Voys: Pioneering Self-Management and Steward-Ownership in Telecom
At first glance, Voys looks like any successful telecom provider. Founded in 2006 in the Dutch city of Groningen, it now serves over 30,000 businesses with its cloud-based communication services. But behind the phones and software lies acompany that has systematically broken the traditional corporate mold. From the beginning, Voys has rejected the classic top-down hierarchy. Founder Mark Vletter believes that traditional leadership structures, with their rigid lines of power, get in the way of real collaboration. He didn’t want to be a boss; he wanted to build a company where people are peers.Today, Voys operates with no managers at all, trusting every colleague as a responsible leader in their own right. Self-management is not just a principle; it is part of the company’s identity, enabling people to shape their work with autonomy and purpose.
This blog post is part of 80+ case studies of progressive organizations we created for the ZeroDX awards 2025. These organizations embody the principles of RenDanHeYi in their work structures:
Zero Distance to customer: Decision what to build is based on insights from the marketplace
Autonomy: Small teams with full decision-making autonomy enable speed in execution
Shared Rewards: Everyone in the micro-enterprise participates in its financial success.
This commitment to distributed leadership has required more than goodwill. As the company expanded, it needed structure. The answer came in the form of Holacracy, an unconventional management framework that distributes authority throughout the organization. When the team grew beyond 20 people, Holacracy replaced the informal hierarchy with a system of roles and circles, dynamic, evolving groupings where each person’s responsibilities areclearly defined but not rigid. What emerged was not another layer of control, but a shared language and rhythm that supported the trust already present. Teams began organizing around their purpose rather than their position, and the structure gave them clarity without constraining their creativity.
The introduction of Holacracy reshaped how daily work unfolded. Decisions no longer waited on executive sign-off. Anyone who identified a problem or opportunity could step forward and act. Permission to lead wasn’t something granted from above. It was embedded in the culture.
Governance practices and meeting habits reinforced this sense of shared agency. The result was not only faster iteration, but also a deeper sense of ownership. At Voys, the principle of "safe enough to try" isn’t just an idea; it showsup in how people welcome feedback, test ideas, and learn as they go.
That same spirit shapes the way Voys connects with its customers. Traditional layers between teams and clients have been removed, shortening the distance between decision-making and user insight. Employees engage directly with customers, adapting solutions in real time and responding without delay. Everyone is expected to listen and act, not because a manager tells them to, but because the relationship with the customer demands it. Rather than setting sales targets or enforcing KPIs, Voys encourages teams to focus on being genuinely useful. Customer service is not assigned to a department; it is a shared responsibility. This obsession with user experience reflects a deeper belief that value is co-created where people meet, not handed down from a strategy document.
That belief in autonomy extends into the company’s financial structure. Each team handles its own budget and sets itsown priorities. Instead of relying on centralized controls, Voys embraces a flexible and transparent approach to planning. Financial information is openly shared, and everyone understands how their work contributes to the company’s performance. When the business does well, so do the people who build it. Once a certain profit threshold isreached, the surplus is distributed among all employees. This is not a bonus granted from the top but a collective recognition of shared achievement. These aren’t theoretical expressions of decentralization. They’re visible in the way small, self-steering teams take responsibility for outcomes and are rewarded accordingly.
The same clarity extends to the company’s relationship with clients. Contracts are simple, without hidden fees or long-term lock-ins. Customers have full control over their systems and can adjust their experience to suit their needs.Feedback is welcomed and acted upon as a core part of continuous improvement. Instead of being filtered through processes or delayed by hierarchy, input from customers is integrated quickly and directly. This approach transforms service into partnership, where both sides contribute to better outcomes. The rapid loop between insight and action is made possible not only by efficient tools, but more importantly by a foundation of mutual trust.
These practices haven’t held the company back. On the contrary, Voys has remained one of Europe’s fastest-growing tech companies for over a decade. But growth, according to its leadership, is not the goal. It’s the outcome of staying aligned. Employees feel motivated because their decisions carry weight. Customers return because they feel thedifference. Here, purpose and performance reinforce one another rather than compete.
That sense of purpose stretches beyond the internal workings of the business. Through its foundation, 48percent.org, Voys supports access to digital infrastructure and skills around the world. The mission of closing the digital divide is notan act of charity. It’s a structural part of how the company defines success. In an organization where value is shared, giving back isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s embedded in the design.
In 2024, Voys made its boldest move yet. Founders Mark Vletter and Ben Hoetmer transferred 100 percent of their shares into a steward-ownership foundation. The 2024 transfer of ownership wasn’t a retirement plan or a gesture ofgoodwill. It was an intentional step to ensure that the company’s mission would remain protected. Under the new structure, Voys can never be sold, and profits must always serve its purpose. Governance now rests with a board ofthree stewards: an employee, a client representative, and a guardian of the mission. This shift formalized something that had long been true in practice: Voys belongs to its purpose, not its founders.
For employees, the change was less a disruption and more a confirmation. Ownership, previously practiced throughinformal norms of self-management, was now embedded in a legal structure. No one works for a boss. People work together in service of something larger. There is no single figure at the top, only shared direction. The company’s purpose belongs to everyone.
Taken together, these practices illustrate several key principles of the RenDanHeYi model. Voys’ removal of hierarchy and embrace of self-management aligns with decentralization and autonomy at the micro-enterprise level. Its commitment to profit-sharing and financial transparency demonstrates shared rewards and P&L accountability. The company’s direct, trust-based relationships with customers show elements of zero distance to users, where feedback loops are rapid and meaningful. Its steward-ownership structure ensures long-term alignment between mission and governance, reinforcing the principle of a purpose-driven enterprise that is governed by those responsible for delivering its value. These practices don’t represent a model to replicate step by step, but rather offer a perspective: when people closest to the customer are trusted to act, better decisions follow. When ownership is broadly shared, engagement deepensand accountability becomes intrinsic. When purpose is distributed across the organization, the company becomes more adaptive, resilient, and human.
