Building Growth Instead of a Paper Trail

Innovative technologies in ophthalmology, new international locations and a team that has multiplied in recent years: Heidelberg Engineering is on course for success. No wonder internal HR processes were bursting at the seams during this growth spurt. Processes no longer scaled up. Instead of accelerating growth, they slowed the company down.

“Before Personio, we were very manual, especially when it came to recruiting,” says personnel officer Oliver Nehring. “Many individual steps were necessary, and at the same time, we didn’t have a good overview of the status of the applicants or outstanding feedback."

For recruiting, personnel administration and payroll, Oliver and the HR team had to work through Excel lists, and even paper slips for vacation applications – this status quo wasn’t sustainable, “because if we only administer master data, we don’t have time to take care of our employees. It had to change.”

A cloud-based HR software would solve this problem. “As a future-oriented company, we wanted to invest in future technology,” Oliver explains the decision for the cloud. At the same time, Heidelberg Engineering also wanted to ensure data protection. For example, through the role-based assignment of access rights to data and documents. Last but not least, they wanted clean processes that could be mapped flexibly.

It quickly became clear that Personio was a perfect fit. Oliver hardly had to do any convincing: “Whether it was retrieving payslips or applying for vacation, the added value of Personio was obvious to every employee.”

Oliver and the HR team are now driving the company’s growth in an even more structured way: with fast, efficient recruiting and a manageable onboarding process. In Personio the HR staff have an overview of open positions and applicants.

With customisable rights, they also control who can access application documents. “In particular, the email templates for acceptances and rejections save time. After all, we receive about 2,000 applications per year and want to answer each one appropriately”, says Oliver.

Things are now running smoothly in other areas as well: “When I think back, how far a vacation note like this used to go in our company,” the personnel officer smiles. Employees now request their vacation with just one click.

And what does HR do with so much saved time? The Heidelberg Engineering team puts it into core issues such as personnel development and health at work. “Because the operational processes are in place with Personio, we can devote our full attention to the employees. Through health checks, massages or e-learning courses on mindfulness, we make sure our employees are physically and mentally well. ”

Oliver likes to keep track of things – no wonder he prefers the dashboard with its reminder function. “Having my to-dos always on the screen structures my workday and frees up my brain capacity.”

Oliver also appreciates the continuous development at Personio. “Because new, helpful features are always being added, I’m convinced that the needs of our HR team are covered in the long term.”