Back to School in September. The festive season in December. At Picnic, peak periods aren't a surprise. They're part of the rhythm. More volume, higher expectations, less room for friction. And then Veerle Crijns, Learning & Development Lead at Picnic, does something unexpected: she stops training.
No live sessions. No new e-learning modules. No well-meaning "just one more thing." Veerle is clear from the start. "During peak moments, the operation needs to do what it does best: keep going and rack up the miles. Those are exactly the moments when my L&D team needs to leave the operation alone."
Learning still matters. But timing matters more. The reasoning behind that choice is refreshingly down to earth. "Learning happens mostly when there's stretch, not when you're in survival mode." The operation isn't always in survival mode during a peak, Veerle notes, but priorities do shift. "During a peak, stability and quality for the customer demand all the attention, because of the surging volume," she explains, "and learning slots back in before and after that."
That's why L&D at Picnic has its own peak season, at different times. "When the operation is running steady, at the start of the year, but also in autumn, that's exactly when we deliver the most."
That's when L&D visits different hubs, runs training sessions, works on improvement projects, and builds what needs to hold up once the next peak hits.
During peak periods, L&D deliberately stays out of the operation's way. As Veerle Crijns, Learning & Development Lead at Picnic, puts it: "That's when our teams need to do what they do best: keep the operation running and get the job done."
Here's something else worth noting: during peak periods, the operation actively asks for help. Sometimes Customer Success gets extra hands to handle the surge in customer questions. And around Christmas, more and bigger orders created serious pressure at the Dutch hubs. To keep up with that rising demand, office colleagues stepped in at the busiest locations.
"For my L&D team, that's the best way to help: rolling up our sleeves ourselves," says Veerle. And there's a bonus to it too: "It gives us a real look inside the operation again. Everything that already works well, and where there's still room to improve."
Veerle joined in herself during the peak. And that's where something happened that captures Picnic's entire philosophy in one scene. It started well: the team leader had prepared for Veerle's arrival with a warm welcome, a goodie bag, and a clear briefing. Runners work with a scanner that guides them through each step.
"Most of it already works intuitively," Veerle says. "But not everything yet." Because once she got to the practical side, she got stuck.
Picnic keeps adding services to make life easier for customers. One of them: picking up parcels from DHL or PostNL. There's an e-learning module for that. Veerle had completed it as preparation.
And yet: "I didn't fully know what to do. All it takes is one step that's just slightly unclear, and you can get stuck. Because you're out there on your own."
She expected a choice on her device, like with the deposit return scheme: "is there a parcel to bring along, yes or no?"
"I couldn't find it."
Turned out you just had to scan the barcode. Simple, once you know it. "Once you've done it, especially if you've bumped into it the hard way, you know exactly how it works," she laughs. "That was a valuable lesson for me. Especially because I had to go through that friction myself."
What happened when Veerle asked for help says more about this story than the UX friction does. She called the acting hub lead twice, safely stopped at the roadside both times, of course. "Both times it was genuinely good leadership: calm, encouraging, understanding. Clear about the priorities: safety first."
And safety first came through as a concrete instruction: "Are you stopped? Okay. Keep riding calmly. Running behind schedule is fine. Don't race to catch up, that puts safety at risk and makes mistakes more likely."
As if that wasn't enough, the hub lead also did something that's worth its weight in gold during peak periods: he took over expectation management towards customers. "In the background, he was already in touch: 'we're running a bit behind schedule.' That let me focus on the delivery."
This is the kind of support that helps teams: clarity over speed.
Veerle puts into words something a lot of organisations still underestimate: learning is a process just as much as it's a product. "Our job goes beyond delivering good e-learning. It's about partnering with the operation, so the e-learning fits into the workflow in a way that maximises actual use. It's product development and process development combined."
That's why Picnic is so precise about timing towards the operation. "Around the Christmas peak, we know the first week of December is the last week to push any e-learning or final training. After that, the operation needs to focus fully on the surge in orders."
A strong example of removing friction is the updated e-learning on alcohol deliveries. The policy is clear: if someone looks younger than 25, you ask for ID. In real life, though, "looks like" is a minefield. "Judging whether someone is younger or older than 25 is just really tricky," Veerle says. "And it's uncomfortable too."
Picnic looked into where things were actually going wrong. "When we checked with runners, it turned out not to be about knowledge. It was much more about the threshold: how old does this customer really look? And how do I even ask for ID?"
The updated e-learning responds to that with recognition, tips, and example phrases (with a bit of humour), plus AI-generated faces to practise estimating age. And the effect is measurable: "It's led to runners feeling more confident about asking for ID when they're in doubt."
By redesigning the e-learning, Veerle's L&D team made asking for ID during alcohol deliveries much more natural and less uncomfortable.
Veerle doesn't hesitate: "Good energy from team leaders. And really clear communication." In leadership training sessions, she often hears that peak moments actually make it easier to hold onto that can-do spirit. "Everyone's pulling together. That gives such a positive boost."
Culture plays its part too. In December, frontline staff get gifts, cards from team leaders, decorations, and festive food.
Say Veerle had to cut everything from their peak approach except one thing. What would she keep? Her answer has nothing to do with tools, platforms, or programmes. It's about availability and mindset. "For my team, I'd keep our calendars flexible. So we can move with whatever the operation needs. Stay close. And step in wherever it's needed."
And that captures Picnic perhaps better than anything else: not optimising from the sidelines, but standing right in the middle of it.
Ask Veerle which superpower a Picnic runner should get during peak periods, and she doesn't need long to answer: "Teleportation. Then you're at your customer's door as fast as possible. No more hassle with getting in and out, detours, or delays along the way."
However well the operation is set up, logistics remains the biggest puzzle. And that says something important: "Our colleagues are strong at delivering a really good and enjoyable customer experience."
Teleportation captures the core of peak periods perfectly: it's about removing friction, not adding more. So teams can do what they're good at.
Picnic proves it: peak periods aren't moments for extra training. They're a stress test for everything you built before them.
And sometimes leadership is simply this: making space.