Boehringer Ingelheim’s CHRO on the company’s ‘obsession’ for great HR

If there’s one industry that gets an undeserved amount of negativity from small pockets of very vocal people, it’s the pharmaceutical industry. Even a company like Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) – which doesn’t produce human vaccines – and opened its entire molecule library to help fight COVID-19, or publicly publishes all results from its clinical trials to help promote best public health, can get caught up in the much-ado-about-nothing furore of those afraid of carefully researched, life-saving pharmaceuticals.

But for Sommerlatte and his team at the German-based company, keeping morale high is just one part of a larger HR ethos since he joined the company two years ago.

“Being here just two years, I still have fresh eyes to look at everything we do great, and areas where we need to improve. And the great stuff is that I have never seen a company with such a strong people focus. This company has a real obsession in this sense, and it makes it such a friendly environment. I have never had a stomachache before work, but I come in every day happy to be at work, and that is wonderful.”

Dr Sven Sommerlatte

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CHRO

Sommerlatte moved to BI after having worked for 19 years for the same company – but says happily over a Zoom call that his move has been the right one, not only because of how friendly it is, but because how well the company works together.

And he should know when a company doesn’t work well – the German native has a PhD in Organisational Development and before his move to HR, spent years advising companies on how to work together more effectively, and to grow successfully. He’s even due to publish a book in June 2023 that combines his shared experiences as a consultant and HR leader, Successful Career Strategies (if you’re fluent in German, you can already read it now as as Erfolgreiche Karrierestrategie).

But during the call, Sommerlatte is never keen to blow his own trumpet – instead, he’s very clearly just as passionate as others at the company to improve the people function and to focus on creating a happy, healthy work environment.