From kitchen table to office building
In August of 2020, Zita Van der Auwera was employed by Crius Group for 25 years. During this quarter-century, she has seen the company grow from a back room in Baal to an SME with dozens of employees in Hulshout. Because we like to put this milestone in the limelight, we let her do the talking here.
Zita Van der Auwera
Desktop Publisher at Crius Group
The room in the back
When I received a phone from Jos Willems in August 1995 asking if I was not interested in typing and editing texts for him, I never thought that this phone call would be the start of a path that I have been walking for 25 years now.
It all started with a hobby of founder Jos Willems that got out of hand. He founded Style at the time as a secondary occupation and his wife Linda soon joined in. When they could no longer manage the increasing workloaded, I joined. In a room at the back of their house in Baal, I sat at the computer reading OCR, typing in texts, coding HTML texts or creating loose-leaf works. And in the afternoon, I just sat with Jos and Linda at the kitchen table with a large pot of yogurt.
However, I actually had no graphic background, which is important with typesetting. That is why I regularly took a VDAB course on Saturdays. Jos insisted that I build up the necessary knowledge and also keep improving it.
Tiger legs
The work continued to increase and so a year later colleague Ilse Hermans joined. Just like me, she still works at Crius Group. But that back room soon turned out to be too small and so Jos and Linda decided to build a new part of the house. Although that didn't take very long either, because with the recruitment of a number of extra colleagues, the rear building also became too small.
So it was decided to build a new office. It looked like an ordinary house, but was furnished as an office. We worked in several upstairs rooms, which were finished with laminate. So everyone got a few nice slippers to walk around in. The postman laughed several times when I opened the door with tiger legs on my feet.
Work hard, play hard
We worked hard and focused. It was usually so quiet that all you could hear was the tapping of the keys echoing through the rooms. Something we also regularly heard from customers who came over, that it was incredibly quiet with us.
But there were also many nice parties: the eighteenth birthday of teenage son Jurgen, the bachelor party of colleague Ilse, celebrating carnival in Aarschot and several teambuildings. Once a year we went for dinner with all colleagues and their partners and if it was your birthday, Jos and Linda treated you again. They are all unforgettable memories that created a close team spirit!
And it didn't stop there
Style continued to grow, until the "new" building in Baal became too small to accommodate everyone. So… a new move, this time from rural Baal to our current location, in the industrial park of Hulshout.
Sons Jurgen and Jordy had both graduated in the meantime and joined their parents' company in their early twenties. They soon developed into enthusiastic managers in a fast-growing company. Under Jurgen's direction, Style changed its name and was briefly renamed DCC. This name died a silent death, but soon Crius Group was born! We gained a technology department and even embarked on a cooperation with an office in India. But it wasn't always roses and moonshine. Certain projects stalled and sometimes drastic decisions had to be made. In the rapidly changing world of the publishing sector, you have to be innovative and that is precisely the strength of Crius Group.
Investments were made in sales with the recruitment of Marcel Van Denken, all the way from the distant Netherlands. In addition to Belgian customers, we also wanted to gain a foothold at our northern neighbors. In the meantime, he can no longer be ignored from the company, known (or infamous) to our customers, you can safely call him half a Belgian.
The technology department, led by Luc Van genechten, was also busy. In recent years they have developed various new and innovative products for publishers. The team has also expanded exponentially over the last 10 years to meet all customer requests.
New dynamics
In 2019, the buildings in Hulshout got a great makeover. This really sparked a renewed dynamic within the company. A pool and kicker table has been installed and we now even have a gym. Work and relaxation are alternated in a fun way.
Under the watchful eye of our new HR manager Anja Van Genechten, we have even been able to lease bicycles since the beginning of 2019. Every effort is made to make the employees healthier and fitter. All kinds of sports activities are offered every week: core stability, boxing with Jurgen or running with the Crius running team. Take your pick!
The monthly Crius lunch is also one of Anja's achievements. Enjoy hot dogs or pasta together and chat a bit with colleagues in the meantime.
And as the icing on the cake, I was allowed to go to the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2019, together with my colleague Jens. I fell from one surprise to the next. It was a great experience and fun to see what is happening at the largest book fair in the world!
On to the next 25 years!
With a satisfied feeling, a few extra pounds and the beginning of the first gray hairs, I look back on the past quarter century with a lot of satisfaction. I have experienced so many beautiful, funny and crazy, but sometimes spicy and moving moments at Crius Group. A company where the familiar character predominates and where colleagues became friends. With all these memories in mind, I would now like to toast to the next 25 years at Crius Group and hopefully I have the honor to also work for the 3rd generation of the Willems family.
Cheers!