The Franconian automotive supplier Brose has problems with returns and employee satisfaction. This can be gathered from a press release from last Friday, which is also headlined: “Problems with returns and employee satisfaction.” However, these are not the only problems: With the announcement, Brose immediately created the next one.
It’s actually primarily about the “insufficient” business figures that the company’s shareholders and advisory board complain about. Because of the “absolutely unsatisfactory level” of returns, the company had to take out bank loans for the first time – “to a considerable extent”. The German locations have been doing negative business for four years. All that: little misunderstood.
Another part of the message caused a lack of understanding – or, as it is now called from the executive floor: a misunderstanding: The motivation of the more than 31,000 employees at 69 locations in 25 countries was causing concern. Which reads a bit like: the employees are in the mood. This prompted some media to run headlines like this one: “Automotive supplier Brose gruffly counts its own employees.”
Opinions differ as to whether this was intended or not. But, says Nicole Ehrsam, representative of IG Metall in Coburg, where Brose has its headquarters: “If I put myself in the position of the employees, my motivation would not be increased by such a formulation.” The works council also criticized internally, speaking of “damage to the company’s image” and criticizing the type of communication and the content: The problem was not the motivation of the employees, but mistakes by the management.
Main shareholder Michael Stoschek and managing director Ulrich Schrickel reacted on Monday with an internal company message. It speaks of a “regrettable misunderstanding”. “By being open about our problems, we wanted to build trust both inside and outside the company.” One regrets the representation of individual media, one would accuse his employees of a lack of motivation and blame them for the poor returns. The opposite is the case, the company management is grateful for open criticism.
An employee survey from last year revealed that the corporate climate could be better. According to Brose himself, this is noticeable due to the extraordinarily high fluctuation: “Many employees rightly want the personal, unbureaucratic and pragmatic way of working of a family company again.” “The employees lack appreciation,” agrees Nicole Ehrsam.
After all, the recent Brose message from Monday, a kind of communication course correction, ends with the promise to “do everything possible so that our employees worldwide are satisfied with their work, their management and their remuneration”. An unmistakable announcement.