The client for the interim mandate was a subsidiary of an international medical technology group. The company had parted ways with a colleague in the HR department at short notice. The interim manager bridged the vacancy as Senior People Business Partner.
The start of the project coincided with the first coronavirus lockdown in spring 2020, which significantly changed the conditions. From the outset, the interim manager mainly managed her projects remotely via Zoom and teams. Nevertheless, she very quickly managed to establish a good working relationship with the managers in her support area and the contacts in the People Team. Her flexibility led to her becoming a member of the company's COVID-19 task force.
Senior People Business Partner for 240 employees and 40 managers
In the role of Senior People Business Partner, the interim manager led the people management of 240 employees and 40 managers for the Commercial division in Germany. In close cooperation with the internal Competence Centers, she managed all people issues relating to the employee life cycle. The project assignment also included strategic and employment law issues, the optimization of existing HR processes and the support of a restructuring of her support area.
The main challenge in this project was that there had hardly been any handover from the predecessor. In addition, the divisional head of her support area and the divisional head of HR for Germany had also joined the company with the interim manager. In addition, the People Business Partner and HR Services team was severely understaffed.
Rapidly introduced workable processes and structures without a handover
Based on her many years of experience, the interim manager was able to quickly and independently gain an overview of the issues at hand. Due to the personnel bottleneck in the HR department, she was entrusted with a wide range of topics - and despite this complexity, she was able to maintain an overview and prioritize them appropriately.
At the beginning of the project, there were hardly any workable processes and structures in place in both the HR and specialist departments. The interim manager therefore initiated several sub-projects alongside the day-to-day business:
- Training for managers on how to use Workday
- Describing the most important HR processes
- Optimizing the sample contracts with a lawyer
- Revising job descriptions with regard to TÜV Audit
- Salary benchmarks in a market comparison for the Commercial division
In addition, she analysed the further training requirements for managers and developed a training concept for managers in collaboration with the Competence Center Development. In close collaboration with the works council, she also drew up more complex consultation documents and negotiated personnel measures as part of the reorganization.
Timely handover of a well-positioned HR department to the new head
The interim manager initially stabilized her area of responsibility during a very difficult phase. She also began to professionalize the area and create structures. During this time, she impressed as a competent point of contact for management and executives as well as for employees and colleagues in the people team.
The interim manager impressed in particular with her solution-oriented and pragmatic approach as well as goal-oriented communication - successfully steering with management and into the company. At the end of the project, she handed over a well-positioned division to her successor and achieved the project objective within the planned timeframe to the client's complete satisfaction.
