“I was given opportunities at APG and I took them”

Who are the people who are committed to your pension daily? What drives them, what makes their work fun and what gives them energy? In the series The person behind your pension, APG employees give a glimpse into their work and life. This time we spoke with team manager Leonie Frissen. "Happy employees make for happy participants. If you call a participant and are not happy, that person will notice."

What exactly do you do as a team manager at APG?
"I am team manager of part of the Retirement Pension team in the pension administration for pension fund ABP. The team employs a total of around 110 people, whom we manage with four people – in an operational sense and in the HR field. Of those 110 colleagues, about thirty are in my team."

What should I imagine with that operational management?
"As the Retirement Pension team, we have three major focus points. One of these is our regular services to people who are retiring, or people who are already enjoying their retirement. For example, it could be a quote for their pension, or a pension calculation, or a question about a payment.

In addition, we focus on two programs. One of these is data repair and cleansing. Sometimes a pension must be adjusted, for example because a participant has missed a supplement. From the Retirement Pension team, we provide specialists who have knowledge of the pension scheme and know how to calculate something, so that the participant receives what he or she is entitled to.

In addition, we send people from our team to the Pension of the Future program. There, for example, they are involved in user acceptance tests of the new policy and capital administration system, which is used in the renewed pension system.

So, we manage all of this. Where should we deploy whom? What has priority and how do we do it in the most efficient way, so that people are deployed where their knowledge is needed?"

What makes APG attractive to you as an employer?
"Due to circumstances, I had to stop my law studies at one point. Because a career as a lawyer did not appeal to me anyway, I decided not to take up that study again. So, I started looking for work that I found interesting. A very commercially driven organization doesn't really suit me. I wanted to work for an organization with social impact and APG has that. In addition, I grew up very close to APG and in the South Limburg region it is of course a very large employer. So, it was also a bit meant to be, haha."

You came in at the end of 2022 as a temporary worker. More than four years later, you became team manager. You did that pretty quickly.
"I started at the predecessor of the data repair and cleansing program. In addition, I made calculations for pension applications, among other things. In April 2025, I became team lead, where I also supported management and was given HR tasks, such as conducting progress and development interviews. Since the beginning of 2026, I have been a team manager, with all the HR and operational management responsibilities that come with it. So, it has indeed gone quite fast, and I am sometimes surprised about that myself. But APG is an employer that facilitates such development. I am quite ambitious and also really enjoy developing myself. My manager and also the more senior colleagues have always been open to guiding me in this and thinking along. I am grateful that I was given those opportunities. And of course, I also seized them. That's part of it, too."

Has this increased component of management and HR responsibility made your work more enjoyable?
"In a way, yes. When I see talent in someone, I like to see how that person can develop it and what that person needs for that. To find out where that person is best suited and to link that to what we as APG also need in business operations. Every now and then I think: it would also be nice to have phone calls with participants again. I also think it's really important to keep in touch with them, because after all, we're doing it for them. But ultimately, as a team manager, I am also involved in the pensions of participants. Only now I do that through other people, or through policy issues and operational issues."

How else do you make a difference in the interpretation of your role?
"I really try to think along with someone who is in my team. How are you holding up? What is happening in your life? What do you think matters? If someone is happy and happy with where he or she is and is given a certain freedom to shape the day, this translates into the quality of the work. I am convinced of that. And happy employees make happy participants. If you call a participant and are not happy, that person will notice."

What do you do besides work to charge your battery?
"I'm a sociable person, that's why I always work in the office. As a result, my social battery is sufficiently charged at the office, and I like to switch off and be alone when I get home. I read a lot, on average, about fifty or sixty books a year, in all kinds of genres. From fantasy to mystery, romance, and non-fiction. To give reading a social component as well, I am a member of a book club. Finally, I like to cook. I really enjoy hosting themed dinners for friends, for example. And I like to discover new restaurants. That can be a Michelin star restaurant, or food that I have never tried, such as Ethiopian cuisine. So that sociability component is not only reflected in my work, but also everywhere else."