What exactly do you do at Signpost?
Sophie: "As a Payroll Specialist I am responsible for making sure that all necessary employee information is added to the payroll system in order for the salary to be calculated correctly for all Belgian Employees within the Signpost group. At the end of the month, I need to import all payroll data and working hours from Officient to our SD payroll system in time for the monthly wage calculation.

I also prepare and manage the onboarding of all new Belgian employees, see that they have all the necessary tools to start their job on the right foot and inform them of all our rules & regulations. Additionally, when employees leave the company, I’m in charge of recovering the company tools and assuring that their final payroll payments are processed correctly.

A big part of my task is also the follow-up of our fleet. This involves purchasing/leasing cars, following up on their delivery, arranging a run-up car for new employees, following up on end of lease cars, administration regarding insurance, accidents & damages, fines etc. And of course, keeping in contact with the lease company and the employee.

Apart from being part of the HR team I’m also the company’s confidant. When employees want to talk to someone regarding a problem that they encounter at work or at home they can come to talk to me. Together we try and find a solution."

What does your day look like?
Sophie: "This varies from day to day because working in HR, you never know in advance what is going to happen. 😉 While driving to work I know exactly what my plan is and what needs to be done but as you are dealing with people very often your tasks will shift during the day. It depends very much on the needs of your employees on that specific day. Every day I try and keep track of the HR inbox and see that mails get answered on a daily basis. Check what preparations still need to be done for future onboarding and offboarding of employees. Some days I need to solve a problem that suddenly arises due to car problems and it generally needs to be solved quickly. Due to these unforeseen occurrences my tasks can change very quickly, this makes my job very fascinating and I never get bored 😊."

How did you end up working at Signpost?
Sophie: "That is a very long story! As I was the first employee working for Signpost 😊

Shortly after coming back to Belgium from living in London, I started working in 1994 with Paul Steenbergen, the original founder of Signpost, as a Shipping & Administration Assistant in a consultancy firm for chemical products. A few years later, in 1996, Paul founded his own consultancy company and asked me to join his company in Breda as an Office Manager. In 2001, after relocating to Belgium, Paul decided to change to a totally different kind of business and set up Studentweb, which in a way gradually turned into the company that is now Signpost."

What are your interests besides work?
Sophie: "I have many interests: I love to cook and invite friends and family over. Travelling is also a big passion of mine; finding out about the culture of the country where I’m travelling and of course what they eat and where all the good restaurants are 😉 Aside from that, I enjoy going to the cinema or museums."