The search for savings costs Hanover 850,000 euros
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The city of Hanover is saving – and has commissioned two consulting firms for a total of 850,000 euros
Hanover.The city of Hanover commissioned two management consultants in quick succession to search the administration for savings opportunities – and spent a total of 850,000 euros for this. At the same time, the municipal budget is slipping deeper and deeper into the red. According to the city, the two consultant contracts make sense. The first order was awarded to find short-term savings potential, especially in personnel. City spokesman Christian von Eichborn emphasizes that the second order goes much deeper and goes hand in hand with a comprehensive administrative reform.
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A long queue has recently formed in front of the entrance to the Social Affairs department.
© Source: private
50 quick savings suggestions
The consulting firm KPMG submitted its report at the beginning of last year. It describes around 50 suggestions for “quick wins”, i.e. for rapid savings. The critical proposals in connection with a “task modernization process” of the administration, as it says in the title of the report, which is available to this newspaper. Among other things, KPMG proposes that not every school needs a caretaker, that citizen offices can be merged and that some green spaces no longer need to be mowed as frequently.
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On the 72 pages of their report, the consultants also analyze administrative work processes and announce how processes can become more efficient. KPMG’s services cost 50,000 euros.
Consultants are once again examining work processes
Now the city has asked the company Rödl & Partner to accompany a “task-critical modernization process”, as stated in the award, which is available to this newspaper. The contract extends over a certain period of time and will last until 2024. The city paid around 800,000 euros for the services of Rödl & Partner. Again you look at the work processes of management consultants and look for savings opportunities.
But now it’s less about quick savings, says the city, and more about long-term changes. “The goal is to identify potential savings of at least 35 to 40 million euros a year,” says von Eichborn. Processes and tasks put Mann on a “critical test stand”. “We are looking for the right balance between profitability, the needs of the citizens and the interests of the employees,” says von Eichborn. You don’t want to make any clear cuts with blanket cuts, you want to dig deeper. The ultimate goal is a comprehensive administrative reform. The city has even set up its own “office for the modernization process” for this purpose, which is staffed by three employees.
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HR representatives remain skeptical
But did KPMG’s first consultant’s report have any effect? Yes, says the city. The administration has formed a pool of caretakers and reduced maintenance-intensive planting. The digitization of jobs proposed by KPMG was also pushed. “Other suggestions are still being implemented,” says von Eichborn.
The city expects the first results from Rödl & Partner this year. The municipal staff council will develop its own ideas. There is skepticism among the employee representatives as to whether the expensive advice will actually have the desired effect – and savings measures will not only be at the expense of the employees and the range of services. “We already carried out such a task review in 2003 and listed the effects. The whole thing has never seen the light of day because it is of course anything but popular politically,” said Thomas Schremmer, chairman of the General Staff Council, in a recent interview with this newspaper.