The interim manager was commissioned by an HR transformation towards the HR business partner model to set up and temporarily manage the Employment Services division for the D-A-CH region (Germany-Austria-Switzerland) in an international consulting company. The client employs approx. 10,000 employees in D-A-CH, who are supported by an HR team of approx. 100 people. Following the completion of the transformation, the Employment Services team will consist of around 20 members.
Developing and introducing the process and organizational structure of Employment Services
At the beginning of the unfreeze phase, the interim manager first developed the conceptual considerations for the future process and organizational structure of the planned Employment Services as well as the interfaces to the other HR Services teams, HR Business Partnering and the Centers of Expertise. In the area of process organization, her activities included reviewing the defined target processes and preparing the transfer of activities from the actual processes for the planned go-live date. This also included the implementation of new tools and platforms such as a ticket system, first and second level support and a Sharepoint application. In addition, the interim manager designed and implemented an efficient quality assurance and performance monitoring system for the employment services.
In order to redesign the organizational structure, the interim manager defined new job profiles within an existing competency framework and supported the recruitment process. At the end of the first phase, she designed and led technical and methodological training sessions for the new employees.
Alignment with global HR processes and interface management ensured
The operational phase in the Employment Services team started right on time for the planned go-live date. The interim manager provided the team with intensive support and helped to solve problems that arose during the transformation and to identify and eliminate the causes of errors. The aim of this phase was to ensure the smooth handling of all administrative activities: from contract creation, onboarding and operational employee support to the various forms of departure and the creation of references.
In the transformation phase, the interim manager was responsible for aligning the project with the global HR processes and interface management with the offshore shared services in Poland and India. The focus was on aligning the project with global HR processes and interface management.
Promoting independent teamwork and commitment through transformative leadership
In this phase, the interim manager used a transformative leadership approach to promote independent teamwork and achieve a high level of commitment to promoting innovation, quality assurance and customer satisfaction. In doing so, she established a positive error culture and made the team members aware of the importance of their activities for the company's success. The transition to the third phase of the project, re-freezing, took place smoothly, controlled by process-specific readiness checks.
Re-freezing: securing the level achieved and initiating further process optimizations
Due to the large number of main and sub-processes and their activities, re-freezing took place according to maturity, which was determined in each case by a readiness check. Upon successful completion of a sub-project, the interim manager was responsible for the process documentation and defined review routines and key figures. At the end of the refreezing phase, she led the design of a service level catalog and presented it to management.
The catalog's metrics were further optimized during this phase through additional improvements, such as the implementation of a digital document workflow and a semi-automated certificate creation process. This phase also included the induction of a permanent team leader. The interim manager ensured that loss of know-how was avoided, that the optimization plans were continued seamlessly and that the successor was integrated into the interim manager's internal and external project-specific network.
Interface function in the complex international matrix organization
In total, this project lasted 18 months. During this time, the interim manager took on an important interface function in the new HR organization and represented the Employment Services sub-team in the national and international management committees. The main challenges were the complexity of the international matrix organization and the creation of uniform standards while ensuring a high level of customer focus and flexible problem-solving procedures.
Since the transformation brought with it drastic changes, there was already a strong focus on dealing with resistance during the unfreezing phase. During the transformation phase, one of the challenges was to make activities that were sometimes perceived as monotonous more attractive and thus ensure motivation and commitment in the team. To this end, the interim manager used various work organization methods such as job rotation, job shadowing and learning tandems. The digitalization projects were used to develop staff and increase team engagement by giving team members the opportunity to work independently on subtasks and transfer their experience to new contexts.
Employment Services division is stable - follow-up mandate received
At the end of the interim assignment, the Employment Services division was firmly anchored in the company's international HR landscape. The team regularly provides input for global HR projects such as the implementation of an exit interview process or a global digital document workflow. The client's satisfaction is reflected in the direct award of a new mandate in the area of HR enablement.
