Society
Diversity
Promoting diversity on an equal footing
The globalization of our markets brings together many different cultures. We also reflect this diversity in our workforce. Our values form the central foundation for our international cooperation. They reflect the common ground of all employees in the CHT Group from more than 30 nationalities serving customers from over 100 countries worldwide. This diversity also has multiple meanings for the CHT Group:
- Unique talents: recognition and appreciation of each unique talent and the way of thinking of each employee.
- Gender: equal respect of men and women with the offer of equal opportunities in the CHT Group.
- Nationality/Culture: recognition of the nationality and culture of each staff member.
- Age/Generation: appreciation and use of the leverage effect of difference in age and generation.
Diversity also refers to the demographic situation at our company. Within the CHT Group this varies greatly from region to region. The common goal is to maintain the ability of our employees to work in all phases of life and to ensure the availability of skilled workers in the long term. Teams of mixed ages can also benefit from linking different skills and perspectives. The following measures were implemented to take account of the demographic situation.
- Flexible working time models: There are more than 80 different working time models across the CHT Group.
- Individual opportunities for further education: Each member of staff can be individually trained.
- Operational health management: At many sites our staff can participate in sports programs or see the in-house doctor.
- Succession and substitute planning: To ensure adequately staffed positions at any time the German CHT sites have a five-year long succession and substitute planning program. The key and expert positions are defined within individual areas. We aim at introducing this succession and substitute planning programme worldwide.
- Age development scenarios: They are also developed at all German sites every 5 – 10 years.
- In addition, we employ well-trained and qualified junior staff on a needs-based personnel strategy.
We also promote diversity in management development. For example, this global approach is reflected in the high proportion of senior executives from countries other than Germany. In the meantime, 66% of management positions in the CHT Group are filled internationally. In our company men and women generally get identical application and career chances and they have access to the same opportunities for further education and training. In this way, we also try to further increase the proportion of women in all our management levels. The higher share of men in our executive levels has its root cause in the history of the chemical industry which was mainly dominated by men. In 2020, the worldwide share of female staff within the Group amounted to approx. 31% and has not changed compared to last year. The reason for the still low level of female employees is the large proportion of production sites. These still have a significantly higher proportion of men. The proportion of international senior executives and women in management positions is to be further increased within the CHT Group by 2025.
