Employees

There was an increase in the number of employees (full-time equivalents, FTEs), with 22,724 people employed as at 30 September 2014 compared with 22,273 at the end of 2013. The addition of 513 FTEs in the third quarter was primarily due to the expansion of production, service and development in the Linde Material Handling and STILL segments. Most of the hiring took place in western Europe and Asia; this affected the regional breakdown only marginally.

Personnel expenses went up by 3.8 per cent to €862.7 million (Q1 – Q3 2013: €830.8 million) on the back of changes to collective bargaining agreements and the additions to the group of consolidated companies. >> Table 16