Secure Employment

Material impacts, risks and opportunities

Reduced need for labor and shortage of skilled workers

Structural changes and the chemical industry’s general move away from Germany may result in less demand for labor there with negative impacts on employees at our German sites. This is due to factors including rising costs, higher energy prices and increasing regulatory requirements, particularly in Europe. At the same time, skilled workers are highly sought after worldwide, which could create bottlenecks. This makes it all the more important to have a presence in all regions of the world and to specifically target both international and German/regional skilled workers.

For WACKER, which has its largest production sites in Germany, these issues present short and medium-term risks that have an impact on our employees, particularly in Germany. Employees and their technological expertise are WACKER’s most valuable resources. We are using the PACE cost-saving project launched in 2025 to strengthen our competitive standing and boost the long-term stability of our working environment in order to mitigate negative impacts to the greatest extent possible.

WACKER’s products help to facilitate climate change mitigation and transitional technologies. We have put actions into practice to reduce our carbon footprint and achieve our target of net zero by 2045. This does not negatively impact the workforce. Instead, we expect this to provide opportunities to maintain jobs and to lead to positive changes in the working environment.

Strategy

We strive to keep our German sites competitive. We pursue a number of policies to counter the general shortage of skilled workers. One of our main approaches is for personnel planning to focus on developing our own employees. WACKER also attaches importance to the long-term retention of its employees and therefore its skilled workers. We are using automation and state-of-the-art technologies to become more efficient and to reduce the need for additional skilled workers.

We are also strengthening our organization by refining structures, accelerating decision-making processes and improving our performance. This means that we are creating a framework that effectively supports our strategic HR and organizational objectives.

We use our Group directives on recruiting and talent management, including responsibility for the processes, as a basis. The Head of Human Resources is ultimately responsible for implementation and compliance.

Actions

Maintaining contact with social interest groups and policymakers

We maintain ongoing dialogue with social interest groups and policymakers to keep our German sites competitive. To this end, we have our own representatives in Berlin and Brussels.

Developing and recruiting talent

Our HR planning adopts a long-term and forward-looking perspective, giving us the flexibility we need to respond to changes in the business environment. WACKER regularly informs its workforce about current business trends and provides timely information on key operational changes. If actions to cut personnel costs become necessary, we do so in close consultation with workers’ representatives. Groupwide talent development hedges against personnel risks and promotes talent from within our own ranks

We keep pace with demographic trends and offer young people long-term prospects. Under a company agreement for WACKER Germany, apprentices and trainees who successfully complete their training with us and demonstrate appropriate skills will be offered a job. 2025, six trainees joined WACKER as up-and-coming young talents.

We have a dedicated department responsible for personnel marketing, which includes measures such as information campaigns and attending job fairs.

Increasing employee retention

As an attractive employer that offers attractive social benefits, competitive compensation and motivating work. WACKER strives to retain its employees long-term. That is evident in our employees’ many years of service with us: the average length of service in Germany (permanent staff) was 16.5 years (2024: 16.4 years). The average length of service of WACKER’s executive personnel was 21.2 years (2024: 21.9 years).

Strengthening our regions

Regionalization enables us to strengthen WACKER’s global presence and to better fulfill the specific needs and requirements of our various regions. We aim to attract and develop local talent, strengthen the region’s responsibility for itself and also encourage equal opportunity at our international sites.

PACE cost-saving project

PACE is a Group-wide project that WACKER is using to reduce costs, make structures and processes more efficient, and make the company more competitive. The aim of PACE is to save over €300 million a year; this will, moreover, involve cutting more than 1,500 jobs worldwide. This means that the project involves refining roles, responsibilities and working methods, preparing the workforce for the requirements of the future.

Target

Group target: one in two management positions to be based in regions other than Germany

We have set ourselves the voluntary quantitative target of basing one in two management positions in regions other than Germany by 2030. We consider management to be “positions with global and/or strategic responsibility” and in Germany “management employees (‘leitende Angestellte’)”.

Compared to the prior year, management positions abroad have fallen to 30.9 percent (2024: 33.0 percent).