9 Employees

Positive business performance and acquisitions increase headcount

On 31 December 2011, the KION Group employed 21,862 people (including trainees and apprentices), roughly 62 per cent of whom worked outside Germany in 27 different countries. The number of employees a year earlier had been 19,968.

The significant increase in headcount was a result of the KION Group's strong performance and the acquisition of companies abroad. The United Kingdom and India saw particularly sharp rises owing to the acquisition of the UK dealer Linde Sterling and the establishment of Voltas Material Handling. Personnel resources were expanded in Germany and China, above all in production, to cope with increased demand. Across the Company as a whole, the number of employees increased by 9.5 per cent year on year.

In line with the expansion in headcount during 2011, personnel expenses advanced to €1,064 million (2010: €968 million) – an increase of 9.9 per cent. The personnel expenses ratio fell again, from 27.4 per cent in 2010 to 24.3 per cent in the reporting year, owing to the increased capacity utilisation in all segments of the Group on the back of increased market demand.

Consolidation of locations with minimum possible social impact

The KION Group has decided to further consolidate its production operations within Europe. As part of this, the Company plans to relocate the manufacture of warehouse trucks from Montataire (France) to Luzzara (Italy) and to shift production of counterbalance trucks from Bari (Italy) to Hamburg (Germany). The KION Group has been cooperating closely with the responsible employee representatives and other partners within the company from an early stage in order to implement the two projects. It is examining all the options to ensure that it consolidates the locations in the most socially compatible way.

Investing in the future with training

With a total of 621 (2010: 557) trainees and apprentices at the end of 2011, the Group continued to invest in training and development at the same high level to ensure that it can continue to recruit as many as possible of the skilled workers it requires inhouse. The proportion of trainees and apprentices in Germany remained stable at 5.1 per cent in 2011.

Securing tomorrow's potential with strategic executive development

The KION Group continued to establish talent and succession management in 2011 as a key element of strategic staff development. It has revised its annual management review so as to enable it to fill key positions across the Group with highly qualified executive talent. This tool is used to identify high-potential staff and young talent in the Group and then give them targeted support, such as participating in programmes in different brand companies and countries.

The KION Group uses 360-degree feedback for the development of its specialist workers and executives. In this scheme, employees assess their own skills and performance and receive feedback from colleagues. Based on the results, a personal development plan is then drawn up and put into action.

The Management Board of Linde Material Handling has initiated 'The Linde Way', a long-term corporate development programme for the brand that aims to bring business activities into line with the company's vision and strategic objectives. The concept, which was completed in 2011, will define management principles and guidelines for establishing a global performance culture and ensuring a high level of staff loyalty. Reports on the project's progress are produced each month, and the first results are expected as early as this year.

Partial retirement models and occupational pension scheme as voluntary employee benefits

The KION Group as an employer helps its employees to transition smoothly into retirement within the framework of local legal requirements. In Germany, for example, a partial retirement model consisting of two blocks is used: a working phase followed by a non-working phase. As at 31 December 2011, 412 employees of the KION Group in Germany were partially retired.

The KION Group regards offering an occupational pension scheme as an important element of the employee/employer relationship. It arranges and offers such schemes in the various countries depending on local legal requirements. For example, the KION Group offers its employees in Germany attractive occupational pension scheme options, including both direct insurance and a direct pension entitlement scheme.

Direct insurance comes in the form of a tax-privileged endowment insurance or pension insurance policy, which the employer takes out with an insurance company on behalf of the employee as a form of occupational pension scheme. The employee pays the insurance premiums in the form of deferred compensation, which means that part of his or her gross remuneration is paid directly into the insurance policy. The direct insurance policy is paid out to the employee when it matures, which will be no sooner than the employee's 60th birthday. The benefits are paid either to the employee or to his or her surviving dependants.

Under the direct pension entitlement scheme, which the KION Group operates in Germany in accordance with various pension benefit conditions and the pension plan, the employer pays the contributions into the occupational pension scheme directly. In contrast to direct insurance, the KION Group as employer undertakes to provide the entitled employee with benefits in the form of a lump sum or a pension when the employee retires dies or becomes unable to work.

The KION pension plan offers a further element to the occupational pension scheme for employees in the KION Group. The advantage is that employees can defer compensation and thereby taxation on it as well as making use of allowances for occupational pension schemes under collective pay agreements for the German metals industry. As at 31 December 2011, 1,181 employees were in the KION pension plan.

Outside Germany, the brand companies in the KION Group also offer occupational pension schemes, for example in the United Kingdom, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

Competitive advantages of diversity

As a global company, the KION Group benefits from national, cultural and social diversity. In the year under review, it employed people of more than 40 nationalities in Germany. Globally, employees of around 70 nationalities work for the KION Group. Because the Company is headquartered in Germany, people from this country make up the largest proportion of staff (36.6 per cent) – as they have in previous years. They are followed by French staff (14.9 per cent) and Chinese staff (12.9 per cent), which is in line with market share.

Female employees made up around 14.7 per cent of the KION Group's workforce as at the end of 2011. The proportion of female managers rose significantly year on year to 8.2 per cent.

Tackling demographic change with optimum working conditions

Demographic change is having an increasing impact on the competitiveness of many companies, particularly in Europe and North America. The KION Group has deliberately set itself the task of finding the best way to use the potential of older and experienced employees in the Company and to create the optimum working conditions for older employees.

At the end of the year under review, approximately 23 per cent of the KION Group's workforce were more than 50 years old and 57.5 per cent were aged between 30 and 50. Based on the situation at the end of 2011, more than a third of staff will be over the age of 50 by 2015. The KION Group began preparing itself for this predicted age structure at an early stage and has launched various age management projects. Its overarching aim is to always be able to offer all its employees the ideal conditions for their work.