Our company culture breeds a thriving workplace
06
Our company culture breeds a thriving workplace
Our employees
are central to our sustainability efforts, making the Employees pillar a fundamental part of our E3 strategy. Our goal is to enable everyone to develop and shape the electrical world of tomorrow.
We strive for a caring, welcoming working environment that encourages individual development and innovation. This includes a strong focus on ensuring health and maintaining a good balance, fostering diversity and inclusion, and being a learning organisation. This enables our people to shape tomorrow’s electrical world all along their career.
At Hager Group, we believe that employee engagement results out of our above mentioned commitment. Under our employee engagement strategy, employees can engage with management and collectively express their concerns and requests. This open dialogue furthers our culture of transparency, enabling the timely identification of issues and enhancing employee satisfaction. Yearly engagement surveys such as “Tell Us”, introduced in 2022, provide invaluable insights to pinpoint areas for improvement and develop action plans to address critical employee feedback.
GRI 2-25 – General disclosures
We understand the impact of working conditions, recognition, transparency, and resources. We know that addressing these factors boosts productivity. Our annual performance reviews, development programmes and internal mobility opportunities are designed to foster our employees’ engagement. Accordingly, we aim to achieve 30 % organisational mobility with internal job offers. In 2023, our overall group completion rate for performance reviews for our permanent employees reached 96 % (excluding operators and services).
GRI 404-3 Training and Education
Our employees are at the heart of our sustainability journey, influencing our company vision, strategy and leadership decisions. We are streamlining our efforts with the development of a comprehensive strategy for people development and engagement. This strategy encompasses working conditions and social dialogue, occupational health and safety, people development, leadership as well as diversity and inclusion initiatives.
GRI 2-25 – General disclosures
People are an integral part of our success.
Given our aspirations to build a more digitalised, skill-based, and diversified organisation, leadership, learning, and development are crucial for driving this transformation and enhancing people employability. By prioritising sustainability in our learning portfolio and KPIs, we reinforce our commitment to achieving these transformative goals.
06.1
Occupational health and safety
Work related injuries
Our safety charter highlights our firm believe that every employee deserves a safe and healthy work environment; this is non-negotiable and extends to all stakeholders. The charter’s ten safety principles are to achieve zero accidents with absolutely zero tolerance for any compromises. The mitigation of health and safety risk is one of our top management priorities.
For our production sites in particular, which are considered to be high-risk areas, we are actively establishing a safety management system in accordance with ISO 45001 standards to attain certification wherever possible. Presently, 12 out of our 19 production sites boast a valid ISO 45001 certification.
By prioritising our top management objectives and advocating health and safety management aligned with ISO 45001 standards, we both enhance employee and stakeholder safety healthy work environment while safeguarding the interests of all involved parties.
Our top priority is ensuring everyone gets home from work safe and sound.
Building a sustainable safety culture starts with each of us taking responsibility for health and safety through safe behaviour and respect for the rules. Let’s lead this change by setting standards, communicating effectively, educating through the Behaviour-Based Safety Programme, and managing risks to prevent accidents. Together, we can make a real difference.
06.1.1
Our safety management
We currently address safety concerns directly at each site, with compliance to local regulations. This management approach encompasses hazard identification, risk assessment and incident investigation. Each site has its own set of protocols and systems in place to manage these processes effectively.
In instances of safety-related concerns, employees have multiple communication avenues. They can contact their Occupational Safety Specialist (FASI) or manager, Kaizen alert cards are another established communication channel; these cards allow employees to report near-misses or safety risks, prompting immediate and/or longer-term actions to address them effectively. It is important to highlight that these systems are accessible to all relevant stakeholders, including employees.
GRI 2-25 – General disclosures,
At Hager Group, we diligently record work-related injuries that result in operational disruptions or slowdowns due to lost time. Due to our concerted effort, we have not recorded any fatalities or high-consequence injuries that have led to permanent disabilities. However, despite our continuous efforts, there have been minor fluctuations in the frequency of non-life-threatening accidents since our initial reporting cycle in 2021. In 2022, while we observed a 5 % reduction in accidents despite a notable increase in total working hours by approximately 2 million, the trend reversed in 2023. Despite a more modest increase in working hours by just 1 million, accidents have surged by nearly 7 % compared to 2021.
In line with our dedication to securing a safe work environment for our employees, our annual priority is our “Mission Zero – Zero Accidents. Zero Tolerance” project. It provides a centralised programme to address safety concerns across our entire organisation. The initial focus of function level objectives are areas at risk: production, logistics, engineering (laboratories and workshop) and industrialisation (prototype and machine department).
The project also ensures that safety standards are consistently applied throughout the group, promoting uniformity in our work practices and facilitating collective preventive learning to achieve zero accidents.
GRI 403-1 and GRI 403-2 – OH&S
Mission Zero project16
Central to the project is the development and implementation of a health and safety organisation and governance structure that meets market standards. This involves benchmarking with companies known for best health and safety practices, engaging stakeholders and managing communications across the group. The project also emphasises the importance of Behaviour Based Safety (BBS) training, certification and managing observations. To date, 331 employees have been trained, with 100 certified as observers, and 668 observations managed under this program.
As part of this initiative, Hager Group has introduced a standardised safety reporting and investigation process. This process establishes clear timelines and responsibilities for raising safety alerts, conducting investigations and implementing corrective actions. The process requires, within five working days of return to work, face-to-face meetings between employees in question and site or function leaders and direct managers responsible for conducting these meetings.
We believe that true sustainability starts with our people.
Understanding that a healthy workforce is essential for long-term sustainability, we prioritise the health and well-being of our colleagues. Our initiatives focus on physical, mental, and emotional wellness to ensure our team can perform at their best.
06.1.2
Our health management
At Hager Group, the provision of occupational, non-occupational and family medical services is tailored to comply with local regulations and practices, aligning with governmental policies and regulations in each respective region and/or country. For instance, in Germany and France, where our main production and logistic sites are located, we adhere to mandatory employer contributions for employees’ and their families’ medical insurance.
Furthermore, our sites boast dedicated occupational health functions, offering specialised health services to support employees’ physical and mental well-being, as well as ergonomics. Through regular communication and support initiatives, these services are communicated and available via the company’s intranet and our HR communication platform PeopleDoc17.
GRI 403-3 and GRI 403-6 – OH&S
To uphold our commitment to employee well-being, we are planning a global assessment to identify similar needs at many of our smaller sites. This assessment will inform the development of a roadmap to implement consistent occupational health initiatives worldwide. By being consistent in our efforts, we ensure all employees and stakeholders can maintain good health at work and provide support for their families.
06.3
Equal opportunities and diversity
With presence in over 30 countries, Hager Group has a highly diverse workforce. We fully understand how vital this is to the success of our business and the supportive environment it creates for our workforce. We actively promote representation from diverse groups, ensuring equal opportunities for all regardless of race, gender, age or disability. By prioritising diversity and inclusivity, we broaden our talent pool, encourage innovation and create an empowering culture. However, we acknowledge challenges such as the lack of a clear strategy for promoting diversity at the group level. Moving forward, we aim to address these challenges in our employee strategy development and action plan.
Gender balance in management position
We are actively working on developing a clear diversity strategy. Meanwhile, we have seen an increase in the participation of women in management roles, including top executives, executives, senior managers, and managers. This trend is encouraging and gives us the confidence that with right diversity strategy we can improve our gender balance representation, which is currently at 40 %, unchanged from our 2022 report. Furthermore, the increasing representation of executives in the 30-50 age group indicates our commitment to nurturing young talent and assigning responsibilities based on merit rather than age.
These findings underscore the importance of developing a comprehensive diversity and inclusion strategy that encompasses all aspects of our organisation.
We understand that differences in lifestyle and personal choices can sometimes result in discrimination, victimisation and harassment, creating barriers to freedom of expression and potentially causing individuals to conceal their preferences and experience mental health challenges. Therefore, as we develop our strategy to promote diversity and inclusion, we're diligently assessing all associated risks to ensure that our approach is comprehensive, addresses unconscious biases and provides an environment where everyone can thrive. As part of our concerted effort, we have implemented mandatory ethics training and an integrity alert system. Our ethics training covers topics related to diversity biases, while our integrity alert system addresses issues such as discrimination.
06.4
People development
At Hager Group, we believe that adaptability and the ability to anticipate change are key factors for success and resilience in the changing business landscape. This means we want our employees to embrace a changing environment, remain resilient, and effectively manage uncertainty. In this dynamic landscape, it is more essential than ever for people to maintain a critical mindset. Therefore, our vision of shaping the future of the electrical industry relies on our employees being thoroughly prepared to lead our transformation.
Our approach to people development follows the 70/20/10 model, a proven framework for maximising learning and growth within the workplace. This model divides learning and development activities into three categories: 70 % on-the-job experiences, 20 % interactions with others, and 10 % formal education. This learning strategy is designed to empower people to excel today and transform tomorrow.
By embracing our principle “No gaps, no overlaps”, we ensure that every individual and team has access to modern, relevant, and cost-efficient learning opportunities. This approach fosters professional growth and delivers value to our business partners.
A vital part of this people development is our group wide promotion of internal mobility and our corporate university, Hi. Internal mobility provides opportunities to acquire new skills through hands on experience by working in different roles and positions within the company. Meanwhile, Hi! university offers a range of development opportunities, including in-person academies, online courses and digital communities.
Our people development approach
on-the-job experiences
interactions
with peers
formalised training
06.4.1
Internal mobility
The majority of learning – 70 % – occurs through practical, hands-on experience. Therefore, internal mobility is a powerful lever for growing together sustainably. By encouraging internal mobility, we aim to harness the diverse talents within our team, drive innovation, and ensure a fulfilling career journey for all our employees. Every internal move enriches both the individual and the organisation by creating real-world learning opportunities within our company. Whether it is leveraging sales knowledge in product development, applying project management expertise to sourcing, or enhancing manufacturing processes with insights from the factories, these experiences are invaluable.
Learn and grow together
Work hand in hand: employees, managers and HR
Improve retention and engagement
Boost career development
Better understanding of the whole organisation
Expand cross-functional work
Our commitment to promote internal mobility is formalised by our new Internal Mobility Charter. It is designed to facilitate employees smooth transition and successful integration. The charter outlines the commitments of employees, managers and HR to foster and support career evolution through three ways.
Expanding competencies
Employees can assume new roles within the same business area, enhancing professional or managerial skills.
Cross-functional contributions
Employees can bring expertise to different business areas, driving innovation and cross-functional synergy.
Geographical flexibility
Employees have the opportunity to perform the same role in a different location or country, gaining new perspectives and experiences.
By providing support throughout the transition process to a new role, we ensure that employees do not face any challenge while taking up the responsibility in a new environment or country. Our mutual commitments ensures that every internal transfer is a positive and enriching experience, paving the way for great development journeys.
As part of our commitment to fostering internal mobility, we aim to fill at least 30 % of open positions with internal applicants. We are confident that our concerted effort and with active participation we will reach and surpass our goal Internal mobility enhances organisational resilience as a fundamental of growth strategy (Project 2030) by retaining institutional knowledge, fostering skill development, and promoting flexibility.
06.4.2
Hi! University
People and business growing together
Hager Group’s university is a modern, digital and personalised learning journey for every employee. It’s officially known as “Hi!”. It provides a plethora of development opportunities with academies, online courses and communities. It is open to absolutely everyone in the group who is curious and wants access to knowledge, as well as learning and growth opportunities.
Hi! Provides a variety of trainings and programmes for our employees to promote self-development:
Develop myself:
this focuses on soft skills. These are skills professionals are expected to have beyond technical and measur able competencies. Although soft skills are more related to personality, this still nurture them and improve them.
Academies:
Our Academies are where we develop people and business together. By using the Academy model, we secure a best-in-class approach to fulfil our development needs, naturally based on our Group strategy.
Programmes:
HI! programmes vary in terms of content, duration, delivery method, and target audience. In general, these structured series of educational experiences designed to support our people in achieving our strategic objectives. Recently, we have developed sustainability awareness programmes like the Blue Planet commitment and the Ethics programmes, both mandatory for all employees.
Our Hi! Programmes
In 2023, we observed a significant engagement shift in our employee training and development. While there was an 11 % decrease in the number of individuals trained in 2022 compared to 2021, 2023 saw a notable turnaround. Participation surged by nearly 20 %, with 66 % of our employees actively engaging in development training. This increase in participation coincided with a substantial increase in total training hours, which rose by over 31.000 hours to reach 136.785 in 2023. This stands in stark contrast to the marginal increase of just 600 hours observed in 2021. As a result, there has been a remarkable increase in the average number of training hours per employee at Hager Group.
Employee training by function
GRI 404-1 Training and education
The Hi! curriculum covers critical areas for both individual and company success. Employees can access training in a range of disciplines, for example health and safety training, also hard and soft skill development such as leadership development, project management, language proficiency, onboarding processes and official certifications. Additionally, it encourages peer-to-peer learning. By consolidating all our training courses, Hi! streamlines access to knowledge crucial for success.
GRI 404-2 Training and Education
The rising employee engagement aligns with our organisational goals and showcases the value employees find in our training programmes. Notably, training hours for technical skills increased to 72 % in 2023, affirming the effectiveness of our training courses. To advance our Blue Planet Commitment and synchronise with top management priorities on sustainable development, we proactively enhance engagement in critical areas such as manufacturing, engineering, quality, industrialisation, and digital and information (D&I). We are introducing tailored training modules in addition to the standard module designed to deepen employees’ understanding of our sustainability commitments and strategic priorities.
Health and safety training remains a paramount focus. As a top management priority, we empower employees to make informed decisions that foster a safe and conducive work environment. By realigning and expanding our training efforts, we are committed to cultivating a proficient, knowledgeable, and sustainability-oriented workforce.
We are currently introducing new modules aligned with our Hager Group sustainability strategy to transition to more sustainable operations. These modules cover the full spectrum of our E3 strategy, vital for employee development and company success.
Employee training for Hi! modules
Note that this is the status as of the end of May'2024
PeopleDoc is a cloud-based Human Resources service delivery and document management platform available in France and Germany, and we are planning to extend it to group level. It securely stores all administrative documents and facilitates the distribution of HR documents within the company.
06.2
Social dialogue
Social dialogue is described by the International Labour Organisation as “all types of negotiation, consultation, or simply exchange of information between, or among, representatives of governments, employers, and workers, on issues of common interest relating to economic and social policy”. In Hager Group we believe that all our employees should have the right to engage with management and collectively put across their concerns and demands. Collective bargaining encourages workers to raise concerns in a timely manner, acts as a barometer and early warning system to assess worker satisfaction / engagement and reduces worker vulnerability.
As the borders of the Group are constantly expanding and its environment rapidly changing, the Group maintains regular interaction with all its stakeholders making sure all our social responsibilities are covered.
06.2.1
Group policy
Hager Group recognises and respects the fundamental human rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, as outlined in international labour standards and legal frameworks as stated in our Human Rights Charter. We support collective bargaining and value open social dialogue with freely chosen employee representatives, representative bodies, and organisations. The Group is dedicated to meeting all necessary requirements to foster productive and mutually beneficial relationships between labour organisations and management, adhering to local regulations in every country where it operates.
Effective governance is the cornerstone of meaningful social dialogue.
By fostering transparency, accountability, and inclusiveness, our governance framework ensures that all stakeholders have a voice in shaping our sustainability journey.
Cordula Barsnick
People Solutions Senior Manager, Country Social Dialogue Manager
06.2.2
Governance
To maintain the highest confidence of all stakeholders, we emphasise on the role of a accountable and responsible governance model to support all employees in their journey with us.
At Hager Group, social dialogue is managed at country level by HR leaders (dedicated Social Dialogue Managers in France and Germany) with the employee representatives bodies and/or unions, and at transactional level through the European Works Council which covers geographical.
European level
In 2007, Hager Group reached an agreement with employee representatives from various European countries to include them in the Group's decisions and orientation going forward. This agreement underscored the Group's commitment to fostering regular, effective, multicultural, and innovative social dialogue at the European level, ensuring that the voices of Hager Group's employees are considered in the group's transnational projects.
Country level
In large countries with several Hager Group entities, there are national works councils or similar employee representation bodies. These councils are established according to national labour laws and serve as platforms for dialogue between employees and local management.
Local level
At a local level, Hager Group has works councils or similar employee representation structures in its facilities and offices. These councils facilitate direct dialogue between employees and local management on local agreements, local decisions and day-to-day operational issues.