The client was a tour operator. The company is home to the operational business on the one hand and a company responsible for IT on the other. In total, the company employs around 160 people. The owner and managing director as well as an authorized signatory form the management. There are eight department heads and several team leaders. The authorized signatory, who will soon replace the managing director who is retiring for reasons of age, has initiated organizational change processes in the company, which he intends to drive forward. He recognized early on that he needed a professional HR department to do this.
Initial situation: No professional HR work
There was no HR department; the managing director's assistant managed the personnel files, filed the certificates of incapacity for work and other documents. She monitored the time recording system and submitted salary-related reports to the outsourced payroll office. The employment contracts were very short and had not been revised for years. The previous employment contracts had to be redrafted as they appeared to be legally vulnerable and did not comply with the new data protection law.
Task: Creating workable HR structures
The task for Interimmandat was now to transfer the historically grown HR structures into a professionalized structure. Beyond the organizational chart, there were hardly any important HR-related files. For example, there was no overview of functions and salaries. Nor was it clear who was a senior employee within the meaning of the Works Constitution Act. Contact with the department heads was not easy. They feared that they could lose their influence in personnel decisions. The aim of the mandate was to convince them that interim managers and HR specialists as a whole could be a valuable help and support for them. This was gradually achieved over time, particularly when it came to recruiting new employees.
Drafted works agreements
Important components of the assignment were the drafting of works agreements on the use of email and the internet as well as working hours. The previously neglected topics of occupational safety and occupational medicine were also among the core areas of the mandate. The interim manager negotiated a contract with the "Berufsgenossenschaftlichen Arbeitsmedizinischen und Sicherheitstechnischen Dienst" ("Berufsgenossenschaftlichen Arbeitsmedizinischen und Sicherheitstechnischen Dienst"), and the BAD is now working with the company. The interim manager also held talks with the external data protection officer in order to put the legally compliant handling of data within the HR department on a solid footing.
Recruiting and staffing the HR department
Recruiting for the vacancies in the travel management and call center departments initially remained with the department heads. However, they and the authorized signatory sought advice on recruiting qualified employees in other commercial departments. In the course of the organizational changes, managers were sought in the areas of accounting/controlling, IT and marketing. The interim manager helped to shape this process - from contacts and discussions with recruitment consultants to the drafting of contracts.
After the first structures of the HR department became visible, the search for two HR officers and one HR manager began. The interim manager identified a qualified HR officer with a focus on recruiting and one with a focus on administration. Together, they succeeded in transferring all HR issues that had previously been the responsibility of the assistant to the now independent HR department.
The interim manager's expertise was also used to fill the position of head of HR. The very first workshop with him and the HR team confirmed that the decision was the right one. The new HR manager is in a position to proactively support the change process on the part of the HR department. As a result, the interim manager was able to hand over a functioning HR department to the authorized signatory.
Positive feedback from the works council and workforce
The collaboration with the works council and the newly formed economic committee was constructive, and there was always agreement on individual personnel measures. Feedback from the workforce, including managers, was positive. This also applied to separations.
