The position of HR manager had not been filled for several months due to illness. The managers therefore lacked an adequate sparring partner for legal issues and conflicts relating to absences, performance and motivation problems or salary demands. In addition, each division manager hired staff at their own discretion. As a result, personnel costs, fair remuneration and headcount were getting out of hand from an overall company perspective.
In addition, sales and cost-related issues were left unresolved. A new commission regulation for sales employees urgently needed to be concluded on the basis of a works agreement. Group headquarters expected cost-cutting effects from the introduction of an HR Shared Service Center. In connection with a core business streamlining, a part of the business had to be sold, which meant that social plan and reconciliation of interests negotiations were pending. New outsourcing contracts had to be implemented, the employees taken on, integrated and the employment conditions harmonized.
Costs reduced and legal disputes avoided
As an experienced interim manager, you can immediately get to grips with the issues and explore the new terrain at the same time. In a short space of time, measures relevant to personnel costs and headcount in the human resources area were centralized and reprioritized from the revenue/cost focus of the company as a whole. Upcoming tasks and projects such as transfers, compulsory redundancies, works agreements and performance issues were implemented in a legally sound, economically and socially balanced manner in the interests of the company, customers, employees and social partners.
The use of an interim manager created the conditions for smooth service operations in this complex situation in a fast-moving, cost-driven business. Potential legal disputes and the associated costs were successfully averted, and stability and security were created in the working environment. The management was once again able to focus its work entirely on customers and competition. Another interesting fact: the shared service center was not introduced. The profitability mark was not reached due to a lack of critical mass and, from a strategic perspective, it would have been unwise to outsource the HR data.
