Employees

Slight Increase in Workforce

WACKER’s workforce increased by 0.8 percent in 2019. German sites accounted for 70.7 percent of WACKER’s employees and international sites for 29.3 percent.

As a manufacturing company, WACKER has a large contingent of industrial workers (48.3 percent), roughly one-eighth (12.1 percent) of whom are women.

Personnel expenses climbed 1.8 percent year over year to €1,253.8 million.

They included outlays for social benefits and the company pension plan totaling €263.2 million (2018: €244.9 million). The rise in personnel expenses stemmed from higher employee numbers, the increase in the standard pay scale, and higher pension expenses. In September 2018, a collective-bargaining agreement was reached between the IG BCE labor union and chemical employers. As a result, the standard pay scale rose by 3.6 percent on November 1, 2018. In 2019, vacation pay was increased from €614 to €1,200 per annum. Compensation for apprentices also rose, by a total of 9.0 percent for the first two training years and by a total of 6.0 percent for the third and fourth years.

Aside from a fixed base salary, WACKER employees usually receive variable compensation. This voluntary payment to employees on both the standard and above-standard pay scales is tied to the attainment of corporate goals. In 2019, a total of €66.9 million in variable compensation was paid groupwide.

A WACKER company pension is an important compensation component. It is available at most of our German and international sites, except for regions where the statutory pension appears sufficient or legal provisions are inadequate. In Germany, WACKER employees receive a pension through Wacker Chemie AG’s pension fund (Pensionskasse der Wacker Chemie VVaG). The fund has around 17,900 members and provides pension payments to some 8,600 retirees. The average pension paid in the reporting period was around €660 per month. WACKER pays in up to four times an employee’s annual pension contributions, with the exact amount being determined by the type of agreement. What is more, in 2019 WACKER made an additional payment of €70.7 million to the pension fund. Employees can supplement their company pensions by making their own additional contributions. As provided for in the collective wage agreements, WACKER supports employees’ supplementary contributions. Employees in Germany also receive an additional supplementary pension for that portion of their salary that exceeds the pension insurance contribution assessment ceiling.