“This is the best HR project in 30 years. It truly brings value for our people and organization.” -Business Unit CEO



The challenge

Siemens is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability, and internationality for more than 170 years. Active around the world, Siemens employs more than 300 000 employees across more than 190 countries. The company focuses on intelligent infrastructure for buildings and distributed energy systems, mobility, and on automation and digitalization in the process and manufacturing industries.

The fact that the mega-trends of digitization, automation and demographic change are having and will continue to have an impact on labor markets, workforces and jobs is widely discussed and well-known. Nevertheless, there are still some unresolved questions:

• What are the concrete consequences for individuals, their jobs and skills?
• What specific measures are needed to ensure future employability?
• How do we make this more concrete and tangible?

“We all know THAT we have to do something, but most of us struggle with WHAT IN CONCRETE.” - Siemens Executive VP, HR.

The action taken

To offer clear and actionable insights on the impact of digital transformation on Siemens and its employees, Siemens developed #Nextwork - a five-step methodology that identifies concrete fields of action and defines specific, implementable measures, taking into account quantitative (needs) as well as qualitative (competencies) effects. In short, the five steps include:

• Analyze the status quo
• Assess the impact of future trends and business strategy on jobs, tasks, and skill requirements.
• Define the future state for jobs, tasks, and headcounts
• Identify the need or action
• Create business roadmaps

To empower the business/regional/functional leaders in the execution of #NextWork, the offering includes a broad set of enablement tools. These include:

1. A playbook as a step-by-step guide with many templates and best practices for implementation.
2. A digital portal with further information for sharing.
3. A tool for documenting and analyzing the results, operational support at kick-off and during implementation.
4. Operational support at kick-off and during implementation via a dedicated Booster team.

“This has been a true GAMECHANGER in our workforce transformation efforts.” – Business Unit CEO

The impact

#NextWork has triggered an iterative people development culture, already scaled through 120+ workstreams across 30+ countries using a combination of bottom-up, pull (demand-driven), and targeted (top-down) approaches.

The success and impact of #NextWork are evident in the successfully implemented workstreams where #NextWork was applied. The outcomes include concrete roadmaps with actionable measures as indicated in the transformation matrix and the exemplary development path below:

Two specific examples from Siemens' industrial service and manufacturing facilities demonstrate how #NextWork translates business strategy and structural change into concrete actions:

Industrial service:

Due to the inevitable structural changes in the industrial service business unit, there will be a greater emphasis on digital services and retrofits, and a significant decrease in traditional on-site services. . As a result, by 2025, there will be a need for substantially different skills to accommodate these new requirements.  By applying the #Nextwork methodology in one of Siemens’ German Service Units employing 703 employees, the following outcomes were achieved:

Skills requirements identified:

• To keep up with changes in the industry, employees must possess a thorough understanding of complex IT systems, be skilled in customer-integrative sales approaches, and be prepared for new business models.
• They should also be familiar with agile methods and have a new understanding of leadership that addresses lean and agile principles.

Solutions created:

• The skills requirements were subsequently translated into individual training courses developed internally by the SiTecSkills Academy, which is driven by Siemens Professional Education.
• Additionally, a scalable three-month development path was established with the aim of empowering employees to provide digital transformation advice to clients and assist them in streamlining processes.

Manufacturing:

In a manufacturing facility located in Bad Neustadt, tailored development paths were determined for 550 individuals, taking into account trend influences like robotics and data analytics. . 

In this case, 20% will be reskilled, the majority, i.e. 52%, will be upskilled and for 28% minor measures were identified (natural fluctuation, one-time trainings, etc.).

The results emphasize one of the most significant benefits of #NextWork; allowing businesses to proactively tackle workforce transformation instead of having to reactively respond to it. In this specific example it meant that instead of restructuring 550 people in a worst-case scenario, people are integrated in the transformation and thus 72% will be re- or upskilled.

On the ground impact and a personal story:

Bianca, employed at the Siemens cafeteria for over 10 years, just started working in special machine construction after a 2.5-year retraining program to become a mechatronics technician with an Chamber of Industry and Commerce degree.

The learnings

There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Every business has its own conditions and challenges and hence requires an individualized approach.

Therefore, Siemens developed #NexWork as a modular kit including adaptable tools that can be tailored to the respective business needs and challenges. This approach was implemented globally and differentiates from previous methods through 5 distinguishing key success factors:

• Future-oriented - The analysis considers the qualitative and quantitative impact of external trends and strategic business decisions.
• Actionable - Concrete action requirements are identified, including in the areas of Win, Grow as well as Bond, and concrete measures for implementation are defined for these.
• Specific - The concrete measures allow for specific breakdowns to job profiles, business units or regions.
• Flexible - The modular methodology uses existing structures and adapts to specific business requirements.
• Sustainable - An iterative approach achieves continuous improvement, contributing to long-term organizational adaptability.

To ensure sustainable implementation in the future, #NextWork® is currently being embedded in the HR Landscape, for example in the Siemens Learning Ecosystem. This is supported by the translation of organizational roadmaps to the individual level.