How De Lijn puts people at the heart of HR with employee self-service
De Lijn, Belgium’s public transport company had to make their HR services simple, fast, and always available for their employees. They took that wish to heart. Over the past few years, De Lijn has been transforming HR into a digital – yet people-centered! – experience that empowers employees and gives HR the time to truly connect with them.
De Lijn’s digital transformation took off a few years ago when they redefined their corporate strategy, they made the bold choice to go digital, with a clear goal of elevating the experience of everyone who interacts with them, from passengers and job applicants to staff.
As one of Flanders’ largest employers, with 8,000+ employees, De Lijn puts its people at the heart of everything they do. So, digitizing HR became a crucial part of their broader digital transformation.
“Digitization boosts self-reliance among employees and leaders. It creates a more engaging work environmentand enhances productivity.”
Improving the employee journey
The digital transformation didn’t start with new tools, it started with people.
“We didn’t want to impose technology,” says Nicolas Verhelst, HR IT Transformation Manager at De Lijn. “So, we first mapped employee journeys for every role, like drivers, technicians, and others. That exercise helped us identify digital touchpoints and friction points. Through an employee survey, our staff then got a direct voice in shaping the roadmap.”
Based on these insights, De Lijn launched a first wave of digitization. Step by step, they introduced new functionalities: personal email addresses, digital expense notes, digital personnel files, and even an SAP Fiori webshop to order workwear. At the same time, they introduced SAP SuccessFactors to create more engaging, digital recruiting and learning experiences.
Find out how De Lijn got started with digital HR
Read the story of the digitization of their recruiting and learning processes.
Better Together: from digital HR to real employee experience
"By 2023, we had digitized all these key HR processes. But our HR team was still receiving over 500 questions a day.”
To find out why, De Lijn launched anotherin-depth employee survey. The feedback: respondents were frustrated by time-consuming manual tasks and long waits for answers.
In other words: it was time to empower employees to find their answers quickly.
De Lijn’s response: a new, three-year digital transformation program focused onemployee experience and self-service:Better Together.
“Better Together isn’t about replacing everything with technology. It’s about digitizing where it truly adds value for our employees and their HR colleagues.”
Building a central HR platform: 350+ digital documents, one central hub
At the heart of Better Together is a centralized digital platform–Employee Central Service Center – that brings all HR-related services together in one place. Through SAP Work Zone, employees caninstantly access all HR applications, documents and processes without switching between multiple tools.
A cornerstone of this transformation was comprehensive document digitization. To make every effort worthwhile, they adopted a step-by-step, value-driven approach, starting with creating clear business cases.
“We first evaluated each HR process, document and form through a business case, asking ourselves key questions like ‘How much time does HR spend on it today?’, ‘How long do employees wait for answers?’, ‘Does digitalization make a real difference?’ Only when the answer was positive did the process make it into the Better Together roadmap.”
In the meantime, more than 350 documents have been digitized and automated, with clear results:
Instant document generation: employees can create HR documents (proof of employment, certificates, etc.) without HR intervention – even for the 90% staff who don’t work with a computer.
Smart data capture: forms automatically retrieve the right data, reducing unnecessary questions, and improving accuracy.
Built-in compliance: intelligent integrations ensure that every document meets legal and organizational requirements.
Mobile-first design: all forms are fully accessible on mobile devices.
Transparency and self-service: employees now have deeper insight into their personal data to take control of their own HR journey.
De Lijn’s HR transformation: 5 challenges and solutions for digital HR
1. How to integrate on-premise and cloud HR systems? Solution: Flexso bridged De Lijn’s on-premise SAP HR with cloud-based SAP SuccessFactors via SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), ensuring seamless data integration and synchronization.
2. How to simplify HR processes for employees? Solution: SAP Work Zone provides a single digital entry point for employees, replacing multiple disconnected tools and creating one consistent HR experience.
3. How to manage tools for a mobile workforce? Solution: Over’ 90% of De Lijn’s staff (drivers, technicians) work without desk computers. Clear communication and targeted training programs helped them easily adopt mobile HR tools.
4. How to provide HR access outside working hours? Solution: All HR tools are accessible from home or mobile devices, which enables employee self-service and instant, 24/7 access to HR information.
5. What drives successful HR system adoption? Solution: De Lijn appointed dedicated change agents and rolled out structured e-learning programs across the organization to support employees through the transformation.
Flexso’s role in De Lijn’s HR transformation
Throughout the journey, Flexso for People partnered with De Lijn as a strategic guide. Flexso’s consultants took an iterative, hands-on approach, from workshops and configuration to testing, migration, and user training.
Today, De Lijn continues to expand its HR transformation roadmap, guided by the same principle: putting people first. And Flexso is proud to keep driving that transformation together.
Start your own people-centered HR transformation
Inspired by De Lijn’s journey? Discover how to build an HR platform that puts people at the heart and technology at their service.
