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Bayer will duplicate operations in Costa Rica's Shared Services Center
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Bayer will duplicate operations in Costa Rica's Shared Services Center

• From 285 collaborators, it will reach 500 by the end of 2019.
• Client satisfaction and corporate strategy were key factors for its growth.
• Bayer’s SSC in Costa Rica provides services to all the continent.

San José, Costa Rica. June 12th, 2019. Bayer’s Shared Services Center started operations in Costa Rica two years ago. Today, the company announced that it will duplicate its payroll to 500 employees by the end of this year.

Currently, the center has 285 collaborators in three offices located at America Free Zone, in San Francisco de Heredia. The expansion will be in three departments: Order to Cash, Source to Pay and HR Operations.

Costa Rica’s SSC assists Bayer’s operations in the American continent, except Brazil. It started its services with Central America, Mexico, the South Cone and the Andes region. Then, the United Stated and Canada followed along.

This new expansion includes two new offices with working stations, meeting spaces, and collaborative areas that sum up a total investment of US$ 3 million.

Bayer’s Financial Manager for Central America and the Caribbean, Klaus Wussow, explained that “this expansion is due to our clients’ satisfaction and the corporate strategy to optimize administrative support processes in our business areas, through the operational excellence of our shared services centers.”

The President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, said that Bayer’s decision is an important sign of the trust and security the country offers to foreign direct investment. The announcement was made within the government’s declared month for employment generation and economic reactivation.

He added that, in his recent visit to Germany, where he gathered with more than 60 affiliated companies to the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he highlighted Costa Rica’s competitive advantages that include its human talent, education levels, geographic location, social and political stability, environment protection, human rights, among other elements.

In that same trip, the President gathered with Bayer’s executives from the Life Sciences sector.

The Minister of Foreign Trade, Dyalá Jiménez, recalled that Germany is Costa Rica’s second most important source of investment. “Investments such as Bayer’s have become our key allies to promote national development.”

“Therefore, we keep a constant approach with this companies, following up its operations and reiterating our commitment to continue generating optimum conditions for investment, growth and new job opportunities that benefit Costa Rican families. We share this announcement with joy and great responsibility, keeping in mind that when these companies grow, we grow as a country too”, added the Minister.

Daniela Petig, Administrative Director at the Services Center, mentioned that “it is highly satisfying to see how we have evolved from providing accounting services to 7 countries with 15 people, to support with higher added value services to 100% of our operations in America -except Brazil-, through an internal culture of innovation, collaboration and continuous improvement, always focused on our customers."

Jorge Sequeira, Managing Director at the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE), said: “Companies like Bayer have strengthened the sophistication of Costa Rica’s services sector, it is estimated that 75% of knowledge-intensive exports come from companies operating under the Free Zone Regime, according to the Central Bank. This equation would not be possible without the assistance of 65,000 Costa Ricans who work in more than 170 companies in the services sector. Bayer is a success story of how companies diversify and grow their operations in hands of local human talent.”

Worldwide, Bayer has seven shared services centers located in Manila-Philippines, Dalian-China, Gdansk-Poland, Barcelona-Spain, Bangalore-India, Heredia-Costa Rica and Leverkusen-Germany, where its headquarters are located. After an analysis, the company decided that Costa Rica would be the country to have the only Shared Services Center supporting the American continent.

Bayer found in Costa Rica a central and accessible location for clients working in their same time zone; political, social, economic stability, as well as security, high standards of education and trained human resources.

Required profiles
Those candidates interested in working in the company must have 90% English proficiency and experience in service centers with training in accounting, finance, business administration or similar.

Laura Mora, Human Resources manager, specified the profiles required for the expansion:

Order to Cash: Client support in areas such as commercial agreements, order management, billing, among others.
Source to Pay: Have experience in purchasing process, goods acquisition management and invoices payment.
Human Resources operations: Show knowledge in integrated processes from front office management to HR systems.

Those interested can send their CV to: recursoshumanos.scr@bayer.com indicating in the subject their area of interest: Source to Pay, Order to Cash or HR Ops.

About Bayer
Bayer is a multinational company with key competences in the bioscientific fields of health and nutrition. With its products and services, the company wants to be useful to humanity, helping to find a solution to fundamental challenges posed by the constant aging and growth of the world's population. At the same time, the group aims to increase its profitability and create value through innovation and growth. Bayer adheres to the principles of sustainability, and its brands are synonymous of trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal year 2018, the company, with around 117,000 employees, obtained a turnover of 39,600 million euros, made investments worth 2,600 million euros and allocated 5,200 million euros to research and development. For more information, visit the website www.bayer.com

For more press information:
Carlos Morales, CINDE
2201-2830/ cmorales@cinde.org

Carolina Murillo, Bayer
6040-7741/ carolina.murillo@bayer.com