Successful staffing project
How can you best move 225 employees from one company to another?
In the energy industry, the authorities are increasing their demand for functional separation between parent companies (Eniig) and their affiliated network companies (N1). Eniig has chosen a corporate construction that ensures a better and clearer separation of N1's activities from the activities in the rest of the group, including in particular the commercial companies. The benefits are a simpler internal structure and a more transparent model for customers, suppliers and employees.
Read how Eniig was successful with their extensive staffing project.
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"The transformation succeeded within the agreed deadline. The staffing of the company was established on schedule and at the agreed time. Everyone felt safe transitioning to the new company, due to efficient and close communication efforts. Thank you for the good cooperation."
Challenge
The Supply Division operated a contractor model, where all the staff who serviced the network company, were employed in the Supply Division and therefore invoiced their services to the network company. This setup requires a wide range of internal Group agreements, which among other things must meet the regulations for transferpricing. In addition, the business mode is not transparent for owners, network customers, authorities and other stakeholders. So to create greater transparency and a clearer separation between the network company N1 and the rest of the group, N1 was staffed. There are several advantages to separation of the Supply Division (Eniig Forsyning) and the network company N1:
- Removes the need for documentation of internal Group agreements between Eniig Forsyning and N1
- Meets political demands for 'corporate unbundling'
- Is a clear breakdown of activities in N1 and in the rest of the group, and thus a more transparent model for customers, suppliers and employees
- Creates a simpler administrative structure within the Group
Solution
The project - the change process - was tackled with a flexible and adaptive approach, with the legal, financial and IT aspects as the most tangible challenges. The flexible approach was possible because the project had an ongoing dialogue with the Steering Committee, which could give directions and make quick decisions to ensure a continuous progress and an optimal result.
The legal part of the project included both corporate and supply law, and Eniig chose to use both its own, internal employees and external consultants to ensure the availability of necessary expertise and impartiality. In relation to the separation of IT systems it was important to align with the individual organizational units, which data to transfer to the new (N1's) accounting system, as well as inform about the brief exception procedures that were necessary, while the individual modules were commissioned. This was relevant e.g. for the modules for time registration, work orders and purchase of goods.
A key element in the change process was the communication. Newsletters and emails were sent out regularly, information was posted on the intranet and Q&A sites were created on the intranet, to inform about the changes and implications. The number of mails and newsletters throughout the project was close to 100, since it was important to keep the Eniig organization informed about the division, ensuring that every employee was able to act accordingly, e.g. so that the help desk employees was able to direct calls and emails from customers to the right recipients inside the organizations.
The continuous communication was supplemented with dialogue meetings with the 225 N1 employees in the 14 departments involved. At the dialogue meetings employees were provided with information, were able to ask questions and could point out inconveniences. The meetings helped employees get to grips with the new company rules and gave the opportunity to relate to their own work situations and processes. The dialogue meetings uncovered the need for both additional and more specific information and gave the project team the opportunity to tailor the communication on intranet, mail and newsletters.
Result
The project - the change process - was tackled with a flexible and adaptive approach, with the legal, financial and IT aspects as the most tangible challenges. The flexible approach was possible because the project had an ongoing dialogue with the Steering Committee, which could give directions and make quick decisions to ensure a continuous progress and an optimal result.
The legal part of the project included both corporate and supply law, and Eniig chose to use both its own, internal employees and external consultants to ensure the availability of necessary expertise and impartiality. In relation to the separation of IT systems it was important to align with the individual organizational units, which data to transfer to the new (N1's) accounting system, as well as inform about the brief exception procedures that were necessary, while the individual modules were commissioned. This was relevant e.g. for the modules for time registration, work orders and purchase of goods.
A key element in the change process was the communication. Newsletters and emails were sent out regularly, information was posted on the intranet and Q&A sites were created on the intranet, to inform about the changes and implications. The number of mails and newsletters throughout the project was close to 100, since it was important to keep the Eniig organization informed about the division, ensuring that every employee was able to act accordingly, e.g. so that the help desk employees was able to direct calls and emails from customers to the right recipients inside the organizations.
The continuous communication was supplemented with dialogue meetings with the 225 N1 employees in the 14 departments involved. At the dialogue meetings employees were provided with information, were able to ask questions and could point out inconveniences. The meetings helped employees get to grips with the new company rules and gave the opportunity to relate to their own work situations and processes. The dialogue meetings uncovered the need for both additional and more specific information and gave the project team the opportunity to tailor the communication on intranet, mail and newsletters.
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