In the financial year just ended we carried out an international, Group-wide employee survey for the first time. The purpose of this survey was, in the first place, to continue the dialogue initiated in recent years on a consistent understanding of values and leadership. For this reason, the questions centred above all on the extent to which our Values and Management Principles – which have been defined as mandatory Group-wide – are known and embodied in practice. Secondly, we inquired into our employees’ connection and dedication to the company and explored the status of (international) cooperation.

The survey was conducted in October 2015 with the support of an external opinion research and management consulting firm. Overall participation came in at a solid level of just under 70% of all surveyed staff. A very high degree of overall satisfaction among our staff can be identified as a central finding. This is true both of the average evaluation across all questions and for virtually all individual questions. The considerable motivation and dedication expressed by our staff is especially gratifying. As far as potential scope for improvement is concerned, they identified a more broad-based system of remuneration and further optimisation of the support provided for their ongoing individual training.

On the basis of these insights we shall evaluate the findings in detail in the current financial year and initiate measures. The goals will be to leverage higher-order potential scope for improvement and to support the individual units as they explore the findings of relevance to them.