Diversity in a world that’s worth living in
35 percent of leadership positions filled by women
Diversity in our workforce and equal opportunity for all, regardless of individual factors, is not just a matter of course for us; it’s a matter that is truly close to our hearts. Nevertheless, we do not currently have formulations for a corresponding management approach that reflects this.
We see ourselves as a socially responsible company and try to implement our convictions in our daily interactions. Our slogan also reflects our company values and what we stand for: "dedicated to making (y)our world a better place”. While this understanding cannot be captured in facts and figures, we are implementing measures that underpin our commitment to social leadership.
| GRI: | LA12 |
| GRI: | DMA Diversity and Equal Opportunity |
Each employee is respected and accepted
A diversified workforce in which everyone is respected and accepted promotes innovation and creativity. As a European brand in a dynamic and competitive market, we are particularly dependent on innovation and creativity. We serve a diverse, international audience that covers a broad age range. Diversity in the workforce is a major advantage in meeting their different needs.
Furthermore our employee’s motivation is important to us. Unfair treatment or even the subjective impression of it is a significant de-motivational factor.
As a company, our goal is to avoid barriers to motivation, create the ideal conditions for our employees to be intrinsically motivated and able to provide us with their best performance. This can be very successful in a climate that encourages and respects diversity and equal opportunity.
Recruitment under the German Anti-discrimination Act
Independently from this, we are always looking for the best employees. Our social beliefs and values, but also a foreseeable shortage of skilled workers, discourages us from selecting our employees based on aspects such as age, gender, sexual orientation or nationality.
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"Gender, race and ethnicity play no role in filling vacancies." Helmut Norwat, Head of Human Ressource
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Diversity factors such as gender, skin color or ethnic origin do not affect recruitment at VAUDE. Vacancies are advertised and filled in accordance with the Anti-Discrimination Act.
Lateral hires are also welcome
As a sustainability-oriented and socially active company, the ecological and civic engagement of our employees is at least as important as school grades or certificates.
Therefore, we are in favor of both 1. offering attractive employment opportunities to lateral hires, regardless of their origin, skin color or gender with equivalent qualifications and 2. accepting candidates as trainees, even when they do not have optimum school grades.
Targeted promotion of women
As a family-friendly company, VAUDE provides targeted support for women on maternity leave so that they can quickly return to work. This explicitly includes women in management positions. To this end, we have defined a clear process which includes allowing women to do some of their work from home. As a company, we strive to stay in touch with these colleagues with regular meetings of all employees on parental leave to emphasize their solidarity with VAUDE - see "Family in the best sense".
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“We want more women in management positions. Therefore we are supporting a gender quota for women on a political level” Antje von Dewitz, CEO
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35 percent of management are women
Furthermore, the appointment of women to senior management positions is a major concern. Our CEO position is filled by a woman, and in addition, 16 of our 46 executives in 2013 were women, which corresponds to a rate of 35 percent.
We are committed to continuing to strategically increase this ratio over the coming years. Since the company handover in 2009, some newly created management positions are now held by women, such as the management of our subsidiary, the VAUDE Franchise GmbH.
Management positions also as part-time positions
When the need arises, VAUDE offers the opportunity for women to return part time to work in management positions after taking parental leave. Currently, three management positions are occupied with part-time employees (6.5 percent of managers).
In our "Frauen-Power" (Woman Power) program that has been in effect since 2013, we offer select women in management or other important positions whose communication, leadership and entrepreneurial skills are in demand, a way to optimize the use of their female potential.
Supporting people with disabilities
In the future, we plan to reflect our social orientation even more by filling certain positions with people with disabilities within a specifically designed program that will be gradually implemented.
During the reporting period, we had four employees with a status of “severely handicapped” - two men and two women. One of these was a trainee – and altogether this corresponds to a percentage of 0.85 percent
In the next year, we have the stated goal of improving work opportunities at VAUDE for people with disabilities and/or hiring more people with disabilities. We want to make an active contribution to the inclusion of people with disabilities and to further increase diversity within our workforce.
Cooperation with facilities for people with disabilities
To achieve this goal, we specifically plan to offer even more people with disabilities attractive employment opportunities. We will continue to make and expand our contacts with institutions for the disabled in the area as well as with integration services starting in 2014.
In addition, we will take a good look at which departments have positions that can be filled by people with disabilities and which tasks are particularly suitable for them. This applies to both permanent employment opportunities as well as internships. This also includes defining adapted processes in the filling of positions that allow for inclusion.
Within our internal training program, we are increasingly offering presentations on the inclusion of people with disabilities in order to create understanding for these types of situations.
Note on the data collection and calculation
We obtained absolute numbers for the year from our payroll software in 2013 (469 employees at the reporting date 31.12.2013). Employee categories were manually recorded in a list for 2013. No interns and no marginally employed people were represented, which is why the absolute numbers vary from the payroll software. We do not have data for the MA categories 4 and 5 for our manual list summary.
