Human Resources (HR) Conference in Frankfurt

files/tlf_content/nachrichten/2013/HR_Konferenz_2013.jpgCEOs, managing directors and HR officers from the researching health sector and life sciences industry met at BIO Deutschland’s first Human Resources Conference in Frankfurt on 23 January 2013. The motto of the event was “leadership and responsibility”. Over 90 participants attended the event, where they discussed the criteria of successful personnel management and the parameters that can be used to measure these criteria. However, a survey conducted by the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and BIO Deutschland showed that only 15 per cent of the surveyed companies measure the success of personnel development in figures. During the event, it became clear that communication between senior management and staff is the key to successful personnel management.

The conference participants regarded regular talks with individual staff members to identify their needs and aims and the fostering of motivation as crucial managerial tasks as regards ensuring staff satisfaction and retaining skilled employees in the long term. The personal development of each and every staff member, recognition of the individual’s work, and giving staff greater scope in their activities were also listed as important criteria. Work-life balance was also mentioned several times. The focus was on creating internal structures that allow staff to combine family life with their work. “Employees are the major topic. All strategic success factors tie in with human resources activities,” said Ingmar Hoerr, chief executive officer of CureVac GmbH.

The panel discussion at the end of the conference underlined this statement. The panel members quickly agreed that dialogue with staff and employee satisfaction are of crucial for successful corporate management and that a company’s success cannot be measured in figures. “Strategic personnel development is still at a very early stage,” said Rainer Sibbel from the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management during the presentation of the survey findings. For example, 85 per cent of the surveyed companies do not measure the success of personnel development measures on the basis of figures. When specific companies were asked why not, many responded that they would like to quantify the results, but are not certain which figures to use. Peter Heinrich, Chairman of the Board of BIO Deutschland, commented: “The large number of conference participants showed us that personnel management requirements play a major role in many companies and are of great importance in all sectors and types of organisation. Good and responsible personnel management is often crucial to the development of the whole company – in and sometimes even to the development of an entire sector.”

The event was supported by the sponsor jobvector; the network partner Hessen Trade & Invest GmbH; the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management; the Initiative Gesundheitswirtschaft Rhein-Main, which promotes the development of the health sector in the Rhine-Main area; and Science4Life. The participants included CEOs, managing directors and HR experts from renowned companies such as B. Braun Melsungen, Boehringer Ingelheim, CureVac, MiltenyiBioTec, MorphoSys, Qiagen and Sanofi.

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