Volkswagen separates from HR manager Kilian – a change in leadership with consequences!

Volkswagen separates from HR manager Kilian – a change in leadership with consequences!

Volkswagen is facing a significant upheaval: HR manager Gunnar Kilian is leaving the group, and the reasons for this separation are complex and apparently also internally controversial. According to information from Radio Wuppertal The supervisory board decided on Friday that Kilian must be vacated from his position. Differences in ideas about the management of investment companies seemed to be the decisive factor for this. Employee representatives also report that Kilian did not have the necessary support for a possible contract extension, which was actually due in a few months.

Kilian, who has worked for the Volkswagen Group since 2000, was appointed to the board seven years ago as one of the youngest DAX managers. His path into the company was characterized by a clear common thread: initially starting out as a newspaper editor in the Wolfsburg/Braunschweig region, he quickly found his calling in public relations. In 2006 he became press spokesman for the group works council and played a key role in strategic issues, especially in collaboration with Porsche and Scania/MAN.

Transformation and challenges

The challenges facing Kilian and the entire Volkswagen Group should not be underestimated. The group is currently making headlines due to extensive staff cuts. As part of a restructuring program, the company and the union agreed to cut almost a quarter of the 130,000 jobs in Germany by 2030, with a large number of layoffs to be regulated through early retirement and severance payments. On the one hand, the company lives up to its social responsibility, but on the other hand, these decisions are not without considerable tension within the workforce and their representatives.

Supervisory Board Chairman Hans Dieter Pötsch and CEO Oliver Blume thanked Kilian for his work, which was particularly important in times of transformation. Under his leadership, partial retirement was also expanded and severance packages were offered to younger employees who wish to leave voluntarily. Kilian's commitment to social projects inside and outside the company is often highlighted.

A look at the future

Volkswagen's human resources strategy aims to cleverly balance the needs of employees and the company. The current workforce is 679,472 employees, although there is a slight decrease of 0.7% compared to the previous year. The ongoing transformation of employees is a central topic on the agenda. A targeted training strategy is intended to make employees fit for the transformation processes that Volkswagen will have to manage in the coming years.

The different dimensions of the human resources strategy deal with topics such as improving the employee experience, digital teamwork and Volkswagen's social responsibility. An important goal remains to increase the proportion of women in management to 20.2%.

Given these challenges, the search for a new HR manager will be a critical point for Volkswagen. The choice could soon fall on a new candidate who will take over the position that has shaped Kilian for many years. With every day that passes, it becomes clear that a lot is in flux at Volkswagen - and this certainly has an impact on the entire workforce and the culture of the group.

In summary, Volkswagen is at a turning point. The human resources strategy will be crucial for the future development of the company, while the resignation of Gunnar Kilian signals the inevitable changes within the group. An exciting time for one of the largest private employers in the world, like Volkswagen Group emphasized.