The client was an international medical and safety technology company with more than 10,000 employees worldwide. At the time, the company was divided into two divisions: Medical Technology and Safety Technology. In preparation for the merger of the two divisions, it was decided to bundle the expertise of various departments within the research and development organization into corresponding centers of competence. The objectives of the project:
- Cut the time from development to product sales in half.
- Clearly distribute tasks in the Centers of Competence.
- Reduce costs through improved project management and communication.
In this project, the HR interim manager took on the mandate to implement the reorganization as part of a temporary assignment.
Introduction of new team leader functions
The company planned to restructure around 80 team leader positions within the new Centres of Competence and to fill half of them with new staff. To this end, the interim manager advertised the functions in line with the new job levels. The evaluation of the future job levels was based on the size and tasks of the teams to be taken over. Together with the HR interim manager, the heads of the centers of competence then conducted the interviews with the internal applicants and filled the positions.
Transfer of 1,200 employees to the new center of competence structure
Parallel to the introduction of the new team leader functions, more than 1,200 employees were transferred to the new center of competence structure. The HR Interim Manager drew up a relocation plan in consultation with the works council. All employees were successfully given a new home in the company. Previous departmental affiliations and tasks as well as qualifications (project management or expert knowledge) were taken into account accordingly.
The HR role was one of the key functions in this restructuring project. The HR interim manager was able to positively support the implementation thanks to his technical expertise and experience and cooperated on an equal footing with the functional managers. He was able to successfully contribute to accelerating development processes and avoiding parallel work. The objectives of the restructuring were therefore achieved.
