Written by: Giulia Hiddinga, HX professional at Rvdb

IIn this business case, you’ll learn how Giulia served as an interim HR Officer At a non-food manufacturing company, I quickly brought order to an HR administration system that had come to a standstill. By automating manual processes, writing manuals, and making better use of the HR system, the workload was reduced, and my colleagues finally had the peace of mind to do their jobs well.

I stepped in because an HR colleague was out and there was a gap in the day-to-day HR operations. The HR manager was still handling a lot of the administrative work herself, tasks had fallen behind, and the team was looking for a new way of working. My assignment was twofold: to fill the gap and, at the same time, contribute ideas on how to structurally improve the HR function.

The Challenge

The company had a factory floor with production workers and an office with about 50 people right next to it. The HR department consisted of a manager, an HR assistant, and an employee who was in the process of r e-iIntegration was a challenge, and tasks were fragmented. What immediately stood out was that much of the administrative work was purely manual: cutting and pasting between Excel files, multiple checks of the same information, and letters that had to be rewritten over and over again. The system worked, but it was far from optimal. The workload was high, and people were stuck in routines that took more time than necessary.

Role and Approach

I started with the tasks that had been left undone and worked through them systematically. I soon began to see patterns: processes that were being done manually even though automation was the obvious solution. I took that on. I set up Excel files so that formulas would handle the calculations. I dove into the HR system, took available training courses, and discovered features the team wasn’t yet using: automatically generating letters based on system data, building dashboards, and running reports.

I documented every improvement I made in a manual and went over it with my colleagues. Not only so they could take over, but also so they would understand it and gain confidence in it.

HX in Practice – A People-Centered Approach

Working smarter starts with people, not systems. Colleagues who have been working the same way for years don’t automatically change their approach, even if the new way is objectively better. What helped was showing them the benefits—not as an abstract promise, but in concrete terms. If I had sped up a process, I would show them exactly how much time that saved.

The manuals played an important role in this: people could refer back to them on their own and didn’t have to rely on their memory. That lowered the barrier to actually starting to use the new method. For me, knowledge sharing wasn’t just a byproduct of the assignment; it was part of how I worked.

Results Achieved

For this project, I completed the following:

• Catching up on overdue HR administrative tasks and restoring the daily workflow

• Automation of manual tasks in Excel, eliminating unnecessary checks and duplicate work

• Implementation of automated letter generation from the HR system

• Design dashboards and reports so that the team can retrieve information on its own

• Manuals for all improved processes, ready for immediate use by colleagues

• A Noticeably Lower Workload in the HR Team

Insights and Impact

What I’ve learned: It pays to think outside the box. HR systems work pretty much the same way everywhere. Once you understand how a system works, you’ll also see what else it can do. From now on, I’ll put that knowledge to use right away—and I’ll share it right away, too. Because an improvement that only you know about is only half as valuable.

The impact was palpable. Colleagues found a sense of calm. Not because the workload magically disappeared, but because they were able to organize their work more effectively and spent less time on unnecessary tasks. You can see that in the way people approach their work.