Employees

The KION Group’s success is founded on the capabilities and commitment of its employees. Its human resources (HR) strategy is geared towards providing the best possible support for strategic development and international growth. The KION Group aims to always have a sufficient number of qualified, committed employees at all levels of its operations and to offer them attractive working conditions and the opportunities afforded by working for an international group of companies. This strategy also enables the Company to tackle the challenges of demographic change.

The KION Group has strengthened its employer brands, particularly those of LMH and STILL. In 2014, STILL was recognised as one of Germany’s best employers by the Top Employers Institute, an international certification organisation, for the third time in a row. It also received a ‘Germany’s Top Employers’ award from the CRF Institute.

The average number of employees (full-time equivalents (FTEs), including trainees and apprentices) in the KION Group was 22,438 in 2014 (2013: 21,632 FTEs). As at 31 December 2014, the KION Group companies employed 22,669 FTEs, 396 more than a year earlier.

Much of this increase was accounted for by the rise in headcount at STILL GmbH in Hamburg – mainly in production and logistics departments – and at LMH China. This increase was partly offset by a reduction in employee numbers, primarily accounted for by the loss of 66 jobs at the plant in Merthyr Tydfil (UK), which closed in 2014, and the disposal of Willenbrock Arbeitsbühnen GmbH & Co KG, which included the transfer of its 58 employees.

At regional level, there were only slight changes in headcount overall. The increases in Germany and China were attributable to the factors mentioned above. There were also substantial rises in growth markets such as Poland. > TABLE 030

Personnel expenses amounted to €1,231.9 million. The main reason for this advance of 7.7 per cent compared with 2013 was the increase in average headcount for 2014 and changes to collective bargaining agreements. > TABLE 031

The KION Group sees itself as a global manufacturer with strong intercultural awareness: as at 31 December 2014, people from 69 different countries were employed across the KION Group.

One of the ways in which the Company promotes international collaboration between employees is the KION expat programme, which gives employees the opportunity to transfer to different countries where the KION Group is represented.

The KION Group tackles the challenges of demographic change by providing working conditions that are suited to employees’ age-related requirements and organising healthy-living programmes so that it can continue to benefit from older employees’ experience. As at 31 December 2014, 24.2 per cent of employees were over the age of 50 (31 December 2013: 23.5 per cent). A total of 192 employees were participating in partial retirement models as at the reporting date (31 December 2013: 250).

An important diversity objective is increasing the proportion of female employees. The proportion of the total workforce made up of women remained stable at 16.1 per cent in 2014 (2013: 16.1 per cent). However, the proportion of management positions occupied by women rose slightly, from 8.0 per cent in 2013 to 8.2 per cent in 2014. Back in 2013, the Executive Board resolved to double the proportion of women in management positions by 2020. Going forward, the KION Group intends to fill more management positions with employees from outside Germany in order to better reflect the Company’s international make-up.

The KION Group offers flexible working-time models that promote a good work-life balance. In addition, Linde Material Handling has implemented a company agreement about ‘teleworking / home office’, which stipulates the terms on which employees can work at home on a mutually agreed and voluntary basis.

Finding highly qualified people to fill specialist and executive positions is crucial to the KION Group’s success. As a result, one of the focuses of HR work across the Group was again the recruitment and development of suitable young talent in 2014.

The KION Group endeavours to offer its employees interesting career opportunities and flexible, family-friendly working-time models. The Group companies also collaborate closely on areas such as talent management and training & development programmes. This helps to systematically identify and support staff with potential, high performers and experts in key functions. Organised in cooperation with the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT), KION Campus is an international, cross-brand executive development programme aimed at the Group’s 300 or so top executives. In addition, new managers at STILL receive support under the First Leading programme during their first few years. Prospective managers can enhance their skills through STILL’s Young Professional programme, while highly talented staff around the world can participate in the International Junior Circle. The STILL Academy offers subject-specific and interdisciplinary training courses. Opportunities at Linde Material Handling include a virtual assessment centre for future managers.

The companies in the KION Group currently offer training for 21 professions in Germany. They employed a total of 577 trainees and apprentices as at 31 December 2014 (31 December 2013: 591). The ratio of trainees and apprentices to other employees therefore remains at a steady, high level. Besides providing dual vocational training schemes, KION Group companies offer work placements for students combining vocational training with a degree course in cooperation with various universities.

Having successfully floated on the stock exchange, the KION Group launched the KION Employee Equity Programme (KEEP) in 2014. Initially limited to Germany, the programme is to be successively rolled out to other countries. In 2014, around 1,800 employees in Germany participated in this share matching programme, which means around 24 per cent of the employees in Germany who were eligible to take part became employee shareholders. Following the successful introduction in Germany, the plan for 2015 is to extend KEEP to China, France, Italy and the United Kingdom so that employees there also have the opportunity to share in the Company’s success.

In 2014, the remuneration of the Group’s 300 or so top executives was aligned with that of the Executive Board by introducing a remuneration component designed to provide a long-term incentive. The first tranche of the KION Long-Term Incentive Programme (LIFT) was issued in the reporting year.

The KION Group’s products and services destined for its customers are produced by committed and motivated employees. That is why all KION companies aim to ensure a high level of employee commitment. LMH surveyed a total of 8,480 employees in China, France, Germany and the United Kingdom on this subject in 2014, with a response rate of 74 per cent. The results of the survey were presented and discussed in all departments, enabling improvement measures to then be identified. These measures were focused on establishing a culture of open dialogue and discussion within teams and between the Company and its employees.

In the reporting year, the KION Group continued to expand its activities relating to health, safety and the environment (HSE). A corporate policy sets out the KION Group’s obligations, which include taking comprehensive precautions to create a safe working environment and ensuring employees know how to avoid risks and accidents.

HSE activities centre on an internal audit programme, which covers all of the Group’s production facilities. The aim of the regular audits is to systematically document existing HSE measures and processes and provide specific ideas for how they can be developed further (more details can be found in the ‘sustainability’ section).

The health rate for 2014 stood at the high level of 96.5 per cent. Fewer workplace accidents were registered than in 2013.

STILL worked on implementing its detailed three-step concept for health, safety and the environment in the year under review. All managers had attended comprehensive training on HSE in 2013, and the courses were extended to all production and logistics employees in 2014. Two pilot projects on behaviour-based safety were also launched. Their objective is to create greater awareness of health and safety in the workplace and therefore to further reduce the number of accidents. At STILL in Hamburg, the company doctor works closely with safety officers to optimise ergonomics at employees’ workstations in order to lower health risks and the risk of accidents caused by working conditions. Healthy-eating initiatives also continued.

Last year, more than 2,300 Linde Material Handling employees attended training courses designed to promote a culture of safety.