In a German logistics and freight company with two large shareholders, HR management had only been staffed with interim solutions for years. Over the years, the HR employees in the HR department had developed a reactive and administrative work attitude. Following a change in the CEO and CFO positions, the HR department needed to be brought up to a new, modern level. The interim manager was commissioned for this purpose.
The newly formed management team set itself the task of realigning the company. This included creating a project management office structure (PMO structure). In addition, the new managers initiated many projects to improve processes and reduce costs in all areas of the company. The associated tasks were distributed among dedicated employees of the company. At the same time, the company held workshops to work out the necessary steps to bring about a cultural change.
Human resources employees re-motivated and repositioned
In the HR department, the interim manager put a lot of energy into shaping the 7 HR employees into a motivated and efficient team through her proactive and appreciative communication as well as her collegial leadership style. She made a significant contribution to stabilizing the team. It was important to her that all employees took an active and responsible approach to their tasks and also questioned and improved the existing HR processes. In this way, the interim manager succeeded in establishing the department as a competent and equal partner both in the management team and among the executives and in sensitizing everyone to cooperative collaboration on an equal footing.
Some projects from the PMO initiative, such as the development of a succession planning system, were successfully implemented.For example, the development of succession planning and the standardization of HR systems were successfully managed by HR employees.
Sickness and absenteeism reduced through improved health management
At the beginning of the mandate, the sickness and absenteeism rate was very high. The interim manager countered this by significantly upgrading the health management system. She and other members of the HR team, together with the respective managers, held discussions with the employees concerned in order to identify support services on the one hand and possible consequences of the absences on the other. At the same time, the interim manager introduced health promotion measures that had previously been requested in surveys.
Managers trained for disciplinary meetings | Voluntary programme negotiated
The interim manager recognized very quickly after the start of the mandate that employee misconduct was often not sanctioned. She remedied this by training the managers and accompanying them to disciplinary meetings or having them accompanied by HR employees.
In order to reduce personnel costs, the interim manager prepared a volunteer program. Together with the managing director, she conducted intensive negotiations to obtain financial support from the shareholders and negotiated the program with the operating parties. The volunteer program was successfully launched at the end of the mandate.
Flexible pandemic plan created and implemented at the beginning of the corona crisis
The corona crisis began in the middle of the mandate. Thanks to the new motivation of the HR team and the newly established cooperative collaboration between HR and the management team, it was possible to put a pandemic plan in place very quickly. Teams and managers kept adapting this plan to the current situation with updates. This made it possible to protect the health and safety of the employees well.
In this mandate, the interim manager brought the HR department back to a recognized level both within the company's own management and among the shareholders. She handed over a functioning HR department and a good basis for further necessary improvements to her newly appointed successor.
