Vandelanotte helps guide Apotheek Lamoot through the complex world of social legislation

In the late 1950s, Lamoot senior set up his own pharmacy in Vlamertinge. The pharmacy continued to grow at a steady pace, eventually needing to take on additional staff. In the early 1990s, son Johan and his wife joined the business. A few years later, they would take full ownership of the pharmacy business. Eventually, they got the opportunity to supply some retirement homes, a side of the business that just kept on growing. As a result, Johan Lamoot decided to make further investments and open more branches. As of 2022, Apotheek Lamoot has four branches in the Ypres region, employing around 25 staff.

Apotheek Lamoot is and has remained a true family business. Johan's children, sons Sebastiaan and Alexander, as well as daughter Stephanie, also play an active role within the business. And this is something they have all grown to enjoy. ‘We love working together. We trust one another implicitly. We know each other inside and out, so we all know what to ask from each other’, says daughter Stephanie. However, according to Johan, this can sometimes prove a double-edged sword: ‘Some think we have it easier because we're working for the family business. This is simply not the case. We manage and fill all the gaps in the schedule every week. And that's not always easy, especially knowing that we want to provide top service from Monday morning to Saturday night. As a family, we also have to make sure we set a good example for the other staff each and every day. So taking time off in the height of summer is out of the question for us. It's important to strike a good balance between what will keep everybody happy’. With employee satisfaction being incredibly important to both father and daughter, ‘we want to create an environment without friction and where everyone treats each other with respect. In these challenging times, we also, and I believe other companies should as well, pay attention to foreign-language employees. We want everyone to feel at home with us.’

Giving every employee the same conditions starts with having a reliable HR partner, and that is where they turned to Vandelanotte. ‘We were already doing our bookkeeping with Vandelanotte. The confidence was already there, so the switch was pretty seamless. Leave applications, payroll, ... while we would like to do things the right way, we are not as familiar with this side of things, especially as Belgian social legislation is quite complex in nature. Fortunately, thanks to our Payroll contact Jolien, we are well on our way in that respect’, says Johan. Both father and daughter agree that, throughout this working relationship, Vandelanotte have proved themselves to be both accessible and reliable, all with an added personal touch. They also appreciate the continuous service: ‘No matter when a question might come up, we can always get an answer pretty quickly. Even during lockdown, we were always able to rely on Vandelanotte. Should one of our employees be forced to take an extended leave of absence, Vandelanotte will provide solutions to ensure the business is kept running smoothly’, says Johan. ‘Would we recommend Vandelanotte to other pharmacists? Absolutely!’