Ask an HR Executive – Lars Minns, CHRO of Mercedes-Benz/North America

We recently had the privilege of speaking with Lars Minns, CHRO of Mercedes-Benz, and learning more about his background and what he is doing in his role as CHRO.

Tell us about your journey in HR to get where you are today.

I cut my teeth in recruiting. I started with a company in Maryland, and it has gone worldwide. I worked in Virginia and then the Washington, DC, area. After I left DC, I moved to Atlanta. I started as a recruiter with Home Depot and quickly moved into leadership development where I widened the scope around talent management. I just had this desire to keep learning and expanding my HR portfolio. I left Home Depot after ten years and joined Mercedes. I have been at Mercedes for nine years now. For the first three years, I did HR operations, where I ran the HR Business Partner Team, the HRIS system, and recruiting., Then, my boss left. That gave me the unique opportunity to become the CHRO. I’ve been doing that for the last six years for our marketing and sales division, one of four major divisions across the company.

Share a little about your current organization, your role, and how your role aligns with the company’s business objectives and mission.

I’m the CHRO. Marketing and sales is one of four major divisions. The others are research and development, manufacturing, and financial services. So, I lead HR for both the US and Canada, and we have a retail center and our flagship store in Manhattan. That is one of the only retail centers worldwide. Given the prominence of the market and, more importantly, New York, we run that center. I think it’s good for us to test the product and responses of our customers. It’s the full HR responsibilities—everything from recruiting to running a pension. So, we also do pension administration. It’s the entire life cycle. Like many companies, we’re going through a significant transformation, but ours is a massive shift. It is global in nature. This will be along with the overall transformation of the automotive industry. We welcome it. I think it is a great idea. I think anytime you can take a specialized approach within HR, you can add consistency across all your products and services. I love that things are so ever-changing. A year ago, we thought a little bit about AI. And here we are, piloting our first release of an AI employee. Watching the team grow excited and using it has been exciting for me. It takes much courage, but the fun and excitement help.

What trends are you seeing in HR that have your attention?

AI, we can go on for a long time on that topic. But something else, there is a distinct difference in employee expectations. You can qualify that based on their tenure, time in the workforce, or stage in life. Those can all affect what they expect from an employer. Because we’ve allowed employees to vocalize precisely what they want, that has allowed us to be nimbler and help realize some expectations. We are trying our best to keep up. We have a financial wellness program, and we run the program ourselves. We sought out vendor services, which has given us a unique perspective on how we need to administer benefits and total rewards better. What we tend to talk about isn’t exactly what resonates with employees. Working with a 3^rd party to help understand the mindset and lifestyles of employees based on specific personas has been interesting. I see that as a trend, the overall employee experience with sectoring the employees so you can better appeal to those expected experiences.

The third thing, which may not necessarily be a trend but has been moving in this direction for quite some time, is the ability to be more productive with overall analytics. Fixing those analytics to trends you see and some expectations to deliver on your overall strategy, we’re trying our best to do that. One thing we did was build a daycare at our headquarters. I thought most daycare parents would be within the 25-32 age range. Instead, it’s more like 34-39. Parents are interestingly utilizing the daycare. I thought it was more convenient to walk downstairs and spend time with your child. Much of it is based on cost, so even remote employees are driving into the office, dropping the kids off, and going back home. So, it may not be about convenience, but ensuring they have some guard rails around their lifestyle. They are utilizing the daycare differently than the objectives we thought when we first built it.

What technology do you use to ensure connection and engagement with team members?

A lot of it is Microsoft Teams. Some groups are moving to Team channels. Many of our conversations will be via Team channels rather than email. That is the framework we’ve used for our AI employee. That employee sits in a Teams’ channel. When I do unique things with the AI employee, I broadcast this via the Teams channel. It’s easier and lighter. We’re moving many of our documents to SharePoint, and you can get those documents via the Teams channel. We’re pivoting away from email, email attachments, and multiple emails. When you look at the capability of teams using various media types, it’s all in one location versus numerous applications.

What roles are (or will soon be) in demand on your team?

We are moving to an ERP, and I believe we are getting away from administrative roles like benefits and retirement. They will be replaced by better understanding what’s happening with current trends and researching what’s happening in the marketplace.

An example is with our daycare; we will hit capacity at some point. When that happens, it will be vital that we can still meet the needs of a workforce that, based on the bell curve, is right around 34-39 years of age. If that population continues to increase, we know those will be family-growing years. So, how will we address the needs of our employees? It is not necessarily another service, but something robust so they experience proper recognition for what they provide us daily. I think having team members who understand the financial impacts will be necessary. I believe employees who can sit with vendors, help them understand our problems, and find solutions will be significant. HR organizations aren’t growing; they are shrinking. A lot of these outsourcing services will be essential. I still think we need to understand what skills are and how we increase respective skills across an organization. We need to be considerate of the learning of adults.

What’s the biggest challenge facing your team today? How are you addressing it?

We’re going through this massive transformation. I’ve coined the phrase, “We have one foot in the present and one foot in the future.” It’s like standing on lily pads. One can move depending on how the water ripples but you still have to maintain the proper balance and deftness.

When you’re looking to add senior or executive-level roles to your team, what does that process look like? Who is involved, and how do you find talent? Does this process include engaging with a third-party partner to connect with top talent?

We do use a third party on occasion. Most of our executive placements typically come from internal talent; our benefit is Mercedes-Benz Global. We can operate across multiple divisions and worldwide for talent sourcing. That has benefitted us quite a bit. As far as the process is concerned, it’s your traditional succession planning. We have much dialogue two times a year and sometimes more with people who are up-and-comers. Interestingly, I wouldn’t say the individuals we discuss are the ones we place, but the dialogue helps us understand what you need. When the time comes, assuming the strategy has not changed, who is the best person for us to move into the role? Then we have a formal interview process even though it’s an internal placement. Very few external placements are executive placements, but we have done it occasionally.

What’s something you want to accomplish in the next couple of years?

I recently obtained my executive coaching diploma from Emory University. That was the first step in obtaining a series of executive coaching certifications. The diploma and educational part is done, and now comes the practical work. So, many hours will help me get that certification. It is something that I am passionate about, not just executive coaching, but coaching in general is the secret sauce. I’m excited about that and finding time to dedicate to it meaningfully. It’s not just about the certification but bringing value to individuals.

What would your dream job be if you weren’t doing this job?

I have always dreamed of being a sports psychologist. I love sports, and talent is table stakes when you look at how talented athletes are. If you’ve ever coached any child or have a child who plays competitive sports, you know everyone is gifted. The difference is the mental edge. The ability to focus, to see a dream, and to get up and keep going. The Olympics proves that. Depending on the sport, they spend four years for 50 seconds, and it can all come crashing down. When that happens, it’s not about how it happened; it’s what you will do about it. That mental resilience is what I love.

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