If the opening of 2025 could be defined with one word, it would be turbulence. From the street to the board room, the world is experiencing shake ups and changes, or turbulence, forcing everyone to adapt to rapidly changing realities.

In these turbulent times, Daniela Proust, the SVP and head of people & organization at Siemens, focuses on keeping the company’s people top priority, and putting them first, especially “when there’s so much turbulence out there,” she said. “I think my role is to be the voice of our workforce, and to make sure that our people can thrive. We create a work environment where people want to be part of team Siemens, and that we help them navigate along the way.”

At From Day One’s Washington, D.C. conference, Proust discussed Siemens’ people-first approach to workforce development and changes with Taylor Telford, corporate culture reporter at the Washington Post.

Siemens, “a technology company in the B2B space” that’s been around since 1848, is huge and diverse. It has over 300,000 workers worldwide, with more than 45,000 in the U.S. alone. The range of jobs at the company cover everything from engineering, software development, and manufacturing. “We have a large manufacturing footprint. So we have to cover all of the different needs and the skill and capability building,” said Proust.

The company’s success and competitive edge, says Proust, is based on its ability to “innovate” and reinvent itself over and over again,” she said. “I like to describe us as a living organism. [We] try to stay adaptive, agile, and focus on the things that we need to innovate and also how we need to foster and create our workflow strategies,” Proust said.

Its advantage is being a large global company “in terms of workforce...that it’s almost like a playground,” said Proust. “You can try out so many different things. You can work in different industries, in different geographies, you can also move across different functions.”

On this worldwide playground Proust says Siemens focuses on attracting the right talent while recognizing individual development needs. “Each and every one of us has a unique skill set, or almost like a backpack of skills and capabilities and experience,” Proust said. “What each and every one of us needs to continuously adapt is very different.”

She highlighted the company’s My Learning World platform, launched about six years ago. The platform has become their “number one used platform or tool in the whole company,” offering more than 130,000 learning opportunities. “Our people just love to engage. They love to see what’s out there.”

A Team by Team Approach to RTO

According to Proust, flexibility extends beyond just remote work policies. “The conversation is much more dimensional than just that dimension, even though it matters.”

Siemens implemented a global policy encouraging employees to be in the office two to three days per week, but defer to their teams in determining what works best for specific team needs. “Each team can design to what is most meaningful in their context,” Proust said. Preferences vary widely, though–particularly between office-based and manufacturing environments.

With approximately 150 locations in the United States alone, Proust emphasized that Siemens’ flexible approach has been successful. “We have very flexible teams, and this has worked for us. And when I hear other companies say, ‘Oh, people are not engaged or they are not coming back.’ I see the opposite.” She stressed the importance of team-level conversations to determine optimal working arrangements while meeting objectives.

Within her own bailiwick as a people and organization (P&O) head, Proust “creates the forums in the space that these conversations take place.” She emphasizes the importance of first line managers alongside executive leadership. “Tone from the top is super important, and they play a critical role to develop the strategy of their area of responsibility, but where the true people experience sits is usually in your direct environment. It’s your direct manager, it’s the people you work with.” Being “conscious and strategic” about senior leadership appointments and how they support first line managers is also key.

The role of P&O has shifted significantly over time. “It really shifted from being a service provider with shared services in the back end for the core processes of payroll, travel, whatever it was.” P&O evolved from service provider to business partner, helping with strategic workforce planning. More recently, she noted an even more fundamental change in organizational importance.

“Over the last two to three years, we are the third leg of a stool. I’m in every conversation with the CEO and CFO, and the people conversation is always [at the] core of every business strategy conversation.” She stresses that people are “the highest value” in organizations, making talent and organizational capability essential components of business strategy discussions.

But ultimately what matters most to their people, according to Proust, is work environment, flexibility, and benefits. “What I find interesting as a European, is this growing interest in the topic of child care and elderly care and support, when you have to provide for your parents and for your children.”

Exploring Innovation Through AI Applications

Proust says Siemens is uniquely positioned at the intersection of physical and digital domains. “We are building trains as an example. We are building factories so that vehicles get built, or beverages can be filled. We build digital factories as an example.” And of course, the company is combining industry expertise with AI capabilities.

For Siemens, AI represents a significant business opportunity, from shop floor applications to supporting field technicians. As head P&O, Proust also considers AI's internal workforce applications, though she remains cautious about productivity claims.

“What are the tasks that bring value where we as humans really bring the value to the table? How can we focus on those tasks? And how can we get rid of other tasks that can be done easily through the technologies that we utilize?”

Matthew Koehler is a freelance journalist and licensed real-estate agent based in Washington, DC. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, Greater Greater Washington, The Southwester, and Walking Cinema, among others.

(Photos by Justin Feltman for From Day One)