Employees
The multifaceted abilities and personal efforts of all employees contribute materially to Covestro’s success. Every employee has both the freedom and the mandate to act and contribute in line with the company’s goals, values, and culture. Covestro thus promotes a working environment that is shaped by unconventional thinking, the effective exchange of knowledge, creative problem-solving, constructive feedback, and collegial cooperation. We aim to empower each of our employees to work to their full potential. Our managers are responsible for facilitating and supporting these objectives in close collaboration with our employees. In this way, we can work together to make an ongoing contribution to the company’s success.
As of December 31, 2020, Covestro had 16,501 employees worldwide (previous year: 17,201). At the reporting date, the Group also had 551 employees in vocational training worldwide (previous year: 550), 543 of whom were based in Germany (previous year: 531).
Employees by division1
in FTE (prior-year figure in parentheses)
1 The number of permanent or temporary employees is stated in full-time equivalents (FTE). Part-time employees are included on a pro-rated basis in line with their contractual working hours.
In the year 2020, the global coronavirus pandemic required us to take decisive and sustained steps to protect our employees, customers, and suppliers, as well as other related groups. Physical distancing proved to be a successful measure to curb the coronavirus pandemic. In the reporting period, Covestro requested that employees in many different countries work from home to the extent permitted by their particular jobs. To enable digital cooperation the company put in place the framework required, including the appropriate technical, data protection, and organizational measures. This effort was completed successfully, and many employees made use of this option. Covestro had already launched the Coronavirus Info Hub on the intranet in January 2020 for purposes of providing transparent and timely information, and a channel for communication with the workforce across the globe. In addition to official notices and (travel) warnings, the Hub also offers opportunities for direct dialogue. Moreover, the Board of Management reaches out to employees through ongoing series of videos and several virtual global staff meetings (town halls) in which it answers their questions.
Corporate values and corporate culture
Covestro is proud of its corporate values, summarized as C3: curious, courageous, and colorful. Curiosity triggers deeper thinking and allows us to create innovative and unexpected solutions for our customers. Courage helps us identify opportunities where others see limitations. Diversity promotes employee engagement and creativity; multiple viewpoints make us successful. These values guide all of the Group’s employees and are reflected in their daily thoughts and actions.
The corporate culture is based on Covestro’s values and behaviors, and is an integral part of Covestro’s strategy. Our employees, especially our management staff, influence and shape our corporate culture. It is their responsibility to set a good example with their conduct and live out our culture. In our company, employees and managers work jointly to “make the world a brighter place” and implement our vision of a circular economy. Achieving these goals means working constantly on both structural changes and on shaping our “We Are 1” culture.
“We Are 1” describes the corporate culture Covestro is striving to build, which is made up of four cultural dimensions: “acting responsibly,” “wanting better,” “winning together,” and “leading others.” We want to continually improve the ways in which we collaborate by aligning our behavior with these concepts. This reporting year, we defined 12 key behaviors for these cultural dimensions to support our transition toward a circular economy. We want all our employees to embody these qualities in the future, help strengthen our “We Are 1” culture, and familiarize our customers – the center of our activities – with our corporate culture as well.
Our cultural dimensions and key behaviors
Human resources profile and focus
Digital transformation, demographic change, and the trend toward individualization are changing our work and the ways we do it. Our human resources activities focus on the development and implementation of initiatives that sustainably support our business success in view of these changes, while at the same time encouraging the professional development and engagement of individual employees. In this context, Covestro’s human resources strategy is derived from our overarching corporate strategy, and is also aligned with our corporate values and our corporate culture.
The top-level goals of the people strategy are set by the head of Human Resources (HR) in conjunction with Covestro’s Board of Management. Promoting performance and opportunities for individual contributions are priorities, as are building and developing the individual skills and expertise of our workforce for the long term. These activities are based on leadership and management responsibility in line with Covestro’s corporate culture and values. Together they set standards for working toward success, developing future-oriented skills, and conducting personal interactions based on mutual respect. Health and safety in the workplace are our highest priority. In addition, we focus in particular on further reinforcing diversity and inclusion.
Within the four strategic action areas of employee engagement, skills development, leadership, and work environment, the people strategy creates the conditions for professional development and support for our employees. Based on this strategy, all corporate functions and operating segments in the company set specific job-related goals which are agreed with the next level(s) of management. Monitoring, coaching, and reviews, as well as any necessary changes, are carried out in the regular meetings between employees and line managers.
In terms of its structure and its content, the HR organization is positioned in line with the goals named above, and uses a global personnel management system to map the necessary processes.
Winning qualified employees and promoting Covestro’s employer brand
It is a strategic challenge for Covestro to be an attractive employer worldwide. We aim to retain qualified employees for the long term, ensure their professional and personal development, and hire additional new talents.
For this reason, we pursue the goal of strengthening Covestro’s employer brand and continually improving the company’s name recognition. During the reporting year, we more strongly aligned our employer brand with Covestro’s overall image, and consolidated our brand strategy under a single approach. Our employer brand is strictly used through the whole candidate journey, from applying for a job to employment at Covestro. We therefore address candidates from outside the company with the slogan “Become 1 of Us,” inviting them to become part of our team, and reinforce unity among our employees with the umbrella brand “We Are 1.”
We maintain close contacts with leading universities around the world, are involved in international student organizations, and took part in – largely virtual – career fairs during the reporting year. Covestro participates in selected initiatives and networks such as the global student association Enactus and the UNITECH International European engineering network. During the coronavirus pandemic, Covestro continued to maintain the company’s visibility among up-and-coming talent by holding digital career events in cooperation with universities. One example is digital interview training for potential candidates organized in conjunction with the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (United States). Covestro also held digital career advising for students interested in vocational training in Germany.
In fiscal 2020, we also further refined our company’s social media presence. We reach out to various target groups worldwide via social media and digital platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Stack Overflow, and Glassdoor to showcase Covestro as an employer. Covestro posts target group-specific content on local platforms such as XING (Germany, Switzerland) and WeChat (China) to reach professionals and university students. In addition, Covestro actively and effectively manages its reputation on regional and global rating platforms such as kununu and Glassdoor.
Our global recruiting strategy continues to focus on improving the candidate experience for potential new employees. In our recruiting process, we are increasingly concentrating on actively seeking out qualified candidates as well as stepping up our social media activities.
With regard to the coronavirus pandemic, we took steps early on in the reporting period to protect the health of our employees and job candidates in the application process. Even before that, we increasingly shifted HR marketing activities to reach and recruit future employees to online platforms. This transition was accelerated once the coronavirus pandemic started. For instance, we conducted recruiting interviews with candidates worldwide exclusively online.
We take responsibility for the future careers of young people, and during the 2020 fiscal year we gave 188 of them in Germany a start on their career paths. Covestro offers vocational training in a number of scientific, technical, and business-related jobs. If the vocational training is completed successfully, trainees are guaranteed a position with the company. The desire for more diversity and inclusion in the workforce is a driving force for Covestro. In the year 2020, the share of women among total vocational trainees was increased significantly year over year, for example. In addition to the vocational training options we offer in Germany, we bring in high-school and college students to take part in numerous professional internships worldwide each year. This gives them insight into our company’s operations as well as personal experience with Covestro as an employer. During the year 2020, these opportunities were provided mostly online due to the coronavirus pandemic. For instance, six female engineering students from Saudi Arabia took part in a virtual internship as part of the Young Scientist Initiative. Furthermore, Covestro offers varied trainee programs for university graduates in a wide variety of corporate functions.
As an employer, Covestro received major awards again in the reporting period. In Universum’s current ranking of the best employers for young professionals in the sciences, we placed among the top 50 companies in Germany and the top 100 in China for university students of natural sciences. Furthermore, Covestro was named a “Top Employer” in China for the third consecutive time, and ranked second in a list of top companies in Mexico by the business magazine Expansión.
Promoting and developing employees
Well educated and trained staff is crucial for ensuring that the company can develop further, and is essential to the company’s success. We believe in the concept of lifelong learning, so we support our employees in continuing their professional and personal education throughout all phases of their careers.
To this end, we offer a wide range of customized continuing education options for all employees through our in-house learning concept. Numerous in-person classes are available worldwide along with virtual training sessions, each of which focuses on a different target group.
Early in the year 2020, we reorganized our educational activities and strategy. This reorganization was accelerated by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, and the restructured training and education portfolio is now available to employees during the pandemic and beyond in preparation for the future. Our first step was to help employees adapt their work activities to the new conditions brought about by the rise of virtual work. The new training strategy aims to promote on-the-job learning and motivate knowledge holders in the company to share their knowledge more actively. In addition, an online platform called “My Passport to Learn” was made available to staff. This contains Covestro’s most important training content, provided online to promote continual learning and development. The more than 40 learning paths on the platform comprise Covestro’s key educational content and are divided into seven thematic modules, e.g., leadership and digital transformation. They are available free to employees across the globe, who can put together the educational content they want and create an individual continuing education program for themselves.
In the area of personnel development, Covestro used a model with clearly defined core and leadership skills that serves as a reference for all employees during most of the year 2020. In the future, this will be replaced by our new cultural dimensions and the key behaviors newly defined in the reporting year. This is intended to ensure that managers and employees use the same vocabulary and uniform criteria when assessing performance. The model is used to conduct sound career planning, performance assessment, and potential assessment for employees. Moreover, it is also used to refine the requirement profile for top management at Covestro to emphasize the main aspects of leadership behavior in line with our corporate culture. We have also converted our performance assessment approach into an ongoing dialogue between staff and supervisors held during the year, thus ensuring the timely adjustment of goals and priorities. In addition, performance meetings are held between staff and supervisors in which individual strengths and improvement opportunities as well as professional perspectives within the Group are discussed. Managers and employees alike can take the initiative at any time and hold a development dialogue on an ad hoc basis. The contents of these discussions are integrated into the ongoing personnel planning conferences to optimally develop employees in their own best interests and those of the company.
Maintaining a constant dialogue between the employees and management is a key concern for us. To this end, employees can use an application in the human resources system to provide or actively request feedback across hierarchical levels, a feature intended to further reinforce the feedback culture within the company.
The ENGAGE global initiative launched in the fourth quarter of 2019 to measure and improve employee engagement continued successfully in the year 2020. All employees worldwide can provide feedback several times a year by filling out a voluntary, anonymous online survey with standardized questions. This survey is currently carried out every four months to help us understand what is important to our employees in terms of work environment and day-to-day operations. The results are then shared transparently with the employees. Team discussions are held so that employees and supervisors can collaboratively decide on measures to continually improve the working situation.
Participation rates among employees averaging more than 70% in the surveys in the reporting year indicate that employees and supervisors viewed the tool positively. At the same time, improvement in the overall engagement score was observed over the course of the surveys. The engagement score measures company loyalty and is calculated for each category of questions. The July 2020 survey provided insight into the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on key drivers of employee engagement. For example, an analysis of the results regarding work environment as an engagement driver showed that employees in Germany in particular are very interested in flexibility in their choice of workplace and deciding for themselves whether and to what extent they will work from home. This and other insights from dealing with the coronavirus pandemic are currently being systematically analyzed by an interdisciplinary team of representatives from HR and other corporate functions. The objective is to define what remote work will look like at Covestro now and after the pandemic is over. After we completed the introductory phase of the first three survey rounds, Covestro’s Board of Management decided to continue to use ENGAGE as a standardized measure of employee engagement at Covestro.
Compensating employees transparently and competitively
Offering fair compensation in line with the market independent of gender and other diversity criteria is an essential prerequisite for recruiting, retaining, and motivating qualified employees. Covestro therefore combines a base salary reflecting the duties of a position with performance-related compensation components and extensive additional benefits to create an internationally competitive pay package, about which employees are informed transparently.
Tasks and responsibilities are classified on the basis of a job evaluation conducted without considering the individuals in the positions. In the area of managerial functions, an internationally recognized evaluation method is used if the job evaluation has not already been stipulated by a local collective agreement. Based on this classification, the amount of the base salary in all countries is aligned with standard compensation levels in the respective region. Regular compensation benchmarking is conducted to ensure this is maintained for the long term.
Through a bonus program, the Group-wide Covestro Profit Sharing Plan (Covestro PSP), we have made it possible for our employees to participate in the success of the company each year with a uniformly calculated bonus payment. In addition, employees in managerial functions participate in the Prisma global compensation program, which bases payments on the Covestro share price, including comparisons with our competitors, and in this way rewards the long-term changes in the company’s share price. Furthermore, a global budget is available from which supervisors can promptly grant Individual Performance Awards to recognize outstanding conduct, commitment, and the performance of their employees in regard to our corporate values.
In the interest of mitigating the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and safeguarding the liquidity of the company, we introduced various measures in the course of the reporting year to limit personnel costs. Country-specific pay cuts were implemented worldwide between June 1 and November 30, 2020. As a rule, we follow the guiding principle of fair and equitable distribution – across all regions and hierarchies. Board of Management and Supervisory Board members therefore made the largest contribution by taking a 15% pay cut in this period. In Germany, for example, employers and employee representatives agreed on a model stipulating reduced working hours along with reduced wages of up to 10% of their pay for all employee groups, depending on employee category, from June to November 2020. Employees in managerial functions were called upon to voluntarily participate in the program. The gratifyingly high participation rate of around 94% of this employee group indicates the great social cohesion of our workforce. Large numbers of employees also participated in such programs in other countries where they were offered on a voluntary basis. Because the economic situation improved greatly during the second half of fiscal 2020, employees worldwide received a one-time gross payment at year-end to compensate for their participation in the solidarity initiative.
As in previous years, the stock participation program Covestment was offered once again in fiscal 2020 and provided employees with the opportunity to purchase Covestro stocks at a discount. However, in fiscal 2020 the terms were modified from those of the prior year as part of the aforementioned measures to limit personnel costs. A total of 98% of Covestro’s global workforce in 17 countries is thus able to purchase Covestro stock at discounted prices. Around 30% of all eligible employees worldwide took advantage of this offer. The participation rate was 46% in Germany, 24% in the United States, and 21% in China.
Promoting diversity and inclusion
We work to make the world a brighter place. We value differences and advocate for an integrated working environment in which various skills, talents, experiences, and points of view are welcome, and everyone is treated with dignity and respect, both within and outside of our company. It is our conviction that a diverse staff and integrated workplace are key business drivers of innovation, sustainability, and employee engagement, because diverse teams are more creative and make better decisions. Diversity and inclusion therefore contribute directly to the continued success of the company. Covestro is advancing the topics of diversity and inclusion as a core element of its corporate culture. Particular priorities are that people at Covestro can be themselves and unfold their full potential. The inclusion of different perspectives results in more balanced decisions and thus contributes substantially to Covestro’s success.
Our diversity and inclusion strategy is derived from our values and includes the following areas of activity: colleagues, company, and community. These three factors are essential at Covestro for establishing a strong, diverse, inclusive, and innovative work culture at our sites and therefore making a significant contribution to Covestro’s business performance. These three factors help Covestro promote engagement among our employees and external partners; support our efforts to recruit, retain, and ensure the professional development of our employees; expand our supplier diversity; and contribute to directing Covestro’s business strategy.
Our diversity and inclusion strategy
Colleagues – build, engage and develop a strong, diverse workforce
Employee networks are a key factor in involving our staff even more in driving diversity. We want to bring people with similar interests or concerns together in these networks, and promote an exchange of inspiration and ideas to continually strengthen our inclusive work culture. Covestro has many different themed employee networks worldwide. The globally active UNITE network focuses on all issues of concern to our LGBTIQ (lesbian, gay, bi, trans, intersex, queer) community. Employees work on topics of gender equality in the Compass network. During fiscal 2020, we also introduced a framework for all network activities applicable across the globe. It provides all employees worldwide with the same conditions for taking action. We promote these initiatives because they are an important engine for driving inclusion at Covestro.
Company – establish an inclusive, supportive work environment and culture for everyone
Our goal is a diverse workforce, and one of the issues we focus on is gender equality. This is why we would like to hire more women at Covestro. In addition, we want to promote diversity and enable equal opportunity at all levels.
An integral part of inclusion is creating a supportive work environment. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we have stepped up our efforts to enable employees to work remotely. In the future, we would like to continue to offer this work opportunity to interested employees and are currently evaluating the options and conditions to do so.
Community – achieving business objectives through community engagement, supplier diversity, and customer interaction
Promoting diversity is the mission of society as a whole in which each of us shares part of the responsibility. Covestro takes this responsibility seriously and thus proactively promotes diversity. We are also aware that we need to join forces with a variety of players beyond our own activities, because this is the only way that diversity can be sustainably anchored in the company and in society. For this reason, we are further expanding our cooperation with various partners. In Germany, we began working with the PROUT-AT-WORK foundation in the year 2020. This organization actively combats homophobia, transphobia, and biphobia. During the 2020 reporting year, Covestro also became a supporter of the “Komm, mach MINT” initiative, which aims to attract more women to STEM careers (MINT in German). As early as the year 2019, we entered into partnerships in Asia with the sHero Women & Diversity Council, the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) and IWBI MIND Advisory, and the China Human Resources Management Research Institute, which advocate in favor of a number of different diversity, inclusion, and employee health issues.
Targets and an enhanced understanding of diversity and inclusion (D&I) are being further solidified in global action plans and regional implementation teams in all three areas of activity. The Board of Management member responsible for Production and Technology at Covestro is a sponsor and a member of the global D&I committee. Global decisions such as those on diversity targets are additionally made by Covestro’s full Board of Management.
Designing the best possible working conditions and work models
The health, safety, and engagement of our employees are extremely important to us. Our basic principles include the constant monitoring and improvement of occupational safety and the identification of working and organizational conditions that either promote or are detrimental to health. In this context, we offer our employees an extensive selection of preventive health measures featuring programs and initiatives that promote good health. Our focus here is not only the health of individual employees but also current environmental influences, which we actively address. This was true particularly in the first half of the year 2020. In the course of the coronavirus pandemic, we worked with our occupational health agents to deliver online initiatives and plans to support employees in this largely new situation, both when working from home and under changed conditions in the workplace.
The Human Resources corporate function receives assistance in these issues from the Health, Safety, Environment and Quality (HSEQ) and Law, Compliance, and Internal Audit corporate functions, which ensure that all internal guidelines and all relevant labor laws and standards are met.
We also offer modern working conditions to our employees, so that they can be successful in a changing working environment and balance their professional and personal interests. In many countries, we exceed our legal obligations, e.g., by offering solutions such as flexible working hours, part-time work, working from home, and remote work, if this is compatible with operational requirements. A direct dialogue with our employees is also particularly important to us. In this regard, we take into account national and international notification duties.
Our social responsibility as a company and an employer is based on our corporate values and our unreserved commitment to supporting and fostering human rights in our sphere of influence. At Covestro, social responsibility also includes creating working conditions that are based on mutual respect and appreciation among employees and particularly ensure safety, health, and wellbeing in the workplace. Our sustainable personnel policy also features a strong social safety net for our employees.
Moreover, Covestro actively raises awareness of healthy lifestyles with a stable committee structure for workplace health management and a range of initiatives and projects tailored to the individual needs of our employees. This is particularly true in regard to the challenges facing us as a result of digital transformation, demographic change, and the trend toward individualization, or freedom of choice and self-determination for individuals, which are all changing our work and the ways we do it.
We offer comprehensive workplace health management whose focal points are continually developed further in response to health surveys. Our intention is to ensure that all employees have access to suitable and affordable health services such as sports programs, regular medical check-ups, help in overcoming illness and on-site medical care, particularly with regard to psychosocial counseling. The nature and scope of the health promotion programs differ around the world with regard to the respective country-specific level of development and access to national health systems. We offer our employees comprehensive measures aimed at preventing illness or maintaining good health, in many cases exceeding statutory requirements. In order to help employees maintain their physical and mental health during the coronavirus pandemic, these offerings were expanded in the year 2020 to include new programs such as virtual ergonomics consulting, exercise breaks, and health and mindfulness training.
New, flexible working environments for improved contact and communication
Work environments, work content, and working methods are undergoing constant changes due to digital transformation and the increasing speed of change and complexity at our workplace. In order to meet these ever-changing requirements, Covestro provides a modern working environment that promotes flexible ways of working. This applies particularly to cases such as moving into or creating new workspaces. We have already proven at many sites that this flexible working concept is successful, including in Brazil, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, and China. Another new office building that we are using as our new corporate headquarters opened for business in November 2020 at the Leverkusen (Germany) location. On account of the coronavirus pandemic, employees will move into the building gradually while adhering to health precautions and in coordination with the return of employees to other buildings in 2021. Covestro prioritizes a working environment that promotes learning and development while supporting agility and the exchange of knowledge. To achieve this, we provide not only the appropriate facilities, but also the IT infrastructure and media technology that works simply and intuitively.
We call this work environment, which promotes flexible collaboration, our C3 way of working based on our C3 values. At the heart of this philosophy is our conviction that all our employees, regardless of their status in the hierarchy, need working environments suitable to their duties to be able to work effectively. In this way, we want to enable changes in perspective and drive creativity in the company. Open-plan office environments combined with flexible work concepts encourage contact and the exchange of information across team and departmental boundaries and thus strengthen communication and interdisciplinary cooperation. Active change management prepares employees for and involves them in shaping new work environments.
Our managers play a special role in this system. In addition to implementing/modeling established leadership standards and modern work methods, they increasingly collaborate with their employees to develop flexible and customized solutions to support Covestro’s efforts to extract maximum potential from this new work environment.
Employee metrics in detail
Diversity and internationality
As of December 31, 2020, Covestro had 16,501 employees worldwide comprising 81 different nationalities, 76.7% of whom were male and 23.3% were female. Eleven nationalities are represented at the executive management level.
The majority of Covestro’s employees (56.6%) worked in the EMLA region. The APAC region accounted for 27.0% of our employees, while 16.4% of the workforce was based in the NAFTA region.
The company-wide Diversity and Inclusion program aims to make progress on and promote diversity in the Group.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
EMLA |
|
NAFTA |
|
APAC |
|
Total |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Women |
|
Men |
|
Women |
|
Men |
|
Women |
|
Men |
|
|||||
Employees with permanent contracts |
|
1,906 |
|
7,280 |
|
601 |
|
2,091 |
|
1,255 |
|
3,158 |
|
16,292 |
||||
Employees with temporary contracts |
|
53 |
|
104 |
|
1 |
|
9 |
|
24 |
|
18 |
|
209 |
||||
Total |
|
1,960 |
|
7,384 |
|
602 |
|
2,100 |
|
1,279 |
|
3,176 |
|
16,501 |
||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
Women |
|
Men |
|
Total |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part-time |
|
704 |
|
1,997 |
|
2,701 |
||||
Full-time |
|
3,239 |
|
10,749 |
|
13,988 |
||||
Total |
|
3,943 |
|
12,746 |
|
16,689 |
||||
|
||||||||||
The percentages of male and female employees by employee group have remained largely constant.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Employee group |
|
Women |
|
Men |
|
Total |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Upper management |
|
2.6% |
|
9.6% |
|
12.2% |
||||
Junior management |
|
6.8% |
|
16.8% |
|
23.6% |
||||
Skilled workers |
|
13.9% |
|
50.3% |
|
64.2% |
||||
Total |
|
23.3% |
|
76.7% |
|
100.0% |
||||
Employees in vocational training |
|
17.8% |
|
82.2% |
|
100.0% |
||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Employee group |
|
< 30 years |
|
30 to 49 years |
|
≥ 50 years |
|
Total |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Upper management |
|
0.0% |
|
6.1% |
|
6.1% |
|
12.2% |
||||
Junior management |
|
1.0% |
|
15.3% |
|
7.3% |
|
23.6% |
||||
Skilled workers |
|
11.2% |
|
33.1% |
|
19.9% |
|
64.2% |
||||
Total |
|
12.2% |
|
54.5% |
|
33.3% |
|
100.0% |
||||
|
||||||||||||
Work-life balance
We support work-life balance for our employees. For instance, partnerships with day care centers and financial support for vacation care for school-age children are among the solutions we offer to make combining work with family responsibilities easier. The programs offered by Covestro can differ from site to site.
Provided it is compatible with operational requirements, Covestro allows employees to take extended leave from work for personal projects such as scientific research, university studies, or other purely personal reasons. Employees around the world take advantage of this offer from time to time.
Attracting and retaining qualified employees
New hires
We welcome applications from all candidates, irrespective of their ethnic origin, nationality, religion, ideology, gender, age, disability, appearance, and/or sexual identity. We are committed to the principle of treating all applicants fairly and avoiding discrimination of any kind.
Covestro promotes young talent through internships, vocational training, and trainee programs. Worldwide, the company employed 224 interns in the year 2020, even under the difficult conditions of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the reporting year, 766 new employees were hired worldwide, the majority of whom are based in the EMLA region.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
EMLA |
|
NAFTA |
|
APAC |
|
Total |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Absolute |
|
% |
|
Absolute |
|
% |
|
Absolute |
|
% |
|
Absolute |
|
% |
||||
Women |
|
134 |
|
17.5% |
|
21 |
|
2.8% |
|
69 |
|
9.0% |
|
224 |
|
29.3% |
||||
< 30 years |
|
82 |
|
10.7% |
|
9 |
|
1.2% |
|
35 |
|
4.6% |
|
126 |
|
16.5% |
||||
30 to 49 years |
|
50 |
|
6.6% |
|
9 |
|
1.2% |
|
31 |
|
4.0% |
|
90 |
|
11.8% |
||||
≥ 50 years |
|
2 |
|
0.2% |
|
3 |
|
0.4% |
|
3 |
|
0.4% |
|
8 |
|
1.0% |
||||
Men |
|
403 |
|
52.6% |
|
52 |
|
6.7% |
|
87 |
|
11.4% |
|
542 |
|
70.7% |
||||
< 30 years |
|
235 |
|
30.7% |
|
19 |
|
2.5% |
|
43 |
|
5.6% |
|
297 |
|
38.8% |
||||
30 to 49 years |
|
151 |
|
19.7% |
|
30 |
|
3.9% |
|
42 |
|
5.5% |
|
223 |
|
29.1% |
||||
≥ 50 years |
|
17 |
|
2.2% |
|
3 |
|
0.3% |
|
2 |
|
0.3% |
|
22 |
|
2.8% |
||||
Total |
|
537 |
|
70.1% |
|
73 |
|
9.5% |
|
156 |
|
20.4% |
|
766 |
|
100.0% |
||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Attrition rate
Employee attritions in the different regions and age groups varied widely in some cases. Independent research indicates that younger employees are often more likely to change jobs. The increase in attritions was also a result of the sale of the PCS sheets business at the start of the reporting year and the demographically driven higher number of age-related departures.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
EMLA |
|
NAFTA |
|
APAC |
|
Total |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Absolute |
|
% |
|
Absolute |
|
% |
|
Absolute |
|
% |
|
Absolute |
|
% |
||||
Women |
|
202 |
|
9.8% |
|
51 |
|
8.3% |
|
127 |
|
9.7% |
|
380 |
|
9.5% |
||||
< 30 years |
|
42 |
|
10.7% |
|
5 |
|
6.1% |
|
22 |
|
14.4% |
|
69 |
|
11.0% |
||||
30 to 49 years |
|
82 |
|
7.6% |
|
19 |
|
6.2% |
|
81 |
|
7.7% |
|
182 |
|
7.4% |
||||
≥ 50 years |
|
78 |
|
13.1% |
|
27 |
|
11.9% |
|
24 |
|
22.5% |
|
129 |
|
13.8% |
||||
Men |
|
628 |
|
8.0% |
|
176 |
|
8.1% |
|
183 |
|
5.7% |
|
987 |
|
7.5% |
||||
< 30 years |
|
117 |
|
8.7% |
|
17 |
|
7.0% |
|
42 |
|
10.4% |
|
176 |
|
8.8% |
||||
30 to 49 years |
|
191 |
|
5.9% |
|
40 |
|
4.2% |
|
103 |
|
4.2% |
|
334 |
|
5.0% |
||||
≥ 50 years |
|
320 |
|
9.9% |
|
119 |
|
12.3% |
|
38 |
|
9.9% |
|
477 |
|
10.4% |
||||
Total |
|
830 |
|
8.4% |
|
227 |
|
8.2% |
|
310 |
|
6.8% |
|
1,367 |
|
7.9% |
||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Compliance and compensation
Covestro regards fair and respectful working conditions as essential. We provide information, advice, and resources to prevent violations of laws or corporate policies. If any breach is suspected, employees can contact the Compliance Officer in their country at any time, anonymously if they wish. All suspected breaches of compliance are recorded using standard Group-wide criteria. This applies to all labor law-related matters such as working conditions, possible cases of discrimination, and potential violations of the rights to exercise freedom of association and collective bargaining, as well as generally with regard to human rights. If material risks arise from legal disputes and proceedings, they are published in the notes to the consolidated financial statements.
In the year under review, around 55% of our employees worldwide, mainly in Central Europe and South Korea, were subject to collective bargaining or company agreements. At various country subsidiaries, the interests of the workforce are represented by elected employee representatives who have a right to be consulted on certain decisions affecting the workforce.
Covestro offers its employees competitive compensation and attaches importance to equal pay regardless of gender and other diversity criteria. As of December 31, 2020, around 77% of the workforce had access to a company pension plan. At all locations, personnel policy is aligned with the statutory requirements, such as those for severance, pre-retirement, and retirement payments. For instance, in Germany employees are able to transfer salary and time components (converted into money) into a long-term account. The accumulated balance can then be used at a later date for certain legally defined purposes such as pre-retirement leave.