Second-Track Reintegration
Reintegration office in Valkenswaard
Careers here happen more often than they are chosen: you start at a company nearby and stay. When that role falls away, the second track is for many people the first moment direction becomes a deliberate choice. We guide it from the Kerkhofstraat, with Eindhoven fifteen minutes away.
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Second track explained
Choosing a direction for the first time instead of drifting into one
If the original role lapses and the employer has no place internally, the second track comes up. What is still possible comes into view first. Then capacity is built up. Approaching employers is the last of the three. What those stages consist of you can read at the second track programme.
Alongside the statutory obligation, how people came by their work matters in the Kempen. Often through an acquaintance, close to home, and then it stayed that way. That is no bad foundation, but it does mean the question of which way to go is now genuinely being asked for the first time, and that takes time which belongs in the planning.
In the Kempen one more thing plays into it. Distances are short and the companies know one another, so the order in which you approach employers matters. We start with the firms the profile fits best rather than with the best-known name, so that a rejection does not block what comes next.
Our office
Second-track reintegration in Valkenswaard and nearby
Our Valkenswaard location sits on Kerkhofstraat, in the middle of the village. Engineering, healthcare and retail carry the Kempen, with Eindhoven fifteen minutes off and the Belgian border ten. In a community this size a career tends to happen rather than be chosen, and after a forced departure that is the first thing you notice.
About Valkenswaard
Good to know about Valkenswaard
Brainport reaches this far
The technology firms around Eindhoven pull suppliers and service providers all the way into the Kempen. That produces work in engineering and logistics without having to work in the city.
Work travels through acquaintances here
In a village people know where everyone works and who is looking. Pleasant while you are part of it, awkward when you want something else quietly; that calls for a different approach.
Belgium begins ten minutes away
Lommel and Hamont are round the corner and short of people in engineering and healthcare. A Belgian contract does affect your insurance and your tax papers, so we map that beforehand.
Kerkhofstraat, in the village
There is parking space in the surrounding streets and the bus from Eindhoven drops you close by. Would you rather stay home, the whole programme runs by video.
Vacancies here are rarely advertised
A lot of work in the Kempen is filled before any advert appears. That is why we approach companies without an open role as well, with a concrete profile rather than an open question.
The former employer stays in view
In a community this size people run into each other. That is no obstacle to the programme, but it does matter how the departure is explained. We agree that explanation together, before the first employer is called.
What the programme looks like
From intake to aftercare, step by step
Six stages, listed below in order, together form the second track programme. The series is the same for everyone, what happens inside it is not. The Gatekeeper Improvement Act says what has to be recorded.
Intake meeting and situation overview
The first conversation covers two things at once: what the work ran aground on, and how the employee ended up in this trade in the first place. That second answer is often chance, and that is exactly what makes it useful. Put the medical opinion and the work history beside it and you have an action plan that survives the review.
Capacity analysis & occupational health assessment
What is still possible then goes on paper. The FML and the supporting papers determine what work remains, with standing, lifting and shift length weighed separately. That outcome becomes the goal in the reintegration plan, with monthly updates to those involved.
Career scan & personal coaching
The third stage turns on the employee themselves. Tests, assignments and conversations map what they can do and what suits them, producing for the first time a direction rather than a run of coincidences.
Labour market exploration & job matching
That profile then goes out to the market. Engineering, healthcare and logistics recruit in the Kempen, and Eindhoven widens that supply considerably. Where the new direction sits too far from the old work, a practical period comes first.
Active job search & network approach
At the placement stage the employee calls on companies themselves, vacancy or not. In an area where much travels through acquaintances that works, provided the agreements about who is approached are kept. Each week we go through what it produced.
Aftercare and sustainable placement
Two months of aftercare close it off. They make clear whether the load is sustainable and whether the chosen direction suits. The coach keeps the reporting up, writes the closing report and stays reachable.
What we establish first
Four points this programme rests on
The review is about what has been written down. These four points decide whether that is enough.
What can the employee still manage?
The occupational health assessment records it. In engineering and retail it comes down to standing, to lifting and to the length of a shift, each judged separately.
Which direction genuinely fits?
Anyone who got their job through an acquaintance at the time has rarely mapped out a course. We hold that conversation early, because without direction applications become isolated attempts.
Is there another role internally?
At suppliers there is work preparation, planning and quality alongside the workshop. Work through them and keep a note of which were looked at and why they went no further.
Where is capacity built up?
On a shop floor, not at home. A period in a work experience placement shows which load holds and counts demonstrably.
Judge shift work separately
In manufacturing the limitation often sits in the roster rather than in the work. Have the company doctor assess day, evening and night shifts independently; for a technical role that is the difference between impossible and workable.
Approaching without a vacancy
Because much of the work here is filled outside the adverts, we write to companies with nothing open. That produces a conversation more often than replying to the vacancies that are visible.
What the programme should achieve
The employee works in a direction they chose themselves and which falls within their limits, with a file substantiating that choice.
Engineering, healthcare and retail
Why employers in Valkenswaard and the Kempen work with us
The Kempen leans on engineering, healthcare and retail, with the technology companies around Eindhoven drawing suppliers as far as here. Absence here is often physical, and then which action fell away decides more than the job title.
Brainport reaches this far
The technology companies around Eindhoven pull suppliers and service providers into the Kempen. That produces work in engineering and logistics without having to work in Eindhoven itself.
Work travels through acquaintances
In a village people know where everyone works and who is looking. Convenient when you are in the swing of it, harder when you want something else quietly, which is why we agree in advance who gets approached.
Belgium begins ten minutes away
Lommel and Hamont are round the corner and have shortages in engineering and healthcare. A Belgian contract affects insurance and tax paperwork, so we look into that beforehand.
Every step gets a date
Conversations, contacts and outcomes go into the file the same day. Adding to it afterwards is then unnecessary.
Engineering needs translating
What someone learned on the shop floor over twenty years rarely appears in a job description. Turning that into something an HR adviser at another company understands is the larger part of the work here.
Questions from Valkenswaard and the Kempen
What employers here put to us
When does a second-track programme become relevant?
Week 52 is the upper limit, and once the company doctor indicates the original work lapses you can start earlier. With physical complaints that is sensible, because building up takes time. The duration per stage is set out at the duration of a second track programme.
How is the programme fee determined?
Duration and composition together determine the amount. Placement alone covers little; assessment, coaching and a practical period broaden the programme. Before anything is scheduled, what it contains and what it costs is settled.
Does a job in Belgium count as suitable work?
It can, but it needs preparation. Insurance, tax and the conditions all differ, and those points belong sorted out beforehand and recorded in the file. We go that way when it is realistic, not because the border happens to be close.
Where do you search for suitable work?
As far as capacity reaches. Waalre, Bergeijk, Leende, Dommelen, Veldhoven and Eindhoven are close by, and on the Belgian side Lommel and Hamont come into it. What the area becomes, we agree beforehand.
Our employee would rather the village did not hear about it. Is that possible?
Yes, and it is a real concern here. We approach employers with the profile and the availability, not with the absence story. What a new employer needs to know is what someone can do and under which conditions; the reason for leaving is not part of that. Who is told and who is not is agreed in advance and written down.
Our employee works in engineering. Does that trade stay open?
Usually yes, but in a different shape. For a fitter or an operator the limitation tends to sit in lifting, standing or shift work rather than in the craft. The question is then not whether the trade is still possible but under which conditions: work preparation, quality control, purchasing or a training role inside the same company. The suppliers around Eindhoven are specifically looking for people who know the shop floor.
How far does the search area reach from Valkenswaard?
Eindhoven is fifteen minutes away and makes up most of the range, with Veldhoven, Waalre and Bergeijk in between. Whether that is realistic depends on the travel someone can manage after long-term absence, and we work that out at the start. Anyone who cannot drive depends on public transport, and that narrows the area considerably.
How long before there is something concrete?
The first six to eight weeks go into completing the picture: capacity, profile and search direction. Only then does approaching employers make sense, because a company wants to know what someone is coming to do. Start early and you still have a good year to place someone; start around week 52 and that room is gone.
Our employee would prefer to stay close to home. What are the chances then?
Lower than with Eindhoven included, but not poor. Valkenswaard, Waalre, Bergeijk and Westerhoven together hold enough engineering, care and retail to put a profile in front of. What helps is that employers here prefer someone from the area over someone who has to drive half an hour. What works against it is the number: in a small area fewer places simply come free, and then you need the time you gained by starting early.
Where is Care4Careers in Valkenswaard?
Kerkhofstraat 21, 5554 HG Valkenswaard, in the centre. Report your arrival and room will be made for you.
Which towns belong here?
Waalre, Bergeijk, Leende, Dommelen, Veldhoven and Eindhoven are included, and looking on the Belgian side brings in Lommel and Hamont. Does your search reach Weert or Helmond, we cover that ground too.
Does work with a Belgian employer count as suitable work?
It can count, but it changes the insurance, the accrual and the relationship with the UWV. We sort that out before anyone applies, so that a placement does not come unstuck on the paperwork afterwards.
Something still open? Put it to us; the first conversation commits you to nothing.
Who guides the programme
Reintegration coaches in Valkenswaard
One coach for the employee and one contact for you. What happens and what is noted therefore stay together.
Reintegration near Valkenswaard
Second-track reintegration throughout Noord-Brabant
The same approach applies for employers in Waalre, Bergeijk, Leende, Dommelen and Veldhoven.
At the Kerkhofstraat, outplacement and career coaching run as well. The full overview can be found at our locations.
Care4Careers location Valkenswaard
What can we think along on?
Name the first day of absence, and tell us if there are companies you would rather we left alone. A reply follows from us. De Kerkhofstraat is in the middle of the village.
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