Interviewer: Li Fang fang，China Daily

Interviewees: Mr. Klaus Maier, President and CEO of Mercedes-Benz (China) Ltd

Li fang fang – LFF

Mr. Klaus Maier – KM

LFF: What were your achievement during the past three years in People in Retail?

LFF: 通过零售精英项目，你在过去三年里取得了什么样的成就？

KM: The People in Retail is the first program of this kind we have launched worldwide, and it is based on best practice examples in our organizations. We have found a very good example in US and so on. We have adapted them to meet the needs of the Chinese market. Actually, the objective of the program is that we are the best employer brand and that we attract the best people, but also to keep them and to have the best motivated people, because we think if our employees in dealerships are happy, then they can provide the best services to our customers. So, we have a lot of data about employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and we have found the correlation between both.

KM: 零售精英项目是我们第一次在全球推广，是根据我们公司的最佳实践总结而成的。我们在美国也发现了同样好的例子。我们借鉴这些实践，并且运用到中国市场，来满足顾客的需要。事实上，这个方案的目标是，成为最佳雇主品牌，吸引最好的员工，留住他们并且让他们干劲十足，因为我们考虑如果经销商的员工高兴，他们就能够为客户提供最好的服务。所以，我们有很多关于员工满意度和客户满意度的数据，并且发现了两者之间的关系。

LFF: So, it is tailored program for Chinese consumers, Chinese dealers, are there any difference between Chinese program and program worldwide?

LFF: 所以是为中国客户和经销商量身订制的项目，那么它与其它的项目有什么不同？

KM: Definitely, they are totally different. First of all, I think we are the only country that  needs so many people, to hire new people. For example, to give some figures, at the moment, we have roughly 9,000 people in our dealerships. Every year, we hire 1,400 people more. The average age of our people in dealerships…we have 81% of the people in dealerships are younger than age of 30. That’s amazing, you know, if you compare other countries. The average age in Europe would be probably 45, which means we have a lot of need to find very good people. We are also in competition with other brands and we have to train them and keep them, and that’s a challenge.  

KM: 是的，是不同的。第一，我认为中国是世界上最需要人才的国家，我们也在不断的挖掘人才。举个例子，给你一组数据，现在，我们的经销商大约有9,000人。 每年，我们还需要增加1,400人。我们经销商81%的员工平均年龄小于30岁。这非常引人注目。如果与其它国家相比，他们员工的平均年龄是45岁，这表明我们对好员工的需求是很大的。我们同时还和其它的品牌竞争人才。我们还要想办法去留住他们。这是一个挑战。

LFF: So, there are fierce competitions among the auto makers to find the right talents. What is your advantage to keep, find and check so many talents?

LFF: 所以，我们与其它的生产商在竞争人才。奔驰的优势是什么？

KM: First of all, definitely, we have a very strong brand, but also we care very much like I told you that we are the only one doing employee satisfaction on dealer level, which means we ask all our people in dealerships, you know, whether they are happy, which area they are happy with. We have rankings for all our dealerships, who has fantastic employee cultures, who are not so good. Also, we have developed a lot of programs to improve, like, for example, we have defined the job descriptions for all jobs in the dealerships, grading systems for all our dealerships. We have some benchmarks, so we have the most attractive financial incentive packages for our people, and definitely what we have learnt is that it is not just about money. Employees in dealerships care very much about their bosses, whether they have fantastic leadership, whether they can motivate the people, and whether they can train them, because actually if you are at the beginning of your career, like I said, 81% of the people are below age 30, it is more important you get very good training, that your boss teach you enough, and also that we as a brand can offer you a career path. Definitely, if we grow fast like in last three years, 280%, it means there are a lot of career opportunities. And someone, for example, starts as sales man, we offer them training and guidance to become sales manager, and general manager. The automotive industry I think is very attractive for people in China, because the automotive industry is growing so fast. We have 140 dealerships, but every year, we open 20 to 25 new ones. It means a lot of opportunities.

KM: 第一，我们有很强的品牌力，而且我们是汽车行业里唯一在经销商层面做员工满意度调查的品牌，这意味着我们必须调查所有的员工，比如，他们是否高兴，他们在什么方面高兴。我们为经销商排名，谁有好的员工文化，谁没有。同时，我们有许多的方案去完善他们，比如，我们清楚的描述所有经销商职位的细节，打分制度。我们有一个标准，所以我们有一个吸引人的激励方案，并且，不仅仅是钱。经销商的员工非常关心他们的总经理，他们是否有很强的领导力，他们是否能激励员工，他们是否能培训他们，如果你是在职业的起点，像我所说的，81%的员工在30岁以下，接受好的培训就变的重要了，比如，你的经理能不能教你足够多的东西，能不能有一个职业发展。一个人，比如，起点是一个销售员，你给他们培训，从而他们变为销售经理，总经理。对于中国人来讲，汽车行业是一个吸引人的行业，因为汽车行业发展非常快，像我们有140个经销商，每年，我们增加20到25个新店。这意味着有许多的契机。

LFF: But for HR professionals, the turnover rate is too high or too low, both are not very good for the company. In your role, how do you balance the turnover rate? What is your ideal figure for the turnover rate of Mercedes-Benz?

LFF： 但是对于人力资源部来说，人员变动比例太高或太低，对于公司来讲都不好。以你来看，你是如何平衡的？你的理想比例是多少？

KM: we can only talk about Mercedes-Benz China. Three years ago, we had much higher turnover rate than at the moment. At the moment, we have I guess it is around 5-6%. It is very low, but actually I prefer a very low one. If you are a very good employer and attract good people, if you do very good training, you have to assume most of your people really perform. I would not like to see the turnover rate of 15 or 20%, then I think that would do something wrong. My priority would be to for very low one, and also to create employee loyalty. That’s very important for me. Because only if you are loyal to Mercedes-Benz over a number of years, 15, 20 years, you really understand the brand. After one or two years, you have the first idea, but you don’t get everything out of it, you know, what brand can offer, which is 120 years old.

KM: 我们只能谈论梅赛德斯中国。四年前，我们有更高的比例。现在，我们的比例大约在5-6%。是非常低的，但事实上，我是倾向于低比例的。如果你是一个好的雇主并且吸引好的员工，如果你有好的培训，你的员工自然会发挥到极致。我不想看到15-20%的员工流失比例，如果是这样，我会想你可能在哪些方面做错了。我会选择低的比例，同时提高员工忠诚度。对我来说，这非常重要，因为，如果你对梅赛德斯奔驰忠诚多年，你可以真正明白它的品牌。刚入职一年后，你可能会有个概念，但你不能够明白所有的，120年的品牌能带来什么。

LFF: Do you think China has enough talents for the automotive industry and high end brand like Mercedes-Benz?

LFF： 你认为中国在汽车行业有足够的人才吗，尤其是高端品牌，像梅赛德斯奔驰？

KM: It is also a question of time. Very often, I am asked, you know do we have enough talents but, you know, we talk about 5 or 10 years of fantastic growth rate in the automotive industry, but the automotive industry needs much longer, which means learning also from the history and culture of China, I think patience is also important, so I think over the years there will be enough people who have enough experience in engineering side. If you get Chinese manufacturers like BYD or Geely, if you look at their growth rate, it is amazing, so, no one can say there are not enough talents. But, definitely, if it comes to a premium brand, you need also perhaps a different understanding how to do marketing of such premium brand, how to keep brand alive for 125 years. Definitely, on the engineering side, you need a lot of knowledge. But, for example we have just established a design center in Beijing; such design centers can also give good input.

KM: 这是个时间问题。我经常被问到我们有足够的人才吗，你知道，在汽车行业，我们经历了5到10年非常好的增长期，但汽车行业的历史远远比这要长，同时从中国的历史和文化中，我们也应吸取一些东西。我想耐心是非常重要的。所以，在未来，我们会在工程领域方面拥有更多有经验的人才。如果你看一下比亚迪和吉利，他们的成长是非常迅速的。所以，没有人敢说我们有了足够的人才。显而易见，提及高端品牌，你可能需要一些不同的认识，比如，如何做高端品牌的营销，如何使这个125年历史的品牌延伸下去。很明显，从工程方面来讲，你需要很多的知识。我们刚在在北京建立了设计中心，它可以给我们许多的支持。

LFF: People in Retail program can support China to develop such kind of talents in automotive industry, because you are providing training and experience from Germany and other countries.

LFF: 零售精英项目能够帮助中国在汽车领域拥有好的人才，是因为你能够提供好的培训和德国及其他国家的经验。

KM: Yes, if you look at me, Christian, working as expatriate or internationally here in China, my job is really to train people, to transfer the knowledge from what I have gained over the last 20 years at Mercedes to the local people here, because finally perhaps I could move to another country also, and the only thing left here is my knowledge, which I could transfer to the people.

KM: 是的。如果你看看我，在中国的外籍员工，我们的工作就是培训人才，传递我们20年以来积累的知识给当地的员工，如果最后我离开去其它国家，唯一的留在这里的就是我传递给人们的知识。