Messe München

Messe München is a German exhibition company that has been hosting trade shows and events in Munich and worldwide for more than 50 years. The group generated record revenue of over €470 million in 2019.

We were mandated to guide the transformation, focusing on capacity adjustment and organizational structure.

Workforce Transformation

Organizational Performance and People

Change Management

Industrials and Automotive

Reading Time 3 Minutes

Key Results

Around 25% reduction

FTE and personnel cost across all hierarchy levels.

More than 90% acceptance rate

during the voluntary layoff program as achievement of the set target.

New organizational structure

with optimized control spans and amount of hierarchy levels.

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The challenge

After a record-setting decade, full lockdown due to COVID-19.
Global trade show market revenue declined by 68% in 2020.
3,916 trade show cancellations worldwide.
Profound upheaval in the industry due to digitization.
Capacity adjustments along with business transformation inevitable.

Crowds of people moving in different directions.

The solution

We were mandated to guide the transformation, focusing on capacity adjustment and organizational structure. First, the inevitable downsizing process was planned by a combined core team of internals and externals using our White Book approach. The personnel overhang was determined, and target organizational structures were developed, together with divisional managers. Taking a holistic approach, this work included a review of the headcount across all hierarchy levels and an evaluation of personnel costs. At the same time, management levels and team structures were optimized. Further structural measures were taken to create a sustainable, more flexible organization.

The structured approach was backed up by a communication strategy and training for divisional managers. Employees and the works council also received timely, in-depth information that was shared in a way that reflected the sensitivity of the issues being addressed. Throughout the entire process, the advisory team worked very closely with the HR team and supported negotiations. Thanks to the detailed and comprehensibly documented White Book, a trusting relationship with the works council was created.

During the implementation phase, the advisory team prepared a socially responsible process for determining who would be laid off and assisted with the voluntary layoff program, a concept that was widely accepted by employees and facilitated a smooth transformation.

Together with the team, we succeeded in a complex workforce transformation in less than 10 months. I really appreciated the structured approach, implementation strength and sensitivity of the team during this project.
Jennifer Hader
Director of Human Resources of Messe München