Siemens Wind Power

As one of the leading offshore wind players, Siemens Wind Power faces the challenges of recruitment more than most. In 2004, when Siemens acquired Danish wind turbine manufacturer Bonus Energy AS, it began with only 800 staff. Since that time huge investments have been made and now nearly 8,000 people are employed globally. Between October 2010 and October 2011, an astonishing 2,000 people were hired, representing 150 a month.

Markus Schwarzenbock, Vice President HR at Wind Power, has overseen this huge expansion but even he still can not quite believe it. As Siemens Wind Power addresses the future personnel needs of the industry the company sees recruitment as a challenge, but not as a major bottleneck.

With a background in the automotive  telecommunication market, Mr Schwarzenbock joined in 2010 when around 5,300 people were in the Business Unit. At this time Wind Power was a Business Unit under the Renewable Division. Wind Power then became a Division on October 1, 2011, The day after his arrival he faced a recruiting target for the financial year of 2,000 new hires globally. However the company achieved this massive recruitment drive successfully.

Recruitment of 2,000 people in a year

Currently, a majority of our employees is involved in manufacturing, and around thousand in sales and project managment and more than 1,000 people are in the Americas, more than half of our staff is in the EMEA region and around 1,000 in the Asia Pacific. Reflecting the truly international nature of the business, Siemens employs 80 different nationalities.

The company mainly still tries to recruit locally, he says. But on the other hand, the industry is a very international business. “We need people who think internationally and who are used to working in an international environment and this is reflected when we go to headhunters and in our Internet positions.”

Although he is optimistic about Siemens Wind Power’s ability to recruit, he adds that it is difficult to get people with the right knowledge. “The wind energy business is probably around 30 years old but the real boom years were between 2004-2006 so a mature labour market is still not in place.”

It is also extremely difficult to forecast how many people will be needed in the future, he stresses. “The regulatory framework may change and our business is strongly dependent on the conditions investors find in the markets.”

Fresh recruitment drive

Even with the current malaise in the sector, Siemens Wind Power will still be pushing on with a fresh recruitment drive. We still have a significant backlog of orders and many projects that need to be executed, he says. “We still need people who install at sea, project managers, site managers, technicians and crucially, Health & Safety Managers.”

Within this recruitment drive there are several areas that need special attention, he says. Undoubtedly the availability of project managers is the company’s major concern. “Here, the labour market has been quite tight in the past and still is. And in the energy market the size of projects is increasing. London Array is currently the biggest offshore wind farm in the world but there are bigger ones to come. Each time a project manager comes onboard, they are stepping into the challenge for a new world record. As the wind power plants get larger project managers have to dare to explore new horizons.”

Another area of concern is engineering. Undoubtedly, mechanical engineering is the most important area and should remain a focus point, he underlines. Fortunately in Germany itself, there is a solid base for mechanical engineering education but this is not the case in every country, he adds.

Sales are always a difficult area in the wind industry, he adds, because it is not a ‘typical’ sales job. “Our Sales experts go into an industry, where they have to convince customers but also keep a close relationship with governments and local authorities.” Due to the fact that projects are often large and complex, Mr Schwarzenbock emphasises that there is a need for experienced people.

Safety engineers is a major focus for the company and again, this will get more and more important as wind farms get bigger. “Ensuring safety has to be a top priority for the industry.”

O&M special recruiting initiative

Siemens Wind Power is tackling these issues head on. For instance, when it came to one of the major recruitment challenges – finding O&M people -it set up a special task force to find technicians or suitable people that would be willing to be trained.

However, he admits Siemens is in a fortunate position in Germany and Denmark being so well known and it has had some success attracting people from the maritime industry into this role. “We have a more prominent position in Hamburg so we do receive unsolicited applications.”

It is important to do a lot of promotion and communication, he adds. Siemens also has a very good in-house education system. “Our in-house programme is one of best education units in Siemens overall and it is important to maintain this to facilitate the huge recruitment needs.”

Mr Schwarzenbock says the company offers much more beyond purely competitive salaries. “We put a lot of effort into retaining people through leadership programmes, good working conditions and job security. It is never a big issue to find new challenges for people in the company and we have a talent initiative for younger people and a lot of opportunities for growth.”

Opportunities for growth

And even though it is a big company, branding and marketing is still important, he says. “We want the labour market to know that we are still hiring and we can offer competitive salaries, job security, personal development.”

Additionally, wind energy is still a “sexy business”, he says. “People are attracted to the renewables sector, having the feeling they are doing something for the environment.”

So will the company manage to fulfill its recruitment needs? He laughs: “Sometimes I don’t sleep well at nights wondering how we will get all these people. But we had a growth of about 1,900 in the financial year 2011 and we managed. Siemens’ structure works and the management are motivated.”

Siemens Wind Power continues to implement its “strategic workforce planning” initiative.” We try to look ahead and see what skills, roles and competencies are needed for the next five years. “I expect that we won’t fully meet the right numbers for the future. However, this process provides transparency on future trends and gaps in the workforce requirements, which helps to overcome business risks.”

Helen Hill