Part of a global team

International and cultural exchange with LANXESS.

Fabiana Martins usually enjoys the Brazilian summer in January. But this year the HR employee from São Paulo swapped jobs with a LANXESS colleague in Germany.

Winter in Cologne instead of midsummer in Brazil – how did you come to “swap” your job?

An HR colleague from Cologne told me that she was going to take a sabbatical and that her job would be vacant for a few months. And as one of my areas of responsibility in Brazil is people development, and I have to interface a lot with the head office anyway, we agreed on this “exchange program” and I came to Cologne for this international experience. I wanted to know how the work in the “tower” differs from our national office, and I wanted to contribute my Brazilian experience for a cultural exchange growth within LANXESS.

What are you working on in Cologne?

I’m part of the people management team developing initiatives to promote talents within the company globally. I am working in close collaboration to the People Management team in the regions to develop measures that fit to all of our cultural and business needs.

What are the differences to your work in São Paulo?

It starts with our office: in São Paulo, all group functions and business units sit together in one open-plan office; in the tower, they are split in different floors and we are four of us in one room. Additionally to that I have a leadership role in the HR in Brazil, and lead a team with different areas of expertise. Here I am part of a global team focussing on only one aspects of HR.

„I am glad that LANXESS gives me the opportunity to develop further. International experience is particularly important to me!”

And what do you like better? Open-plan or a small office?

That’s hard to say. In an open-plan office it’s definitely more bustling – but then I’m also much closer to everything. I can meet all employees and see directly what the business are concerned with, for example. In Cologne, however, is easier to keep the focus in one topic and I am at the interface for global decisions. That’s exciting, of course.

Do you speak German with your colleagues in Cologne?

No, there was not enough time for a detailed German course before the job exchange. That’s why we communicate in English and it has been a very good collaboration!

And how do you like Cologne?

Very much! The cold winter weather shocked me at first, and I saw snow here for the first time in my life. But I’m enjoying the brewery culture, the great location on the Rhine, and also the fact that I can easily walk through the city. In São Paulo, that would be too unsafe.