“Future of HR” dialogue series - A conversation with Frank Müller, Managing Director HR of Airbus Helicopters

By Volker Rothfuss

Like many companies, Airbus Helicopters is driven by the search for talent. However, Labor Director Frank Müller does not agree with the general sense of despair. He believes companies will find enough people if they are prepared to tread new and unconventional paths. Among other things, he relies on active sourcing and special recruitment teams. We spoke with him about where and how companies should be open to the demands of the young generation and why candidate profiles that may not at first seem suitable represent a great opportunity.

Volker Rothfuss: What do you see as the current challenges for the workplace or for your HR work?

Frank Müller: Like many other companies, we are very concerned about the shortage of skilled workforce. However, I don't want to paint the same picture that everyone else is. We are still finding very good new people, but we're also noticing that we have to act differently now to get hold of our next generation of employees. We need to do even more active sourcing, but we also need to nurture our own people and better develop their potential.

Volker Rothfuss: What methods are you applying in particular?

Frank Müller: It's a bundle of very different measures. It starts with working very intensely with universities, because that's the only way to get hold of people at a very early stage in their career who will become loyal employees. Then we have broad-based networking in the local area, which we do to gain access to young people and recruit them as apprentices. That means we have to go into schools and be increasingly active on social media, because that's where it's at when it comes to information and dialogue. We make very targeted use of our young employees and apprentices to give testimonials to communicate with the outside world. We use talent networks and we've been successful in targeted campaigns beyond our own region. Last year, we launched a major campaign across southern Germany, where we had marketing campaigns at airports, train stations and in cities to raise the profile of Airbus. It means a bigger investment, but it's worth it and the brand Airbus as well as the appeal of our products help us to get the right people interested in us.

Volker Rothfuss: What do you think it is that makes the name of Airbus so attractive?

Frank Müller: It's important to stress that we don't just manufacture parts that will eventually disappear in the supply chain because they're installed in something like a car. Here at Airbus, we create technologically exciting end products – and every employee contributes to that. Purpose is very important, especially for the younger generation – seeing that their own work is part of a bigger picture. For the technology enthusiasts, it goes one step further. For them, realizing the dream of flying plays a major role.



Volker Rothfuss: Does it make a difference whether you are recruiting graduates, apprentices or lateral hires, or is the talent market equally competitive for all of them?



Frank Müller: It's challenging across the board. Especially as we're aiming to increase the share of women across the organization, particularly in technology and production. We have a specific targeting approach for women in our efforts to attract them to our company. We've noticed that it's increasingly difficult to get women interested in the STEM professions. On this count, we are focusing even more on having a presence at universities and convincing women there. Offering financial support to talented women in the form of scholarships is one of the elements of our approach. We take on female working students and we let students write their Bachelor's or Master's thesis with us. We know by now that very few come on their own, so we have to take action to achieve our goals.



Volker Rothfuss: What influence does your location have on talent recruitment?

Frank Müller: It does have an influence, but we take measures to counter it. We have to be attractive beyond our own region and attract people from the big cities out to our locations. Donauwörth is not Munich, Berlin or Hamburg, we know that. We prioritize other aspects: purpose, a family atmosphere and international career opportunities. We focus on offering an attractive place to work. We want potential candidates to say: "That's where I want to be." 


Volker Rothfuss: Besides location, culture and career opportunities, young people are increasingly focusing on companies' sustainability efforts. What is your company doing specifically on sustainability and how significant is the topic for Airbus Helicopters' attractiveness?



Frank Müller: It is important that we give clear answers. As a company, we are pursuing a clear decarbonization strategy. We're applying various technologies to achieve this. Sustainable business is an important argument for us in the battle for talent. Our HR policy is geared towards authenticity and value preservation. We have many projects under way to reduce carbon emissions and waste. We set new targets every year and we're transparent about whether and how we've achieved them. That's important so that people who join us can see that our sustainability efforts are genuine. They can experience our work on sustainable mobility first hand – such as with the electrically powered CityAirbus, which is capable of vertical take-off and landing and is making its maiden flight this year.



Volker Rothfuss: What role is played by the key transformation topics of digitalization and automation?

Frank Müller: A very big one. Digitalization is everywhere for us, and it's being driven forward throughout the company. For ten years, we've had a dedicated team focusing exclusively on technological, cultural and organizational transformation. We see it not as a sprint but as a marathon, an ongoing task that will continue to be with us in the coming years and decades. Our guiding principle is and will always be to move forward in sensible and well-balanced steps – and not just to pursue digitalization for digitalization's sake. 


Volker Rothfuss: Has this significantly changed the way you work internally and with customers – say, through remote working?

Frank Müller: Fundamentally, digital collaboration is extremely important to us, but it's not new. As an international company spread across different locations, we are used to working together digitally across teams – even before the COVID pandemic came along. We got through that time well because we used all the possibilities that digital communication offered us. We're still doing that today, but we've learned that a balanced mix of remote working and presence on-site is key. That's not something that can be imposed top-down, it has to be based on responsible relations between employees and their managers. Due to the nature of our business there are tasks that simply cannot be carried out from home. Personal exchange with our customers, suppliers and between the teams remains essential for us.

Volker Rothfuss: As you pointed out, it is a challenge for Airbus Helicopters to recruit a sufficient number of specialists in the company's various disciplines. Exciting jobs with challenging apprenticeships and good earning potential. How do you motivate also employees without a university degree to follow this path?

Frank Müller: By pointing out the many opportunities to climb the career ladder. I started as an apprentice at Airbus myself some 40 years ago. For several years now, we've been conducting strategic HR planning, including for non-graduates, which enables us to better assess the requirement profiles we're going to need in the future. In the academic field, we coordinate closely with the universities nowadays. Fortunately, many universities are open to dialogue and want to know what the upcoming trends are likely to be. One example is cyber security, which we are addressing together. It's important that we meet regularly with academics in the various disciplines to discuss sustainability and future technologies in a targeted and structured way.

Volker Rothfuss: How are you able to identify at an early stage and then develop future profiles that don't yet exist?

Frank Müller: The profiles that are going to be in demand during the next technological disruption are particularly important. This applies not only to universities, but also to apprenticeships. Every year, our head of apprenticeships and I have a very intensive exchange, during which we jointly analyze whether we still have the right apprenticeships in our portfolio or whether we need to go in a different, new direction. This works very well for us. Nevertheless, skills shortages can occur – as we recently had with electricians. We reacted quickly and pragmatically to this: We brought people with similar profiles on board and made them fit for the new role through a reskilling program in conjunction with various partners (e.g. the Chamber of Commerce and Industry).

Volker Rothfuss: How long has strategic HR planning and development been a focus of your HR work?



Frank Müller: It is an important topic that we've been pursuing for several years now. The system has now been rolled out and is very well established. Implementing things together with the works council is certainly one success factor – the basis is a Group-wide works agreement on strategic HR planning. Just recently, we addressed the issue of flexible working alongside a new concept for temp work and contracts for work and services. Strategic HR planning plays an important role here because it ultimately creates the framework for everything – including for the subsequent operational planning, where we discuss the numbers of people we'll need. The strategic HR planning cycle covers a period of five to ten years, as opposed to three years for operational planning. We're therefore steering things from very early on. If we reskill people for other jobs in good time, we then don't get into any discussions about potential staff surpluses.


Volker Rothfuss: What is the role of managers in strategic HR planning?



Frank Müller: They play the decisive role, ultimately everything stands and falls with the topic of leadership. We need not just professionally qualified managers, but above all leaders who can understand, develop and nurture the people working for them. Because we pay close attention to these aspects in the selection of our managers, cultural change is also everywhere in our company. We focus fully on culture and leadership in all the programs and development measures we run as part of our people development.



Volker Rothfuss: You are going against the mainstream here, because many people still believe that a high level of professional skills automatically makes a person suitable for a management role. How exactly do you select your managers?

Frank Müller: First of all, we separate the field by offering highly skilled experts, for example in engineering, an expert career path in which they can reach certain levels of the hierarchy without having to manage anybody. When it comes to people management, we take great care to ensure that teams are led by people who are suited to that role according to our standards. To achieve this, talented managers go through various leadership development programs and pursue their individual development plan in development talks and centers. This prepares them thoroughly for their role as a manager.


Volker Rothfuss: Almost all of the transformation projects we work on are not just about efficiency and cost management but ideally also about establishing a new mindset to permanently embed changes in the organization. How do you achieve that?

Frank Müller: We have a culture of very open feedback with regular surveys and concrete measures, which has really paid off over time. Employees who were initially skeptical now see how important these tools are. We want our people to express their opinions and be heard by their managers in order to drive change. I've become a big fan of this process. I used to think that cultural change was something that was imposed top-down and role-modeled. But today I am convinced that a strong bottom-up element is also needed. A good way to bring the different perspectives together is to align everything with our company's core values, which were selected by our employees themselves: integrity, customer centricity, focus, teamwork, reliability and creativity.



Volker Rothfuss: Are you seeing positive developments and changes as a result of Gen Z's integration into the workplace? Is the adoption of other values being demanded, and is the corporate culture or leadership style changing?



Frank Müller: No, I think that issue is sometimes overstated. I have spoken to colleagues who've been working in HR for decades. They, too, see it as typical that every generation has different expectations. There are changes that we have to adapt to as a company, especially around digitalization. Including the demand for more work-life balance, which is much stronger among younger workers than older ones. Priorities have shifted. In the past, it was common to want to start a career straight after leaving school. Today, many people are asking themselves whether this model is still appropriate. Overall, we have to do all we can to pick up young people where they are and integrate them.


Volker Rothfuss: What are the key success factors that enable you to do this?

Frank Müller: We offer a wide range of professional and personal development opportunities, and that is well received. It also includes the option to go abroad, which is very much in demand among younger people. Additionally, we have many flexible offerings such as "Care for Life" if you need to take time out. We offer flexible working models and various digital workplace models. It involves an investment, but we consider it very important to remain highly attractive and appealing to top talent. And we see our success reflected in a very low staff turnover rate.

Volker Rothfuss: They say once you join Airbus you never leave. Is that true?



Frank Müller: Yes, that's often the case. Many people stay with us for a long time, and sometimes across the generations. I see this as part of our successful HR work. However, what it also means is that we don't always just look for people with exactly the right profile – we also create space and opportunities for young talent with alternative skills and backgrounds.

Volker Rothfuss: How do you discover and attract that kind of talent?



Frank Müller: There are several aspects to it, but I'd single out active sourcing as the key element. We approach the search in a structured way and with a highly qualified team, whom we call talent acquisition partners and who go beyond the traditional role of a recruiter. We get to know talented people directly at the universities and our talent acquisition partners actively approach interesting candidates, exchange contact details and get them interested.



Volker Rothfuss: So, the traditional job application process is obsolete?


Frank Müller: Yes, it's largely been replaced. We are also experiencing a major change in our office-based roles, too. We organize applicant days that are more like events. Applicants are given guided tours and can talk to various managers, among other things. It's an experience for them, far removed from a traditional job interview. We are also going to be working more closely with talent networks and we're planning our own local events to drive these changes forward. We need a special approach for apprentices aged 16, 17 or 18 in particular. I also try to use our apprentices as multipliers by encouraging them to talk about their experiences. This is more effective than an advertisement in the newspaper – they are the best ambassadors. We also go to schools and organize open days to inform young people about our apprenticeship offerings.


Volker Rothfuss: Overall, how complex is it and how much conflict is involved in leading or aligning your HR organization for the future? How important are your HR business partners in this context?



Frank Müller: In principle, we are constantly working on the future-proof positioning of our HR department. However, change cannot happen overnight – it requires continuous exchange between HR and the operational departments. One thing is clear: HR work is not an end in itself and must therefore always be closely related to the various functions of the company. Our business partners play a key role here, and their role is going to evolve more and more into the role of a strategic advisor and co-shaper of the operational departments – more like the role of a business player. They have a key contribution to make in helping us to add value as an HR department, being part of the company's strategic service provision and driving the evolution of our company together with the operational departments. To do that, we need to get ourselves actively involved in the processes until HR is perceived as an integral part of them.


Volker Rothfuss: Mr. Müller, thank you for this interview.