About Human Resources Manager

Human Resources Manager

Human Resources Manager is the German magazine for HR leadership, published by Quadriga Media in Berlin in cooperation with the Bundesverband der Personalmanager (BPM), the federal association of HR managers. Appearing six times a year, each issue explores a single theme, from "Time" to "Identity" to "Artificial Intelligence," with the depth and the essayistic quality that distinguish it from the news-driven HR press. The thematic concept is the magazine's signature: where other publications chase the news cycle, Human Resources Manager creates the space for the sustained reflection that the HR profession's most important questions demand. Since its launch in the early 2010s, the magazine has established itself as the thinking medium of the German HR community, the forum where the profession debates its future, complemented by the HR Excellence Award, presented annually since December 2012.

Overview

Human Resources Manager addresses the HR leaders and personnel managers of German companies: the professionals who shape the people strategies, the corporate cultures, and the working worlds. The editorial concept is thematic: each of the six annual issues dedicates itself to one big theme, exploring it from multiple angles, with essays, interviews, case studies, and analyses. The themes range from the philosophical, "Time," "Love," "Courage," "Trust," to the strategic, "Artificial Intelligence," "Skills," "Employer Branding," to the practical, "Recruiting," "Working Time Models," "Mental Health."

This thematic depth distinguishes the magazine from the HR trade press's news orientation: Human Resources Manager is not the place for the daily personnel news but for the reflection on what the news means. The readership seeks the intellectual engagement with the HR profession's fundamental questions: what is performance, what is leadership, what is the future of work. The six-issues-per-year rhythm gives each theme the space it deserves: the magazine is not consumed in minutes but studied over weeks, the issues kept and revisited. In a profession drowning in information, Human Resources Manager offers the opposite: the carefully curated deep dive, the long read, the essay that changes how you think.

The HR Profession's Evolution

Human Resources Manager documents a profession in the midst of its most profound transformation: the HR manager's evolution from administrator to strategist, from the personnel office to the boardroom. The magazine's thematic archive traces this evolution: the early 2010s' themes, "Power," "Money," "Leadership," addressed the profession's claim to influence; the mid-2010s' "Work 4.0," "Digital," "Startups" tracked the digitalization; the late 2010s' "New Work," "Agility," "Purpose" reflected the cultural revolution; and the 2020s' "Sustainability," "Artificial Intelligence," "Skills" confront the current transformations.

The magazine's intellectual ambition reflects the profession's maturation: HR is no longer the soft function but the strategic discipline that determines whether companies find, develop, and retain the talent on which everything depends. The skilled-worker shortage, the demographic change, and the new-work expectations have made HR's role more critical and more visible than ever. Human Resources Manager is the medium where this profession thinks about itself: the forum for the questions that have no easy answers, from the ethics of AI in recruiting to the meaning of performance in the knowledge economy.

History

The magazine launched in the early 2010s, with issues documented back to 2013, originally published by Helios Media GmbH in Berlin. The founding reflected the HR profession's growing self-confidence: the personnel managers, long seen as administrators, were claiming their role as strategic business partners, and they needed a medium that treated their profession with intellectual seriousness. The cooperation with the Bundesverband der Personalmanager (BPM) gave the magazine its institutional anchor: the association of the HR leaders themselves.

Over the years, the magazine became part of Quadriga Media, the Berlin publishing and education group that also runs the Quadriga Hochschule. The integration into the Quadriga world created synergies: the magazine, the HRM Forum events, the Corporate Learning conference, and the university's programs address the same professional community. The thematic archive, from 2013's "Time" to 2026's "Systems," documents over a decade of the HR profession's intellectual history.

Coverage and Content

The thematic issues explore their subjects with essayistic breadth: the "Time" issue questions familiar notions of performance and efficiency, examines the future of working time, and shows HR's design possibilities, from the four-day week to fair part-time to working beyond retirement age. The "Artificial Intelligence" issue addresses the technology reshaping HR work. The "Identity" issue explores what defines organizations and people. Each issue combines the conceptual with the practical: the philosophical essays with the case studies from companies.

The interviews give the HR leaders a voice: the CHROs, the personnel managers, and the thinkers who shape the profession. The case studies show how companies translate the themes into practice: the working-time models that actually work, the AI implementations that deliver, the culture changes that stick. The magazine's tone is reflective and demanding: it challenges its readers rather than merely informing them, asking the uncomfortable questions about the HR profession's own practices. The HR Excellence Award, presented annually since December 2012 in 60 categories across SMEs and corporations, honors the innovative HR projects, from leadership development to mentoring to change management, with a jury of over 20 HR experts. The award ceremony, first held at Berlin's Ritz-Carlton in December 2012, has become the HR profession's annual celebration: the night when the best people-work is honored.

Organization and Ownership

Human Resources Manager is published by Quadriga Media in Berlin, in cooperation with the Bundesverband der Personalmanager (BPM). Quadriga Media, part of the Quadriga group that includes the Quadriga Hochschule Berlin, is a specialist publisher and education provider for the communications, HR, and management professions. The BPM cooperation ensures the magazine's connection to the HR leadership community: the association's members are the magazine's core readers and contributors.

The business model combines subscriptions and single-issue sales with advertising from the HR service providers and the events business: the HRM Forum, the Corporate Learning conference, and the HR Excellence Award ceremony create the physical community around the magazine. The Quadriga integration is the strategic asset: the publishing house, the university, and the conferences form an ecosystem that serves the HR and communications professions' complete needs, from the magazine's intellectual leadership to the university's academic programs to the conferences' networking. In this ecosystem, Human Resources Manager is the intellectual flagship: the medium that defines what the profession thinks about.

Digital Presence

The website humanresourcesmanager.de carries the magazine's digital presence: the current issue's highlights, the thematic archive reaching back to 2013, and the subscription and single-issue ordering. The digital platform extends the thematic concept online: each issue's theme is presented with its highlights, inviting the readers into the reflection.

For a magazine about leadership and reflection, the digital presence serves the community function: the HR leaders find each other through the magazine's platforms, from the award ceremony to the conferences to the online content. The thematic archive, freely browsable back to 2013, is a unique resource: over a decade of the HR profession's intellectual history, organized by theme, available for research and reflection. In a profession defined by the human relationships, Human Resources Manager is the medium that takes those relationships seriously: the thinking magazine for the people who shape Germany's working worlds, in print and online, in the conference hall and on the screen.