Sustainable Human Resources Policy

Bayer is committed to promoting a performance-oriented corporate culture. To realize our growth strategy, we rely on our employees and their continuous development. We actively encourage regular feedback between supervisors and their employees, greater cultural and employee diversity within the Bayer Group, and innovation in all areas.

Bayer pursues a sustainable human resources policy. The objectives and principles are based on our corporate values, known by the acronym LIFE, which are valid throughout the world. LIFE stands for Leadership, Integrity, Flexibility and Efficiency. These values encapsulate the core elements of our corporate culture, which combines a strong focus on performance and development with a high degree of social responsibility. At the same time, they are a simple and practical guide for employees in their work.

On December 31, 2014, Bayer had around 118,900 employees worldwide. This increase of just over 5 percent compared with the previous year was mainly driven by acquisitions. Of the total Group workforce, 113,700 employees had permanent contracts while 5,200 had temporary. In Germany there were 35,800 employees (2013: 35,300), which was 30 percent of the total Group workforce. contracts.

Respecting employee and human rights

As a socially responsible company, Bayer has long been committed to upholding and supporting human rights at various levels. The Bayer Human Rights Position is rooted in a binding Group-wide directive. We respect the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights and are a founding member of the UN Global Compact. Our mission, life values and Corporate Compliance Policy commit all employees around the world to fair and lawful conduct toward staff, colleagues, business partners and customers.

Employee feedback

We believe regular feedback is necessary for the continuous development of our employees and our organization and that it helps us adapt to changing requirements. Alongside our performance management system, we use 360° feedback. This insight from colleagues and business associates is designed to foster the performance and leadership behavior of our employees and support their professional development.

Our most important feedback tool at the corporate level is our Group-wide employee survey. Every two years, this gives us competent feedback from our employees on our strategy, culture and working conditions.
Since the last survey in 2014, we have launched a variety of initiatives and improvements worldwide to overcome the shortcomings identified in specific areas. The next employee survey is scheduled for spring 2016.

Diversity and internationality

Workforce diversity is vital for our company’s future competitiveness. This is particularly true for our management. Diversity improves our understanding of changing markets and consumer groups, gives us access to a broader pool of talented employees, and enables us to benefit from the enhanced innovative and problem-solving abilities that are demonstrably associated with a high cultural diversity within the company. Of the members of our Group Leadership Circle, in which 35 nationalities are currently represented, around 66 percent come from the country in which they are employed. The Bayer Group currently employs people from 150 countries.

Another focus of our diversity strategy is on improving the gender balance, especially in management. At the end of 2010 we set ourselves the target of shifting the proportion of women to men in senior management (the five highest contract levels) from a ratio of 21 percent to 79 percent to a ratio of 30 percent to 70 percent by the end of 2015. At the end of 2014, the ratio was 26 percent to 74 percent. Our gender balance has therefore improved by five percentage points in four years. In our Group Leadership Circle, the ratio had improved from 93 percent men and 7 percent women at the end of 2010 to 87percent men and 13 percent women by year-end 2014.

Recruiting for the future

Bayer endeavors to appeal to the most talented people worldwide and to retain employees for long periods by providing good development opportunities, a modern working environment and competitive compensation. In total, the Bayer Group hired more than 15,500 new employees in 2014.

Talent management

We are convinced that systematic people development is exceptionally important for the future success of our company. Group-wide talent management, in other words measures and tools to further our employees’ professional and personal development, is therefore a key element in our human resources policy. The basic principle is that every employee has his or her own individual strengths and talents that deserve recognition and development in the workplace.

Vacancies in the Bayer Group, from non-managerial right up to senior management level, are advertised
via a globally accessible platform. In 2014 we posted more than 11,900 vacancies in 62 countries via this platform.