Transforming Decentralized HR into a Future-Ready TOM

A global intralogistics company with 20,000 employees engaged binder|consulting to design and implement a future‑ready HR Target Operating Model including a digital toolset (SuccessFactors, Document Management & Creation, HR Portal & Ticketing) capable of supporting changing business environment while safeguarding the company’s strong cultural identity. The engagement focused on establishing clear HR governance and role clarity, optimizing the HR‑to‑employee ratio, and building scalable global HR structures and services. This positioned the HR organization as a strategic business partner and ensured a consistent, high‑quality employee experience worldwide.

1. Intralogistics
   
   1. Industry
2. EUR 5.4b+
   
   1. Annual Revenue
3. 20,000
   
   1. Number of Employees
4. >3 years
   
   1. Project Duration

The Initial Situation

The company’s HR landscape had developed organically over many years, resulting in a highly localized setup with inconsistent processes, roles, and tools. As a result, HR teams across countries operated with different systems and service approaches, making it challenging to deliver a unified employee experience. Without a shared operating model connecting HR strategy, technology, and service delivery, global initiatives frequently stalled or failed to scale.

At the same time, the business was expanding, raising expectations for HR to support growth, shifting workforce demands, and the sophisticated leadership agenda. It quickly became evident to the executive team that without a coherent HR Target Operating Model, HR would remain reactive and fragmented, unable to scale effectively or meet the company’s strategic ambitions.

The Critical Challenges

Several structural challenges were on the table:

• Lack of global HR structures and a highly diversified HR IT landscape.
• Significant maturity gaps between regions, ranging from sophisticated workflows to ad‑hoc, manual solutions.
• An inefficient HR‑to‑employee ratio, as the family‑owned culture favored retention over headcount reductions.
• Resistance to “going global,” since countries had historically managed HR independently and feared losing local flexibility.

Addressing these challenges required a solution that balanced global standards with local realities, improved efficiency without compromising the company’s culture, and elevated HR from operational firefighting to a true strategic partner.

How We Supported the Client

binder|consulting applied its structured HR Target Operating Model framework, combining strategic alignment, service design, and practical implementation planning.

Together with the executive HR leadership, binder|consulting then sharpened a clear HR vision and strategic objectives, defining what HR should stand for in the future and how it would support business priorities and workforce needs. Using its HR TOM toolkit, the team designed the target operating model, including a global HR service catalog, end-to-end process designs, clearly defined role concepts for global, regional, and local HR, as well as governance and decision frameworks specifying ownership and escalation paths. Furthermore, a sizing model was applied to determine the required HR capacity for each role over time, taking into account the client’s strategic targets.

Finally, binder|consulting translated the HR Target Operating Model into a phased transformation roadmap that sequenced regional rollouts, the transition to the shared services center, and the implementation of the digital toolset in a realistic and manageable way. In parallel, we worked closely with local HR teams to enable new roles, support mindset shifts, and establish mechanisms for continuous improvement so that the HR TOM could evolve with the business rather than requiring repeated large‑scale redesigns.

The Impact Delivered

The HR TOM design and implementation established a sustainable global structure that aligned HR services, roles, and governance with the company’s business strategy while significantly reducing operational complexity.

The new model introduced a clear HR service architecture and contact model, supported by harmonized tools and shared services, which enabled more consistent and digital employee journeys across countries. HR was able to free up capacity from transactional work and redirect it toward workforce planning, leadership support, and strategic initiatives, witout compromising the company’s strong family culture or its commitment to retaining key talent.

Global standards and governance frameworks now coexist with defined areas for local flexibility, which reduced friction between headquarters and regional teams and strengthening collaboration.