As an internationally operating company, we rely on well qualified, flexible, and highly motivated employees, whose experience, talents and skills reflect the diversity of our markets and customers.  We consistently foster our employees’ development and link their personal commitment to the Company’s success. We do this through target-oriented management, performance-related remuneration, regular assessments, and continuous learning.

Our corporate culture and positive work climate, together with our employees’ motivation, contribute decisively to our  corporate success. We recognize our obligation to respect the personal dignity and guard the privacy rights of all of our employees, and to apply the principles of equality and fairness. Both of these elements are embodied as essential behavioral rules in our Code of Conduct. A top priority at Henkel is the health and safety of all employees. We strive to continuously improve occupational health and safety. Specially designed programs promote good health and ensure our employees’ long-term capacity to work.

Henkel relies on employees whose experience, talents and skills reflect the diversity of its markets and customers. The growing international character of Henkel therefore calls for the establishment of worldwide human resources structures. A major challenge is the creation of a global corporate culture, one which encourages all employees to take individual responsibility for their thoughts and actions. Due to the opening up and development of new markets, the proportion of Henkel employees outside Germany is currently around 81 percent:

In the fall of 2006, we carried out our third global management survey since 2001 using the Denison organizational culture indicators. Through regular and systematic surveys of our corporate culture and action programs based on the results of these surveys, we aim to achieve long-term improvements in the foundations for growth, profitability, innovation, and employee satisfaction. The fact that the response rate went up again – by another 5 percentage points, to 85 percent – demonstrates how important our managers find the survey and the measures derived from it.

After the second survey in 2004, managerial staff launched about 600 targeted projects worldwide, aimed at solving specific problems. The 2006 results now showed that there have been clear improvements in all four areas – adaptability, vision and strategy, consistency of values, and employee involvement. Factors that have contributed to this include a better understanding of our corporate strategy at the lower management level and an extremely positive rating of cooperation, team-orientation and consistency.

In addition to the management survey, Henkel carries out surveys of non-managerial employees, which are implemented individually, depending on the needs and country.

Managers with the personality to motivate a team of employees are a key factor in the success of our Company. Henkel uses a range of tools and methods to identify and foster the potential of future managers. The Code of Teamwork and Leadership defines the general framework within which managers should operate and gives them clear guidelines for decision-making. The “Management Competencies Assessment” (MCA) serves to promote professional development. In the “Leadership Dialogue,” managers with supervisory duties receive direct feedback regarding their leadership performance from the members of their teams. Through the “Triple Two” concept, junior managers are prepared for the demands of higher management by being given at least two different tasks in two business sectors and in two business sectors and in two countries.

Each Henkel employee spends an average of about 2 days each year participating in job-related and personal development seminars for the purpose of acquiring skills above and beyond those gained during ongoing training in the workplace. These activities are supplemented by the intranet-based “Click and Learn” portal, which was introduced in 2001. It provides learning opportunities online – especially software, language and management courses. This makes it possible for a wide circle of employees to acquire new knowledge individually at the times that suit them best. The use of online learning to prepare for and follow up on classical seminars that require personal attendance is especially effective.

The recognition of individual performance encourages employees to think and act like an entrepreneur and strengthens motivation. Henkel has implemented a globally consistent system of performance-related remuneration for its managerial staff. Corporate, team and individual targets link individual achievement incentives with Henkel’s strategic focus.

This principle also applies to non-managerial employees. Approximately 65 percent of them are covered by a performance-based incentive system that enables them to share in the economic success of the Company and its subsidiaries. The design of these schemes reflects local needs and requirements.

Continuously rising life expectancy and falling birth rates will result, medium- to long-term, in marked changes in the population structure of many industrialized countries. In aging societies, it will be more important than ever for companies to ensure that their employees remain fit. Henkel has prepared for this by establishing targeted health promotion programs and providing continuous training for employees of all ages. The health programs of individual Henkel companies are designed to take national and cultural factors into account.