On 15th July, 2014, the Indo-German HR Partner Forum celebratedthree years of insightful interaction, mutual collaboration and growing friendship amongst the group. Bayer Group of Companies hosted this anniversary meet at their landmark new office – The Bayer House.
Senior HR Partners from A.T.E. Group, BASF Group, Bosch Group, Brose India Automotive Systems, Clariant Chemicals India Ltd., Evonik India, Häfele India, HDFC Ergo General Insurance, KSB Pumps, Lanxess India, Mercedes-Benz India, Schaeffler Group, Siemens Ltd., TÜV India, Volkswagen India, Wacker Metroark Chemicals and Wacker Chemie India were a part of this milestone meet.
The day started with a planned tour of the Bayer House, through three floors of the nine storied, open-office. HR Partners walked through the MD’s Open Office and Open Workstations of Senior Colleagues to witness a completely different work culture with a tremendous amount of silence and positive energy flowing on every floor. On another floor, they saw the most state-of-the-art Conference facilities and Refuge area, followed by the Cafeteria and Life Café, based on Bayer’s LIFE Values.
Following a short Corporate Film on the Elements of Fascination, Mr. Richard Van-der-Merwe, Senior Bayer Representative welcomed the HR Partners. He probed the Senior HR Partners for solutions to three challenges faced by German companies – Talent Management, Diversity and Change Management. When asked some interesting questions, he shared his views on his perception of the Indian economy, on how they retain talent through Global Diversity Workshops, and on how to make the Indian youth employable. Here, he complimented the role of the Indo-German Training Centre and the German System of Dual Education as the solution to training young talent. Lastly, he also shared that his personal objective was to work on the cause of safety and cleanliness in India.
Mr. K. S. Harish, Vice-President HR, Bayer Group presented the ‘Change Management’ with the live example of movement from the Iconic Bayer House in Powai to the New Bayer House in Thane, and its effect on Bayer colleagues. He explained the ADKAR Model by ProSci and how Bayer had implemented it. He shared the various challenges faced during the transition and the steps taken to get the support and buy-in from the employees during this process. He used the Bayer’s recruitment song, ‘It’s Gotta be a Good Day’ to continuously reinforce his passion and belief in the change process.
Post lunch, the forum moved on to its chosen topic of discussion, ‘Policy for Prevention of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace’. The Siemens Internal Complaint Committee set up for this cause – including Ms. Shirley Burla (Presiding Officer), Dr. G. K. Kulkarni and Ms. Smita Narwane – made a detailed presentation on the current law and the implementation of the policy at Siemens Ltd. They shared examples of cases encountered, how they have dealt with it and what are the measures to take to create more awareness and reduce such occurrences.
At the end of the interesting discussions, it was time to have a small farewell for Mr. A. Krishna, Senior Vice-President, Bosch Group who presided over the Indo-German HR Partner Forum for the past three years. On behalf of the HR Partner Forum, Ms. Radhieka R Mehta presented a silver plaque and flowers to Mr. A. Krishna and extended her deepest gratitude to him for his direction and support to the forum. Mr. Ramesh Shankar, Vice President – Human Resources, Siemens Ltd. was announced as his successor.
The day ended with a Vote of Thanks and a group photograph to cherish this 3rd anniversary of the Indo-German HR Partner Forum.
