Are you carrying out a restructuring? You need support for bad jobs? Are you looking for the right support for M&A/Change/Due Diligence projects?
It does not always make sense to resort to temporary staffing in such cases. I myself have often decided against it!
On the other hand – I have often experienced situations in which precisely the special challenge is to work through past mistakes and at the same time to already concretely plan and tackle the future.
In such situations it makes a lot of sense to involve me! Together with the local teams on both the employer and employee side, I take care of finding fair and socially acceptable solutions for difficult company situations. This makes it easier for the permanent management to focus on the real challenges – namely the strategic-tactical preparation for the future! – to focus on.
HR project management lives through discipline, structure and networking. I have been able to gather a lot of experience in this regard over the past decades. Many of my projects – especially the restructurings – are subject to confidentiality, but a selected example shall illustrate how I work.
During my time at Bombardier Transportation, we successfully sold one of our plants. My role here was to lead the entire negotiation process with the employee representatives and to coordinate the various stakeholders with a view to closing the deal successfully and on time.
This included the Canadian owners as well as local political representatives, works councils and trade unionists, concerned citizens and, of course, the employees directly affected and their families. Communication to the public was also one of my tasks.
After the company management had initially decided to close the plant, we succeeded in finding an external investor in the course of talks. Some of the previous plant managers decided to carry out a management buyout, which we were very supportive of on the company side. After many intensive negotiations, which of course went through ups and downs, we were able to reach a very good deal on time and within budget, which also secured around 2/3 of the jobs concerned on a permanent basis. Today, the plant is successfully operating independently!
Labor Director, 2017 - 2020
Culture change in cooperation with social partners: settlement of a difficult collective bargaining dispute from 2016 at no cost to the company and with the out-of-court settlement of several thousand individual and collective proceedings
Project duration: approx. 10 months
Optimization of personnel costs by more than €20 million without job losses: achieved in negotiations with the employee side
Project duration: 6 months
Development of an online store for METRO Germany: Recruitment and integration of start-up employees within a major corporation; adjustment of collective pay structures and involvement of employee representatives
Project duration approx. 2.5 years
Increase of engagement scores in HR department by 27 points within 12 months
Labor Director, 2011 - 2017
Sale of a part of the company to an external investor: management of all contract negotiations, management of negotiations with employee representatives, communication to all stakeholders at regional and municipal authorities and citizen representatives as well as to the press and media
Preservation of 2/3 of the affected jobs; completion of the project on time & on budget.
Project duration: 8 months
Reorganization of the Global HR Shared Service Center in Cluj, Romania: necessitated by unfavorable corporate decisions in the introduction of human resources information software and by a lack of process definition and process discipline Savings of around 30 M.€ p.a. realized
Project duration: 6 months on site
Green Field Project in Madhepura, India: Preparation of participation in a tender for the construction of a locomotive manufacturing plant in Madhepura, India. Management of the HR project including Staffing, Deskilling, Training, Compensation & Benefits, Compound Design, Housing, Schooling
Project duration: 12 months, thereof about 4 months on site
Due Diligence project at various locations in Russia: Preparation of the acquisition of former production sites of Transmash Holding. Management of HR project including Compensation & Benefits, Skills Assessments, Health & Safety Assessments, Security Assessments
Project duration: 4 months, thereof about 2 months on site
HR Project Management, 2020 - 2021
Integration of the acquisition of GEHE Pharma Handel GmbH: Merger of two players in pharmaceutical wholesale to become the market leader in this segment. Optimization of branch structure and overhead in negotiations with employee representatives.
Project duration: 16 months
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I support you in your company.
With regard to the various, sometimes very large, restructurings that I have led over the years, I can only say this much: The employer side has always been surprised at the negotiating successes that are possible if both sides of industry only make a serious effort. And the works councils as well as the union representatives of the respective negotiating teams have always unanimously supported my continued appointment.
I don't think I need to say any more…
