Lori Mees
Alumni Officer, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences

I always wondered why you decided to come back to the Netherlands, But now I get it. Beautiful story and great goals to conquer.

Seeing you soon,

Greets from Heel,

Bas Willems (Son of Arno, hahahaha)

I was wonderng if you would be interested in the Maastricht International Playgroup, a great group of international parents, that weekly meet on a Wednesday morning in Maastricht. Playgroup can be reached via mipmip@home.nl.

Yes, organic food does exist here but much harder to find. There is an organic market in Maastricht and a few shops. However, being so near to Germany comes in quite handy. Much more variety and choice!

Good luck to you and your family.

I would first of all, like to remind some of the people who have posted negative comments on here that the CAC is tied totally with the automotive industry. Unless you have had your head buried in the sand for the last year, you will know that the global economy has taken a massive downturn over the last year or so, and of course the auto industry has been massiveley affected by it, and will be for some years to come. Employees at the CAC were asked to share the burden of cost cutting measures (10% reduction in salary) in order for Daimler to emerge from the downturn in a strong position. The 10% reduction has now thankfully been reinstated, but lets remember that there are still a large number of employees within the Daimler group and other car manufacturers that are still either on short working hours, or face possible redundancy. It should also be noted that anybody who took a 10% salary reduction was given the equivalent time off.

I have worked for the CAC for a little over two years now and work within the 24hr service as a CSR. Contrary to some comments made here, people are not leaving in droves, and attrition rates are at a very low rate compared to some contact centers. I do not know exact figures for the CAC, but I would guess that they are a lot lower than the 12% Average for contact Centers in the UK.

Working at the CAC can sometimes be hard, especially as recently experienced when there is bad weather, or a specific problem with a model (Hey, nobodies perfect), but for the most part the level of work is manageable. Talk of constant monitoring of breaks and working time is correct, but remember this is a contact center that like all other contact centres across the globe, runs on call and woking time efficiencies. If this is something you can’t cope with then working in a contact center (not just the CAC) is probably not for you.

A lot of comments seem to talk a lot about salaries. I can tell you that after tax and health insurance, I come away each month with at least 1600Euros, and more often than not higher than that. I appreciate that it’s not a salary that will allow you to live the high life, and I’m not sure how it compares with other Dutch contact center salaries, but nobody is on the bread line here, and plenty of people go on to buy houses, cars etc.

The shifts still work on the 3, 3, 3 basis, but in all honesty they are probably going to change. The CAC has to be able to adapt to the economic changes faced in the world and work more efficiently. This is an unknown entity for us at the moment so I’m not going to dwell too much on this as there’s no point until we are more informed on what the changes will be.

What really makes the CAC an enjoyable place to work is the people. With such a diverse range in nationalities, there is an exciting mix of people, personalities and cultures and it’s great to mix with them all during the many social events held by the CAC social club as well as the monthly Happy Hour events held on the premises. These themed events allow you to mix with people you don’t necessarily work with over a beer or two.

The only negative comment I can make about the CAC is the lack of succession training/development. As mentioned earlier, attrition rates are very low, so there is not much opportunity to develop personnally. Promotions don’t seem to come up very often due to such a low turnover. If you are looking for fast track career progression, and career development, then you may have to think about alternative options from the CAC.

For any of you considering or being offered employment within the CAC, I hope this feedback has given you a little more of a balanced view on what it’s like to work here?

My advice, get as much information on Maastricht and the CAC as possible. Do your research on the area, and on the company and make your own minds up. Who knows, I might bump in to you over a beer or two at one of the happy hours

Tot ziens