Enlarge image
Defense Minister Pistorius recently made recruiting soldiers his top priority
Photo:
HANNIBAL HANSCHKE v EPA
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is filling a key position in his ministry. According to SPIEGEL information, the previous head of the human resources department was replaced last week. In an internal letter last Thursday, Klaus von Heimendahl informed his closest employees that he would be temporarily retired "in the next few days." Pistorius can use this route to remove senior officials and soldiers at any time and without giving reasons.
According to the letter, Oda Döring, currently director in the Federal Office for Personnel Management of the Bundeswehr, is to be promoted to the important position in the personnel department in the ministry "without delay." Heimendahl writes in his letter that he has already begun "handing over the official business of the department management to Ms. Döring." According to SPIEGEL information, State Secretary Nils Hilmer also informed the other department heads in the ministry about the personnel last week.
In recent months, the civil servant Oda Döring has been a member of the so-called "Task Force Personnel", which had submitted a dossier on behalf of the minister with suggestions for improving the poor applicant situation in the force. She will be the only department head in the male-dominated Ministry of Defense. Von Heimendahl headed the human resources department for a good six years. Business Insider had already reported on rumors that he was to be replaced.
Oda Döring is taking on one of the most difficult positions in the defense department as head of department; insiders speak of a “mission impossible”. The reason is the precarious applicant situation in the Bundeswehr. The force has been battling declining numbers of young recruits for years. Instead of growing towards the target of 203,000 soldiers as planned, the force is permanently hovering around 182,000.
Döring knows the situation only too well; in the human resources office she has been trying to initiate a turnaround with new attractiveness programs for years without any tangible success. Nevertheless, Minister Pistorius apparently wants to force a kind of new beginning with the personnel.
Döring has been trying to attract more applicants for years, but so far without success
Pistorius had to quickly learn how important recruitment is. At the last Bundeswehr conference, he announced that the issue of personnel was his “top priority.” So far, however, the “Personnel Task Force” has suggested more cosmetic reforms. The focus is on simplifying the application process. In addition, the Bundeswehr wants to hire a third more recruits than it needs in the future. This is intended to compensate for the high dropout rates.
Oda Döring is now to be appointed by State Secretary Hilmer in Bonn next week. In addition, General Robert Sieger, who also worked on the “Personnel Task Force” paper, is to take over the management of the Federal Office for Personnel Management. The current boss is going into regular retirement. Senior medical officer Nicole Schilling is also being discussed for a senior position; it is said that she will become deputy head of the human resources department.