The HR manager of a manufacturing company with 1,000 employees, a subsidiary of a Danish company, left the company after 9 months due to illness. The HR interim manager took over the management of the department with 10 employees and the areas of payroll, time management, training, personnel development and support on an ad hoc basis.
The aim of the task was to maintain the day-to-day business and manage the ongoing HR projects. This included a company spin-off (branch in Berlin), the negotiation of a company collective agreement and the development of a shift system for employees on sea platforms.
In addition, there was a payroll manager who had to be managed very closely as her performance left a lot to be desired. They did not want to dismiss her after 35 years of service.
Negotiating the in-house collective agreement
The company's works council was also an official of IG Metall. This complicated the talks. The company collective agreement had to be ratified together with him and IG Metall on site. The aim was to make the workforce more flexible by using temporary workers in the industrial sector. In the white-collar sector, on the other hand, there was a very large increase in personnel. The company agreement provides for the successive hiring of temporary workers over the next few years. However, only if the sales and earnings figures are right.
Shift plan for offshore platforms
The shift plan for employees on offshore platforms was difficult because the management no longer wanted to renew old company agreements. This meant that the benefits for employees would be reduced. It was necessary to conclude new works agreements and develop working time models that were livable and fair.
Operational spin-off (branch in Berlin)
The branch in Berlin was to operate as an independent unit. Therefore, the collective agreements applicable to NRW could not be applied. The HR interim manager developed a model in which part of the workforce (fitters) was assigned to the Cologne operating unit. The other part of the workforce was given new contracts based on the IG Metall Berlin-Brandenburg collective agreement. The handling of the redundancies applied to around 50 employees.
Challenges mastered in a difficult environment
The multitude of different tasks also presented the HR interim manager with a number of challenges, both in terms of content and emotion. The working atmosphere had become noticeably aggressive as a result of conflicts prior to the interim mandate. The interaction between the works councils and management was very strained. In this situation, the role of the unencumbered HR interim manager from outside was therefore a key component in successfully managing the restructuring.
