A short walk outdoors every afternoon

Stepping outside to stretch your legs in the afternoon. It sounds almost impossible in Deurne, but Hank Guns has been doing it for over 20 years, discovering some surprising routes along the way. He's a fan of the initiative at Gosselin to focus more on movement and gladly shares his walks with colleagues. 

"We're not exactly in a national park," Hank laughs, "but if you can spare half an hour, you'll be surprised at the nice walks you can take fairly close by. Doing a different walk every day is out of the question though." But that's not the focus for Gosselin's movement initiatives, which aim more at stretching the legs, sometimes accompanied by a chat with colleagues. "You don't have to break a sweat," adds Hank. "But every little bit helps."

Sportiness is increasingly on the agenda for companies, a trend that Hank fully supports. "More than twenty years ago, we used to smoke in the office. There wasn't much attention to personal health at work back then. Now, there are people specifically dedicated to this goal. I think it's great that there's room for such initiatives at Gosselin." Think of things like the bike leasing plan. Gosselin also strives to promote healthy initiatives for commuting.

Hank himself is a cycling enthusiast, especially since he had to cut down on running for medical reasons. He has a racing bike, mountain bike, and regular city bike in his garage. He tries to bike from Brecht to Deurne at least twice a week to combine commuting with extra training. "My previous bike through the leasing plan was a speed pedelec, but now I've purchased a touring bike through B2Bike. My wife and I would like to do more short bike trips, not too far from home."

Who is Hank?

It's clear that Hank is a sporty colleague. He started at Gosselin in the operational department of military moves as a booking assistant and worked his way up to supervisor and then manager of DOD (inbound and outbound) at Government Logistics. In the past, he ran the Rotterdam marathon with a colleague and regularly cycled with a fixed group from Gosselin that trained twice a week after work to Herentals and back along the canal. Hank doesn't run anymore, but he still gets his daily 10,000 steps. Due to a combination of a bad back and a sporting nature, sitting still for long periods isn't for him. He solves this by using a standing desk and... by walking. Every afternoon, rain or shine. Would you like to join Hank for a walk? Feel free to send him a message!

ABOUT GOSSELIN: 

Founded in 1930, Gosselin currently employs more than 975 people who generate total sales of over 450 million Euros. Gosselin’s headquarters is located on the Albert Canal in Deurne where the container terminal connects the Port of Antwerp Bruges and the Port of Rotterdam with the European hinterland. With 56 offices in 34 countries, the company has strong representation in Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia and China. The Gosselin Group consists of two divisions: Gosselin Moving and Gosselin Logistics.  

Gosselin Moving handles international moves for multinationals, expats, diplomats, military personnel and private individuals.  

Gosselin Logistics provides logistics services to businesses, with activities ranging from forwarding, warehouse storage and container processing to industrial logistics projects for heavy machinery and entire factories.