Businesses that have been spun off after a merger or acquisition can often find themselves almost back in start-up mode again, needing new systems and processes once they’re no longer part of the previous organisation. That was the situation for LSG Group in late 2023, after its parent company Lufthansa sold it to the private equity firm Aurelius Group. Now, from its headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, LSG Group provides IT services to the Group, along with catering software and retail services.
Due to strategic decisions, LSG Airline Catering & Retail’s German operation became a standalone company, with a different setup including a newly formed HR team. HR Manager Anne Herbert saw the opportunity to create “efficient HR processes that are as lean as possible, as fast as possible and easy to understand from the employees’ side also,” she explains.
However, some challenges stood in the way of this goal: a decision had been made to migrate LSG’s HR data system to the same solution as one of its sister companies. At times, the chosen system did not meet all of the German company’s needs.
To address this challenge, LSG began to work with Grouper, the HR specialist that knew the platform and its capabilities. It was able to support LSG’s HR team during the transition to the new HR system and provide customisation where necessary so the system could meet LSG’s requirements.
“We are responsible for the customer experience and we can try to do a really good job but it’s difficult if the system isn’t complementing that goal. The platform was not 100% fit for our purpose in my opinion, so this is where Grouper comes in. Grouper helped us to navigate a difficult time in the best possible way, as a kind of ‘translator’ for the HR system,” Anne says.
In one such instance, LSG’s internal team was unable to set up an interface between the HR platform and the payroll system. “Grouper really stepped in and the minute this was coming up, our account manager solved the problem so that we could connect the payroll system,” Anne explains.
Because of LSG’s heritage with Lufthansa, some employees who moved across to the new entity carried benefits with them from their old contracts. Grouper played a key role in altering the system to reflect those benefits. The account manager assisted the HR team in setting up various aspects of the system. He also trained the team in understanding where they needed to access data for compiling reports, or showing how to record time worked. He also helped the team to add new fields in the system to more closely reflect the way it had been collecting data before the migration, so that the new system reflects all the HR data. “He is like this bridge to the system. We are gaining efficiency and he is also educating us in the system so hopefully it will lead to us being more self-sufficient,” Anne says.
As the head of a small HR team, Anne appreciates this level of close support that Grouper provides. “There is not a big support system within the company, so we have to rely on the support from the outside. Our account manager at Grouper is fast: he comes up with a solution very fast, so I get any problem solved fast. Since we are a small team, it’s like having another team member: that’s really how it feels. They’re friendly and they give us the peace of mind that we can solve every problem. He is trying to get the system as customised as possible, and build in the things we need from the system. I very much appreciate that support.”