Diversity, Inclusion and Equal Opportunity

As a global company, WACKER operates in international markets and multicultural environments. Holding each employee’s skills and dedication in high regard, we are convinced that diversity and inclusion enhance our company’s performance. We thus view human diversity as an asset. We oppose discriminatory or derogatory treatment on account of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, ideology, disability, sexual orientation or age. These principles are valid across the WACKER Group and, as part of our corporate culture, are embodied in our Code of Teamwork & Leadership. Employees may report any discrimination to their supervisors, as well as to a compliance officer, the employee council or the designated HR contact person. The complaint will be investigated and the reporting employee will be informed of the results. We do not keep a log of discrimination cases.

We require all employees at our German sites to familiarize themselves with Germany’s General Equal Treatment Act (AGG) by completing an e-learning course. This course is compulsory for all levels of corporate hierarchy, from the Executive Board down to standard-payscale employees, as well as all new employees.

Special arrangements are in place to help and promote WACKER employees who are disabled. The company’s integration management program provides for close cooperation between supervisors, employees, HR, disabled-employee representatives and Health Services to permit disabled employees to remain in their workplace or to change to a suitable job. This allows us to retain skilled staff, and valuable knowledge acquired over many years remains with WACKER.

In 2014, the annual average of disabled and equivalent-status employees in Germany was 1,050 (2013: 982). For years, WACKER has employed a higher number of people with disabilities than required by law (percentage of staff: 2013: 7.4 percent; 2014: 8.1 percent; legally mandated: 5 percent). Nine out of ten disabled employees at WACKER in Germany are on the standard payscale. The average age of disabled employees at WACKER is 51.6. In 2013 and 2014, the Burghausen site took on five disabled young people as trainees. After having completed their training program successfully, the trainees’ goal is a steady job at WACKER.

WACKER supports disabled individuals who cannot find work on the general job market, for example by collaborating with workshops for the disabled. Our Burghausen site, for instance, sources key products from the charitable Ruperti workshops – such as dunnage for securing freight, to mounting plates for process engineering, up to packaging for Siltronic. At the Nünchritz site, we have for many years been using the services of the disabled workshop “Lebenshilfe Riesa e.V.” (a charity for the mentally disabled) for landscaping and garden maintenance. An example of cooperation with disabled individuals in the USA is the Pomona Valley Workshop. Here, the Chino site collaborates with a neighboring organization that offers jobs to disabled people.

More Than Just Gardening

Christoph Theile (Foto)

Christoph Theile has been maintaining the green areas at WACKER’s Nünchritz site for ten years.

Christoph Theile routinely pulls up weed after weed from the dry earth and throws them into the white bucket next to him. As he does so, Chrissy, as he is known, jokes with his colleagues, occasionally stretching his back. “My bones do ache in the evening sometimes,” admits the 27-year-old. Yet he clearly derives a great deal of pleasure from working outdoors once again after the endless winter months. For ten years now, Christoph Theile has been part of the team at “Lebenshilfe Riesa” (a charity for the disabled), which maintains green areas at WACKER’s Nünchritz site from April to October.

Under the guidance of Maik Rochel, the disabled men are on site here from Monday to Friday to keep just under five hectares of land in order. The eight men between the ages of 20 and 50 have to mow lawns, maintain borders, pull up weeds and cut back trees and shrubs. Through their work, they contribute to keeping the site’s general appearance attractive. The men are all professionals and have completed a two-year qualification in landscape gardening.

“They are proud to be able to work here,” reports Maik Rochel. To work at such a large plant and join other WACKER employees in the canteen every day is a huge boost to their self-confidence. A reliable team has been working at WACKER for 18 years now. Maik Rochel stresses that the “Lebenshilfe” initiative does real work here. The working week amounts to 37.5 hours, the same as anywhere else at WACKER Germany, and of course everything is done properly and according to schedule. “Maybe we don’t have the same time pressures as other companies, some of the men occasionally need a little longer to get the job done. But they are all highly conscientious and make sure to pull up even the tiniest trace of a weed,” says Maik Rochel in praise of his team, who also has the backing of the customer. “There has never yet been any criticism of the work; we’re highly satisfied,” says Lutz Schurig, who is in charge of partner companies for construction, winter maintenance, and gardening. “We are aware that these are disabled people and are happy to provide them with work here,” emphasizes the WACKER employee. There has also been lots of positive feedback from other colleagues, confirming that the cooperation is open and unprejudiced.

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Disabled Employees

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2014

 

2013

 

2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mandatory workplaces (annual average)

 

649

 

660

 

667

Actual workplaces (annual average)

 

1050

 

982

 

921

Ratio of actual to mandatory workplaces (annual average, %)

 

161.8

 

148.8

 

138.1

Disabled employees as a percentage of total employees, WACKER Germany

 

8.1

 

7.4

 

7.3

Compensatory levy (€ thousand)

 

0

 

0

 

0

 

 

 

 

 

Over the past few years, WACKER has become more international. The company sells products in 130 countries around the globe, and most of our sales – 86 percent in 2014 – are generated outside Germany. It follows that we want our management to reflect the global nature of our business. Over recent years, WACKER has increasingly filled leadership positions in its regions with local employees rather than with executives sent there on assignment. The prime criterion for filling executive positions remains qualification. In Germany, the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG) forbids the selection of personnel according to origin. In the other WACKER regions, such as China and the USA, we also select candidates primarily by qualification.

At the end of 2014, 44 of a total of 192 executive personnel (OFK) were of non-German nationality groupwide – this is 23 percent of the total. Overall, 17 different nationalities were represented at the executive level. Our company’s workforce includes people from over 60 nations.

It goes without saying that we offer equality of opportunity to all employees, regardless of their gender. This approach also applies to compensation. Whether on the standard payscale, in third-level management (FK3) or among the executive group – men and women who hold the same positions are paid the same. Statistical differences in the average annual salaries of individual employee groups are essentially based on seniority, professional experience and the proportion of women in the various occupations. On average, the differences are less than 5 percent in each case.

WACKER would like to increase the number of female executives. For this purpose, we participate in Munich’s Cross-Mentoring Program. To get girls interested in jobs such as chemical technician, industrial mechanic or electronics specialist, we take part in the Girls’ Day event held throughout Germany.

We have set the goal of significantly increasing the proportion of women in middle and senior management positions over the medium to long term. One of the goals of our Talent Management project, which took off in 2013, is to make female management potential visible and to assist these women in their next career step. With its wide range of different working-time models, our lifecycle-oriented personnel policy provides the appropriate framework. In accordance with legal requirements – such as German legislation on equal participation of women and men in management positions in the private sector and public service – WACKER will introduce target values for the proportion of women in top management.

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Equal Opportunity

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2014

 

2013

 

2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Employees, groupwide

 

16,703

 

16,009

 

16,292

Thereof female

 

3,790

 

3,581

 

3,597

Female employees, groupwide (%)

 

22.7

 

22.4

 

22.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Employees, WACKER Germany

 

12,366

 

12,322

 

12,635

Thereof non-German

 

1,456

 

1,412

 

1,486

Non-German employees at WACKER Germany (%)

 

11.8

 

11.5

 

11.8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Third-level management employees (FK3), groupwide

 

3,691

 

3,504

 

3,423

Thereof female

 

879

 

806

 

752

Women in third-level management, groupwide (%)

 

23.9

 

23.0

 

22.0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Executive personnel (OFK), groupwide

 

197

 

197

 

205

Thereof female

 

11

 

13

 

15

Women as executive personnel, groupwide (%)

 

5.6

 

6.6

 

7.3