Reorganisation international tech company

Legal counsel at Halsten:

“I was involved in the reorganisation on behalf of Halsten as employment law expert and project counsel and as the first point of contact. Specifically, this meant that I worked an average of two days each week for several months, where I was part of an international project team. The team included the HR business partner, HR staff members, a project manager, and a finance manager, for example. We made the preparations for the entire reorganisation in the utmost secrecy.

This project presented two major challenges. First, we had to deal with the immense employment law differences per country, making it necessary to work closely with TomTom’s local legal partners. This involved a great deal of time and flexibility, as we were operating on a global scale and had to overcome not only time barriers but also language barriers. The second challenge was the timing of communication with all employees all over the world. We worked at top speed under a very strict deadline, without always knowing which surprises local legislation would have in store for us, even at the last minute. The flexibility required to immediately step up or step back – over the entire breadth of the employment law playing field – that we, as Halsten, were able to provide was crucial. Thanks to the backup available to me, we continually quickly switched gears in cooperating with the local councils, maintaining oversight and acting appropriately in a timely manner where needed.

Projects like these energise me; they get the adrenaline pumping. You must stay level-headed, under the time pressure of a deadline written in stone, while literally everything must be kept secret. The coronavirus has made working online common practice, but luckily, we also had all kinds of digital tools at our disposal. The fact that the company came to us again after the initial project shows that not only our pragmatic, project-oriented approach but the results we achieve are satisfactory.”