Our employees

We employ more than 42,052 people from 76 nationalities in the 28 countries in which we operate.

Diversity

The diversity of our workforce, an essential part of meeting our corporate objectives, is reflected in the variety of cultures and expertises.

This diversity is also represented in our workforce, management and Board of Directors. Six nationalities are represented on our Board of Directors; Operating Committee members are also drawn from six different countries.

We are committed to developing local leaders in every country and 91% of senior leadership positions are occupied by people of local origin. Since we also offer international development opportunities for high-potential employees, 53% of our expatriate managers are from emerging and developing economies.

Talent development

In order to ensure our continued success, the Company has to develop the talent needed to fill leadership positions. We have adopted the Leadership Pipeline model, an integrated approach to leadership development and succession planning that is being rolled out to every country across the group.

Training

We significantly invest in training to develop our employees’ capabilities. Additionally, we hold people development forums twice a year in every country, where we focus on providing a blend of developmental opportunities. These typically consist of 70 per cent assignments and projects, 20 per cent training and 10 per cent coaching.

Rewarding employees

We aim to reward employees equitably and competitively. We benchmark compensation against other comparable high-performing international companies and always pay in excess of minimum wages.

This ensures that our salaries and benefits are competitive and that we can attract and retain the talent necessary to grow the business.

We include sustainability-related criteria when calculating variable compensation for almost all eligible managers.

Costs

In 2010, our total staff costs were €1,163 million.

Most computers will open PDF documents automatically, but you may need to download Adobe Reader .