Restructuring the Workforce

Kienbaum is your partner for headcount adjustments or HR cost reductions

How companies handle their prime resource, their people, is a decisive factor when it comes to their standing in the competition. At Kienbaum, we support our clients in the management of all reconciliation measures or socially responsible severance plans.


Intelligent workforce restructuring is and will continue to be a prime challenge in business for the foreseeable future

When concepts for reducing HR costs are brought to the hard realities of the business, they will encounter substantial operational problems. Many companies neglect the fact that HR restructuring is subject to strict legal requirements, a fact that is often not given the attention it deserves when designing such restructuring concepts. One common mistake is the optimistic belief about the time that costs will actually decrease. Which concept ever anticipates the drawn out legal proceedings before reconciliation is reached that might delay a project by up to five months? Frequently, questions of risk management, such as the involvement of the unions and their demands for fully negotiated social compensation plans, are also ignored.


The success of any HR restructuring measure is in danger at every step along the way

HR restructuring initiatives typically follow four distinct phases: they begin with the company collecting certain data for the project and notifying the works council. Few such projects prepare a legal framework at this early stage. Not enough attention is paid to reconciliation or social compensation negotiations with labour representatives. This already paves the way for costs spiralling out of control in the later project, which might slow down or even prohibit the success of the entire venture.

The second, consultative phase is also in danger of delays or unnecessary damages to the climate at the company or the motivation of managers and employees, of industrial action bringing the business to a halt, of top perfomers leaving the company, or, in the worst-case scenario, of lasting damages to the name of the company.

The next pitfalls can be found when actually implementing the measures in the fourth phase, caused by insufficient resource plans or a failure to adhere to the legal restrictions created by employee participation rights.

This all calls for a systematic approach that offers targeted support for all project phases to minimize their inherent risks. Kienbaum knows how to face this challenge and can offer you our holistic consulting services and our trusted Kienbaum model to solve the characteristic problems of HR restructuring.