that actually add the value to CED and its clients.
Customer is king, but who is the customer?
That the shareholder and not the client has become the focus group for CED should therefore not come as a surprise. This is also reflected in the management. In October 2018 former CEO Hans Coffeng announces that he is “happy with the experienced, third man on the rudder: ‘in the person op Goffinet we assure ourselves that we have the focus and ‘knowhow’ to make our service even more efficient and cost effective for our clients.” But are those clients people who for instance call the corona info lines or are they the shareholders?
There are two things that stand out. Hans Coffeng has since then left the ship and the career of Goffinet. Hans Coffeng “after eight years of having led CED group as a CEO, he makes place for new leadership … from the 1st of March.” We just have to assume that it refers to the 1st of March this year, because apparently CED doesn’t really value proper news coverage. Hans Coffeng was initially happy with “the experienced, third man on the rudder”, but a couple of years later he decides to leave altogether. Perhaps Coffeng wasn’t that happy with Goffinet’s appearance after all or he was pushed out.
Let’s look at the career of Goffinet. He has, according to CED’s website, worked at KMPG. Would that be some weird counterpart of KPMG? I guess we’ll never know. He also worked at Bain & Company, Barclays Bank and Euroclear: all active in the financial sector and in other words not in claims handling. And who has come to help him out? Damien Lestang of BlackFin of course. Specialized in acquisitions and perfect for the ambition of CED to grow, grow and grow even more.
“Go and stand wherever you want.” But does that include everyone?
CED furthermore says on their website that people should have the possibility “to go and stand wherever you want.” Again, CED says one things and does the other. When you for instance politically active in the weekend, you are not welcome at your own work anymore the day after. CED has fallen for the extreme right and coward’s platform Vizier op Links, that intimidates and threatens people, by firing Marisella de Cuba. CED has therefore become an accomplice.
Read more here on how Vizier op Links tries to silence activists.
