Future of Work – working at HORSCH
It is not only the Covid 19 pandemic and other crises that changed personal interactions and working habits. The working world on the whole is changing – whether regards to mobile working, working hours or office design. The term “New Work” is representative for the structural change of our working world.
However, New Work does not only describe certain benefits like the famous table football in the break room which often is mentioned in this context. It rather is about creating a new understanding and new perspectives of how we are going to work together or what leadership and organisational layout could look like in this day and age.
HORSCH, too, is intensively dealing with the question of how to create a work environment where employees like to work. In this respect, the company already has quite some things to offer. “We are working on the optimisation of the employees‘ workplaces, our working time arrangements are very flexible, among others we offer free coffee as well as lounges, we have new meeting lounges and – our latest achievement - a fitness room that all employees can use. At the site in Schwandorf, we are currently testing if and to what extent the employees make use of this offer. Moreover, we are working in a network structure. So we are trying to take new paths in this respect, too. But still a lot of the offers are not used, new working methods partly are not put into practice. This is why at the moment we are wondering why this is the case and what we can do to change it”, Cornelia Horsch explains.
For Cornelia Horsch and Steffen Besserer (Corporate Culture) it is obvious that success and enormous grows also may have their downsides. The growth becomes noticeable with regard to the number of employees. By now, approx. 2,800 employees all over the world are working at HORSCH. To be able to realise the corresponding capacity increases, the production sites, too are extended. “Despite all the adversities, 2021 was a great year for HORSCH, but we still had to cope with a lot of challenges. Whether delivery chain problems, continuing restrictions with regard to the Covid 19 pandemic or new problems caused by war, the lack of skilled staff etc. Such a continuously high workload is a challenge for everyone. And, of course, there is the risk that the employees become more sensitive with regard to things that did bother them less in the past”, Cornelia Horsch states. Moreover, there is the risk that you slowly veer away from your own roots and loose the robustness where dynamics are concerned, i.e. the ability to react quickly and appropriately to unforeseen events – an ability that made HORSCH successful.
According to Besserer, another challenge is that because of the quick growth people do no longer know each other well and this may lead to unclear roles, misunderstandings and tensions. This makes the exchange and also the openness with each other more difficult. “A working environment where people can work happily and with a certain ease helps to keep up motivation. This means that we have to retain things that are good and change things that might prevent us from continuing to being successful. Our success shows that we are a high-performance company, i.e. that we intuitively get a lot of things right. But we still have to be attentive to notice where we might perhaps take a turn in the wrong direction.” This is the only way to work responsibly, efficiently and in an entrepreneurial way
It requires a holistic approach to meet the current challenges and to bring about the necessary changes. In addition to a sustainable business model the employees can identify with, this approach includes co-operation models and structures that are in line with this day and age. “It is about creating dynamics-robust structures, to start a good dialogue with each other and to make use of the existing potentials of everyone in the company. We think that in this respect the attitude plays a major role. A conscious dealing with new thinking tools that allow for new perspectives, among others with regard to leadership, should take place by all means”, Steffen Besserer emphasis.
It is particularly essential to make the change perceptible and noticeable for everyone. Transparency plays a major role. Without transparency no one will contribute his thoughts, no one will act jointly and no one will take responsibility. According to Cornelia Horsch, it is important that the people in the company can work as self-determinedly as possible. “We are firmly convinced that every employee has talents. For us, it is very important to recognise these talents and to use them beneficially as well as to give the employees the chance to try things out. Therefore, we want to create an environment that makes the employees feel safe, lets them become more courageous so that they continue to contribute creative solutions and increases individual satisfaction. To achieve all this, we have to work on the whole system, not at the individual human being. I admit that in our company, too, all that glitters is not gold. But already today we are getting a lot of things right. We try to openly address and solve the things we can improve. We do not always succeed, but we are getting better. Step by step.“
Awards
Cornelia Horsch receives Tilo Freiherr von Wilmowsky award
On 27th of April 2022, on the occasion of the spring conference in Rheinmuenster, the Liaison Agency Agriculture-Industry awarded the Tilo Freiherr von Wilmowsky-Preis 2022 to Cornelia Horsch and thus honoured her extraordinary commitment for the company and the whole sector.
She and her family pursue the vision of a sustainable agriculture where the priority is on man and environment. But she was also chosen by the jury due to the state-of-the-art HR management and her numerous voluntary activities.
Joachim Kellermann von Schele, vice chairman of the Liaison Agency, presented Cornelia Horsch with the document as well as a cheque for 5,000 Euro. She donated the prize money to Integration SAD. This organisation supports various projects with regard to the integration of migrants in the district of Schwandorf.
HORSCH LEEB is TOP-Company Lower Bavaria 2022
HORSCH LEEB is one of the three new TOP-Companies in the district of Dingolfing-Landau. On the occasion of a ceremony in the District Office, HORSCH LEEB, among other awardees, was awarded the prize.
During the ceremony that took place on 16th of November 2022 Theo Leeb received the award on behalf of all the employees of the company.
The district and the Lower Bavaria Forum award the prize to companies that due to their entrepreneurial achievements and commitment contribute significantly to the sustainability of Lower Bavaria.
Theodor Leeb honoured with Max-Eyth-Medal
On 22nd November 2022 a commemorative event took place in Berlin on the occasion of the international conference AgEng-Land.TECHNIK.
Among other awardees of the agricultural engineering sector, Theodor Leeb, too, was awarded the Max-Eyth-Medal to honour his many years of service with regard to the development of innovative and trendsetting technologies and systems in the sector of state-of-the-art plant protection. With the HORSCH LEEB developments he significantly increased precision and efficiency in the crop care sector and, thus, contributed to a significantly improved environmental sustainability of the methods.
The chairman of the VDI department Max-Eyth-Society Agricultural Engineering (VDI-MEG), Dr. Markus Demmel, presented the awardees with the medals and the documents and honoured their excelling achievements in the sector of agricultural engineering.
