Case: Easi
- Client since 2014
- IT
- >500 employees
- Number 1 "Best Workplace in Belgium" 2025 in the category >500 employees
In an exclusive interview, Thomas Van Eeckhout, co-CEO of Easi, shares insights about the Great Place To Work (GPTW) journey, the company's growth, and its unique approach. Easi, a Belgian IT company founded in 1999, provides IT services and software to medium and large enterprises. The company stands out with a customer-centric approach, focusing on proprietary software and innovative cloud and cybersecurity solutions.
Since the appointment of Thomas Van Eeckhout and Jean-François Herremans as co-CEOs in 2019, Easi has grown significantly from 200 to 600 employees. This growth is attributed to both internal expansion and eleven strategic acquisitions over the past six years. Easi is a pioneer in employee ownership, with 30% of employees being co-owners of the company. The organisation highly values the well-being of its 600 employees, contributing to its recognition as the “Best Workplace in Belgium” since 2014.
Easi's journey and choice for the GPTW-label
Thomas explains that Easi started the GPTW journey about ten years ago, making them one of the oldest and most loyal participants in Belgium. The decision to start this journey in an ever-changing world had two main reasons: visibility, especially within the HR domain, and the opportunity for the organisation to self-reflect, track evolutions, and gather valuable employee feedback. Running a company is like a marathon; sticking to a consistent model helps recognise trends and follow changes. Sometimes things become too obvious for management, leading to less conscious communication with employees. Therefore, the annual GPTW dossier remains crucial.
"The added value of the Great Place To Work label not only provides visibility within the HR-domain, but also offers the opportunity for organisations to hold up a mirror to itself."
Growth over the years
Thomas emphasises that Easi achieved impressive results from the beginning, securing first place on the Best Workplaces list in their second year of participation. They have maintained this position ever since. While challenges evolve as the organisation grows, Thomas does not claim it becomes ‘harder,’ as that would imply a weakening of the company culture. Employee experience shows that organisational growth has little impact; it is mainly about operational functioning. By maintaining relatively small teams, the organisational culture remains strong, regardless of the company's size. Company-wide organised activities are more affected, but Easi continues to actively seek its own path. Communication and transparency remain essential to turn challenges into opportunities.
The company aims to always operate with the development of a strong company culture in mind and wants to avoid becoming a corporate machine. Since 2011, Easi has not hired external managers, a very deliberate choice, and an approach they strongly believe in. Employees are guided from the start to grow internally when they express their ambitions, a decision that has become part of the company culture. Although it can sometimes be more effective and economically advantageous to hire external talent, they see a long-term risk to their values and culture. Therefore, they always choose to preserve their values and culture over short-term profit in such cases.
Impact of the GPTW label
Thomas notes that the GPTW label has a clear positive impact on HR policy, from recruitment to retention. Due to the pressure on the labour market, job seekers actively filter on the label, making its value visible. Easi successfully integrates this journey into their Employer Branding. In 2024, the organisation saw a 65% increase in spontaneous applications compared to 2023, coming from the website, LinkedIn, and Indeed. Additionally, 22% of new employees who started in 2024 were recruited through their own employees. This highlights the great sense of responsibility and ambassador role that employees fulfil to further expand the Easi family.
Of course, Easi also has to say goodbye to employees, but those figures mainly show strong loyalty. Once colleagues are involved in the story, they remain engaged. Of all employees with 3-5 years of seniority, only 3% left in 2024. Among colleagues with more than 5 years of seniority, this was only 0.76%, and specifically among shareholders, only 0.38%.
Easi wants to further increase the impact of the label and emphasise its value to other stakeholders. They highlight benefits such as lower staff turnover, which ensures continuity for customers and stakeholders. This naturally requires more active communication to stakeholders about the benefits of the label, such as long-term collaborations.
"The lower staff turnover automatically brings the advantage of continuity for customers and stakeholders."
In sales, Easi actively targets companies that value the label, as this ensures a cultural fit and smoother collaboration. For a year now, the organisation has been actively using the label in sales conversations, with unique selling points such as employee ownership, Belgian company, GPTW label, and contribution to the Belgian tech community. By training the sales team, Easi aims to ensure that customers automatically say: "That organisation has the label, so we will contact them." With this strategic approach, the GPTW label can be used more effectively for non-HR purposes, contributing to their success and growth.
Easi's ambition within the GPTW journey is clear: to actively use the label to gain more recognition outside the HR world, not only as an employer but also as an organisation.
The number 1 position within the ‘Best Workplaces 2025 in Belgium’ >500 employees list confirms the commitment of the Belgian IT company to the well-being and professional development of its employees.