The management, executives and employees of a client in the IT sector with 500 employees were not satisfied with the results of Human Resources. After the departure of the HR manager, the management decided that an interim manager should bring the department forward as a whole. The main task was to analyze and streamline the HR processes and introduce a personnel information system at the same time. A leading change process within the Human Resources department was also to be initiated.
In the process analysis, it quickly became clear that the HR processes were very complex and illogically established. The overall impression was one of unprofessionalism. In addition, the company was not using any HR software.
Introduction of international HR software
The HR interim manager was given a free hand by the client to select an HR system. After screening 16 providers, three interesting systems were considered for the beauty contest. In the end, PeopleSoft® was introduced. Among other things, this system takes into account the internal requirement that all processes can also be mapped in English.
After the fit-gap analysis, the core went live within two months. This enabled Human Resources to work with the system at the German headquarters as a first step. After Payroll went live in Germany, the system was rolled out to the international locations. The Netherlands, Romania, Malaysia and the USA are now working with the same system worldwide.
This was followed by the roll-out of Absence Monitor, Performance Management and Recruiting and the creation of a dashboard both in Germany and internationally. Each roll-out of a module was accompanied by an intensive training period: the team, managers and employees were trained. They received FAQs and how-tos available on the intranet. At the same time, a service was set up to answer employees' questions sent by email within 24 hours.
Task allocation in HR reorganized
Parallel to the roll-out of the HR information system, the HR team was also screened, particularly at headquarters - strengths, weaknesses, wishes. The team was professionalized and tasks redistributed: All HR team members were given their own support areas and were also responsible for their own input. Thanks to the new HR processes and valid data evaluation, HR employees were now able to support their contacts with reliable information.
HR controlling was also set up with the go-live. Thanks to professional data collection and maintenance, the figures supplied from the system to Finance & Controlling were now up-to-date and robust, unlike before. Thanks to the reliability of the data, the system ensured an overall positive perception of HR within all areas of the company.
Initial resistance in HR and IT overcome
The biggest challenge during the project was the HR team's negative attitude towards the HR IT project. The HR team did not want to be involved and did not really want to contribute. The IT department also initially did not fully support the decision to use this system. They complained that it was standard software and not software that had been designed and developed in-house. The biggest gift that the interim manager received in the week of her departure was the IT department's decision to adopt the HR system as the "leading system".
