Second month in a new company
So here it is, based on the feedback of the first part, in February I tried again to photograph and record the key moments in the development of our new company Nobo Automotive Czech Republic.
The most important thing happened right on February 1 - a new employee joined us and I am not alone anymore. The newcomer's name is Mathias MOINE, works for us as Launch Manager and is responsible for the launch of a new project. Mathias has a wealth of experience in launching new projects and especially with the BMW customer and I believe his skills will be crucial to the success of our company.
From an HR perspective, I was in for a minor repeat. The last time I signed a tax form with an employee was back in Bosch sometime in 2016, so I had to repeat the HR administration a bit, but that's part of my job now too.
We have managed to complete the temporary offices - we have facilities where we can meet colleagues, contractors and at the same time supervise the construction of our permanent building from the window. When I see how busy it is, I can't stop staring. Last year I built a tool shed in the garden and I think it took me longer to build it than it will take to build our 25,000 m2 hall.
I have observed that a broken coffee machine, or the complete absence of one, can cause major employee frustration. So I didn't underestimate this issue and bought both a coffee machine and a sufficient supply of beans :-)
Apart from the pleasant duties described above, I have been quite intensively involved in visa issues, I am currently dealing with the employment of colleagues from the headquarters in China in the Czech Republic and other related peripeties. All of them will have to live somewhere and at the same time relocate in Budejovice. We have found out that the driving licence issued in China is not valid in the Czech Republic and they will have to take a driving test here in order to drive.
With cars it is interesting from another point of view. The first employees in the Czech Republic are and will be mostly managers with the right to a company car. In our previous companies we used leasing companies, so I wanted to continue in the same spirit in my new position. However, it turned out that it is not as easy as I imagined - most leasing companies want to see the historical financial results of the company, but we do not have them yet due to the establishment of the company at the end of January 2024 and so we had to agree to pay a deposit. However, we managed to do this as well and yesterday we picked up the first three cars.
Well, since there is no one in the company who is responsible for IT, I have taken over this area for the time being - and so we have a printer, internet in the offices, computers and phones, and as of this week a contract with the operator for SIM cards for our employees. None of this is quite nuclear physics, but it's all new issues that I hadn't tackled before and didn't really know what all needed to be sorted out for a couple of SIM cards.
At the same time, I met at an event in February Pluxee with former colleagues Kamil Vrkoč a Jiří Jíša. Together, we discussed the current pitfalls of the job market in the south and also appreciated the skills of the chef in the Palíček.
The last two months have really been a daily experience for me, doing a job I really enjoy and basically doing something completely new every day. And donating blood is also new for me. I've been hesitant to do it for a few years, also because of my fear of needles, but I finally committed last year and now in February I went for the second time. I have to say that my fears were unnecessary - apart from two days when I was a bit more tired, I didn't really notice anything negative
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And I already know that March will be worth it. Tomorrow we have two new colleagues - the General Manager of our plant and a new colleague in the quality department. And if there is even a little time, I will be writing my notes in the coming months. If you don't want to miss any of it, you can subscribe to this channel. I hope to put together a final recruitment plan for this year once the CEO comes on board, and next month I'll be able to write more about specific open positions as well.
David Havelec
HR Manager in Nobo Automotive Czech Republic
29. 2. 2024