To date, this understanding has not been captured with the use of performance indicators, but we are enacting a variety of measures to underpin our commitment to social corporate leadership. As a signee of the Charta für Vielfalt we are specifically committed to anchoring a deep understanding of the valuable diversity of colleagues throughout our workforce with measures such as an annual “Day of Action.”
As in previous years, our focus in 2017 was on equality between men and women. In addition, we have paid even greater attention to the needs of different age groups / generational difference of our employees. Our high level of commitment continued to be to seen in our Employees and applicants with a refugee background.
We have also taken these findings into account in the development of our interactive idea management system "Steps". All employees can participate actively and in exchange with others, from the development of an idea to its implementation. See -Time spent at work is time spent living
»I believe that a diverse workforce is more capable of promoting creativity and, above all, innovation than one that is largely homogeneous.«
As a company, our goal is to avoid barriers to motivation. We would rather create the ideal conditions for our employees to be intrinsically motivated and to develop their best performance. In a climate that encourages and respects diversity and equal opportunity, this can be very successful.
We also understand the active and intensive development of our culture of trust to be a means that supports us along this path. A foundation of trust.
»It is important to us to perceive people holistically in the selection process, instead of being guided by certain patterns.«
As a company oriented toward sustainability and social activism, the ecological and civic involvement of our employees is at least as important as school grades or certificates.
In this sense, we also offer attractive employment opportunities to lateral hires who have the appropriate personal and methodological skills.
As family-friendly company, VAUDE specifically supports women on maternity leave so that they can quickly return to work. This explicitly includes women in management positions. With this in mind, we have defined a clear process that makes it possible for women in particular to do some of their work from home. With regular meetings for all employees on parental leave, we strive as a company to stay in contact with our colleagues and to strengthen their solidarity with VAUDE. See also Balancing professional and private life is important to us.
After parental leave, VAUDE tries hard to meet the interests of returnees. This has an impact, for example, on our high proportion of part-time employees, which was a good 45 % in 2017.
Especially at VAUDE's top management level, we are sticking to our medium-term goal of further increasing the proportion of women from the current 33 %. In the second management level, there is still the greatest need for development in terms of the proportion of women, which currently stands at 24 %. To this end, it has increased further at the third management level - 58 % of our team leaders are women.
We are pleased to have a very low turnover rate, which we would like to maintain. For this reason, we can only make substantial changes in the ratio of women in management over the long term.
However, this leaves room for salary differences, e.g. due to individual work experience and performance. We publish the functional levels and compensation ranges on the intranet to increase the transparency of our wage structures.
In addition, our salary system defines an internal minimum wage for permanent employees that is above the statutory minimum wage.
VAUDE also offers a range of discounts and additional services, such as e-bike rental, free sports courses as part of the corporate Health Management System special employee prices for VAUDE products and the option to lease a bike at a discount with "Jobrad".
An indication of the appropriateness and fairness of the salary policy at VAUDE is also provided by the consideration of the salary spread. The ratio between the highest salary and the lowest salary at VAUDE is 8.51, which we consider to be exemplary in comparison with known case studies from the economy. Interns, trainees and part-time employees are excluded from our calculation.
We regularly review wage distribution and monitor emerging imbalances as part of our personnel budget process. It goes without saying that our employees can participate in the Wage Transparency Act and receive information on how their own wages are classified in relation to their peer group in the personnel area.
A recent analysis of salaries in the functional spectrum between specialists and department heads repeatedly confirmed that the salaries of women and men are equally high on average. Occasionally, higher average values for women or men can be observed at certain functional levels. These differences balance each other out. They mainly result from the length of active service with the company of the respective employees.
For example, we have published portraits and interviews of "generation tandems" on our intranet to demonstrate successful cooperation between employees of different age groups.
In addition, our division heads and our employee representatives jointly held a diversity day on the subject of age, which was attended by representatives of the Netzwerks Antidiskriminierung e.V. Here we determined what age means for VAUDE and which strategies we need in order to dismantle possible hurdles in the best possible way and to promote potential. In the coming years, we will be looking intensively at options such as gradual retirement or distribution of tasks in line with strengths.
We would like to express the social orientation of our company even more strongly in the future by hiring people with disabilities for certain positions.
In recent years, we had set ourselves the goal of improving job opportunities for people with disabilities at VAUDE and of hiring more people with disabilities in a targeted manner. So far, we have only partially achieved this goal. The high dynamic and broad range of issues were partly responsible for this.
With our holistic approach to diversity and equal opportunities, we will also pay greater attention to this in the future. For example, we will take a good look at which company divisions have positions that can be filled by people with disabilities and which tasks are particularly suitable for them. This applies both to permanent employment opportunities and internships. This also includes defining adapted processes in the filling of positions that allow for inclusion.
| GRI: | 405-2 |
| GRI: | 405-1 |
| GRI: | 406-1 |
