Pepper Story
The first ideas for founding HRpepper date back to 2012.
On a cold winter’s day in 2012, five men and women moved into a sparsely heated Kreuzberg shed. The furniture came from the boardroom of the insolvent mail-order company Neckermann. There was no internet and no telephone, a lot of unresolved issues, never-ending bureaucratic procedures, but also a lot of desire for the future. But the team dared to make a new start: we wanted to organise consulting in a different, fresher, more experience-oriented way.
Although we started receiving small and medium-sized projects from clients early on, we were not an established consulting firm. We didn’t want to be one, but instead wanted to remain a genuine start-up that was forging its own path. That is still the case today: Anyone who gets to know HRpepper, takes advice from us or starts working here quickly realises that the Peppers are somehow different. The DNA of a start-up has remained despite all the growth. The almost 60 employees think and act as entrepreneurs – they are also de facto entrepreneurs via an equity investment. There is no silo thinking or insistence on adhering to rigid processes. Their actions are characterised by customer centricity and respectful cooperation.
This idea was already reflected in the choice of legal form and articles of association of the still young company when it was founded. We agreed on a legal form of which our current company lawyer says smugly: ‘It’s like an old English car. Nice to look at and drive, but very expensive to maintain.’ The choice fell on the GmbH & Co. KGaA. This is a composite structure in which the limited liability company acts as the general partner (full partner) of the limited partnership and the limited partners (partial partners) are shareholders. The main arguments in favour of this form were that the shares are easily transferable in order to facilitate future employee participation and to ensure that the founders have a good opportunity to influence the company.
The focus has changed
Ongoing organisational development remains important
A company can only be successful in the long term if its employees identify with it and feel responsible for its overall success.
Our structural empowerment mechanisms create a working environment that gives all employees the opportunity to be the creators of their own work.
These structural empowerment mechanisms include nomination rounds for the allocation of roles, the consensus procedure for company decisions, transparent salary structures, collective profit distribution and participation in the company. In addition, there is the option of equity participation for each:n Pepper: After passing the probationary period, shares can be acquired. On the one hand, this promotes ‘ownership thinking’, the attitude of every Pepper to act and make decisions as if the company belongs to us, because the long-term success of the company is important to us. Secondly, it recognises our work. 50% of the profit is paid out to the shareholders in this way. The remaining 50% is distributed as variable remuneration in a collective model. Such a high proportion for all employees is unusual, especially in the consulting industry, and is seen by Peppers as a strong signal of employee orientation and appreciation of their work.
