The client was an international automotive supplier with more than 10,000 employees worldwide. At the time, the company was a young joint venture formed by merging business units from a German and a Swedish parent company. In this interim mandate, the HR Interim Manager took on a further mandate as Head of HR Europe.
Introduction of Compensation & Benefits
The first mandate was a Compensation & Benefits role that did not previously exist in the company. The company was planning to set up a global position and fill it permanently. The focus of the interim mandate was the introduction of a global management and compensation structure at executive level, which the interim manager successfully implemented after 4 months. He was closely involved in the recruitment process for filling this position, helped select the external candidate and then trained him in the task.
HR Head Europe
After the successful completion of the compensation & benefits project, the interim manager was offered the vacant position of HR Head Europe. The responsibility covered more than 5,000 employees in the support area and around 60 HR employees in Europe. The new mandate included three roles: the European role, HR management Germany and the task of driving forward the optimization of the European footprint of the development and production sites.
Even before the joint venture, both companies had a global presence. The merger made it possible to further align and consolidate the development and production sites with the new corporate structure. Particular attention had to be paid to the timely implementation of the footprint in conjunction with the newly established corporate culture. The Executive Board and Supervisory Board received regular reports on the progress of this outstanding corporate objective.
The Europe-wide restructuring process was driven forward by a team of selected executives at a central level. The HR interim manager was also part of this team. The team developed strategies, business cases and measures for realizing the future footprint.
The HR role was one of the key functions in the restructuring project. Thanks to his technical expertise and experience in this area, the interim manager was able to positively support the implementation and cooperate on an equal footing with the functional managers.
Harmonizing the different perspectives
The focus of the HR manager in the central restructuring team was on early and close coordination with the global business unit managers and the head of the plants in Europe. The interim manager provided intensive support in harmonizing the different perspectives at executive level. At a local level, the HR manager ensured close coordination with country managers, plant managers and local HR teams. He also managed the balance between the central drive of the implementation process by the restructuring team and the local plant managers' scope for action.
The permanent balance between central control and harmonization of functional interests and decentralized leeway as well as country interests was a particular challenge for the interim manager. It was successfully mastered thanks to the functionally neutral HR role. Only with local support was it possible to implement the measures within the agreed schedule. The interim manager had closely involved his HR organization in the countries in order to facilitate harmonization in the line functions at the locations and thus set the course for successful implementation.
In Germany, the interim manager led the negotiations with the Group works council and the local works councils on the reconciliation of interests and social plan. The excellent central teamwork and very close cooperation with local experts and committees enabled the footprint to be realized within the planned timeframe.
