Own workforce (ESRS S1)

  Employer of Choice

 Disclosures unrelated to the management report (unaudited), preliminary remarks

Our employees are our most valuable asset. With around 600,000 employees, we are one of the largest private-sector employers and aspire to be the “Employer of Choice” for potential candidates and current employees alike.

We aim to attract competent and committed employees, continuously develop them and retain them over the long term. After all, only motivated employees deliver excellent service quality, meet our customers’ needs satisfactorily and therefore ensure the sustainable profitability of our business activities. Our corporate culture is underpinned by common values, convictions and behaviors and is one of the most important factors in our business success. It represents our common DNA, connecting us across all business units and operating regions and defining who we are and how we operate.

We offer our employees an open and inclusive corporate culture in which they can feel appreciated and supported. We boost employee engagement by running regular feedback processes, conducting surveys, offering training opportunities and promoting women in management. Moreover, we have made the safety and well-being of our employees our top priority. Through targeted actions – which are described in detail in the section below – we underline our aspiration to be an attractive and responsible employer who puts the needs and well-being of its employees at the heart of everything it does. We firmly believe that our success is heavily contingent on the satisfaction and engagement of our employees, which is why we make every effort to cultivate a work environment that enables them to tap into their full potential.

Our efforts to be an “Employer of Choice” have already paid off. DHL Express was named “World’s Best Employer” in 2024, and other divisions were awarded the title of “Great Place to Work” in various countries.

Material impacts, risks and opportunities (ESRS 2 SBM⁠–⁠3)

During the materiality assessment, we identified material impacts as well as risks and opportunities that do not impact the upstream value chain. These are described in the following section, materiality assessment.

Policies related to own workforce (ESRS S1⁠–⁠1)

We use the term employees to refer to all workers who have signed an employment contract with the Group directly or with one of our subsidiaries. Our employees are made up of salaried employees and hourly workers, civil service employees and apprentices. We have disclosed the information on workers not employed by the Group in the relevant section of this Sustainability Statement, characteristics of non-employees in our own workforce.

During our materiality assessment we dealt with the topics of working conditions, equal treatment and opportunities for all, and employee engagement (entity-specific). The assessment also identified the main impacts, risks and opportunities for our employees, to which we respond with suitable policies.

For over 20 years, we have focused on employee engagement and the topics of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) as well as workplace health and safety. As early as 2021, we introduced our ESG Roadmap in which thematic areas of responsibility and action plans were established, metrics were implemented and targets set – these were confirmed upon introduction of our Strategy 2030. This also enables us to counteract the potential negative impacts and risks identified while reinforcing positive impacts and taking advantage of opportunities. We also assume that our employees will not be materially impacted by our transition plans to reduce the negative environmental impacts of our business activities and to achieve environmentally friendly, carbon-neutral operations, environment. This is for example because we train our employees to be environmental specialists in addition to offering them development opportunities and enabling them to take up new roles within the Group should their positions be significantly impacted by our transition plans or even cease to exist.

Our Code of Conduct is especially relevant to successful implementation of our values and principles, and to our employees. The Code describes the way in which we work together and requires, among other things, compliance with legal requirements and our values as well as a respectful working environment in addition to rejecting discrimination in any form and prohibiting any sort of personal harassment. These and other topics are explored in topic-specific Group policies, such as our Human Rights Declaration, our Occupational Health and Safety Policy and our Health and Well-Being Policy.

We measure the success of our initiatives using the steering-relevant performance indicators of Employee Engagement, the share of women in middle and upper management, and the accident rate (lost time injury frequency, LTIFR) rate per million hours worked. The Employee Engagement metric is also relevant to remuneration, sustainability in Board of Management remuneration.

1 Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Board of Management members responsible for Human Resources (CHRO) and Finance (CFO). 2 German Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains (Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz, LkSG). 3 Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging, DEIB. 4 Health & well-being, H&W.

Employee engagement (entity-specific)

Having motivated and dedicated employees is a key prerequisite for the sustainable success of our business. Each year, we measure employee satisfaction and engagement by conducting an anonymous, Group-wide employee opinion survey. This important tool helps us determine where we currently are in our journey toward becoming an “Employer of Choice.”

We analyze the annual survey to derive our performance indicator Employee Engagement, which represents the aggregated and weighted results of five statements from the annual Group-wide survey of employees.

The survey was conducted in the third quarter of the year under review, and 77% of our employees took the opportunity to express their opinion and provide feedback. We use the feedback provided as the basis for creating a working environment in which our employees are able to tap into their full potential, thus living up to our strategic aspiration of being an “Employer of Choice”. The survey findings are discussed in our teams, which derive action plans aimed at leveraging the opportunities for improvement identified.

In the year under review, we once again exceeded our target of over 80% by reaching 82% for our performance indicator Employee Engagement (2023: 83%). Our goal is to maintain Employee Engagement at a level of at least 80% throughout the Group during the period up to 2030.

In 2023, we piloted an employee stock option plan in 12 countries as an additional initiative for fostering loyalty to the company and increasing employee engagement. In the year under review, it was decided to roll out the program throughout the Group and preparations for this were started. The stock option plan offers eligible participants among our employees the opportunity to buy stock in Deutsche Post AG at a discount of 15%. This enables our employees to participate in the long-term success of the Group as shareholders, note 15 to the consolidated financial statements.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB)

Our organization brings together people with a variety of cultural backgrounds who possess a wide range of experiences, abilities and perspectives. We consider the diversity of our employees to be not only an asset to the company but one of its major strengths. We expressly reject any form of discrimination. Our actions around DEIB are aimed at creating an inclusive work culture with a focus on belonging that can foster employee retention and make management positions more attractive for women.

Our DEIB Board, which oversees the strategic direction of our actions, is comprised of senior management executives from various central and divisional functions. The divisions are individually responsible for operational implementation of DEIB initiatives. Our DEIB policies are continuously evolving, in part to meet the requirements of our business divisions. In addition, we continued the Employee Resource Groups project initiated in 2023. Employees voluntarily join Employee Resource Groups to promote a diverse and integrative working environment that aligns with our company purpose, our values, our business practices and our goals. We provide various modalities for sensitizing our employees to DEIB:

• In the reporting period, a Group-wide DEIB week focused on the topic of Belonging.
• DEIB Days with organized, themed activities were carried out to mark International Women's Day and the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
• We offer online training on the topics of diversity and inclusion, and our Code of Conduct training also covers issues related to DEIB.
• Our DEIB Playbook enables our employees to familiarize themselves the concept of unconscious bias, working either individually or in teams.

We have presented our DEIB metrics and targets under diversity metrics.

Occupational health and safety

The health and safety of our employees in the workplace is a high priority for us, which is why we place great importance on occupational health and safety.

We regard health as a state of physical, mental and social well-being. Work can be a major source of satisfaction, and therefore promote health. We regard a safe and healthy workplace as a place where employees and managers can work together to ensure the safety and well-being of all.

We support the health of our employees by offering health initiatives customized to local conditions, which are incorporated into and managed in the context of Group health initiatives. We round out these initiatives with local offerings at our sites, which cover various topics such as back health. In addition, we focus on improving mental health by providing a system for assessing risk factors associated with mental stressors. We sensitize our employees and our executives to the topic of mental health through our “Certified” employee motivation and development program.

For these reasons, the promotion of safe and healthy employees is embedded in our codes of conduct. We convey our understanding of this topic and its importance in the Group policy on occupational health and safety, and our internal Safety First framework provides our employees with clear guidelines for implementation. Our management system is implemented across the Group and covers all of the Group’s own workforce (100%). It complies with the international ISO 45001 standard, meaning that our divisions have undergone additional external audits for full or partial certification. In the reporting year, we adopted a Declaration on Health and Well-Being and implemented it throughout the Group. Our HR Board department is responsible for health initiatives and the CEO Board department is responsible for occupational safety initiatives, responsibilities in the area of sustainability. We ensure compliance with the Group’s existing occupational health and safety policies, statutory regulations and industry standards.

In addition, the Group’s employee benefits program offers our workforce and their families insurance coverage to give them health insurance benefits as well as financial security in the event of death or disability. The offer of insurance coverage depends on various factors including local labor law provisions and is available to around half of our workforce in 95 countries. It also offers incentives to local management to establish health initiatives for their workforce and their families.

We create a work environment that promotes health and raises awareness about healthy lifestyles among our employees through such health initiatives and other local projects.

Our overriding objective is to prevent workplace accidents. During the materiality assessment, actual negative impacts on employees were identified: Logistics activities are more prone to risk of injury, and long working hours could potentially affect employees’ mental health or lead to a higher number of work-related accidents. Some of our biggest challenges lie in our pickup and delivery operations, given that outside factors can only be managed or controlled to a limited extent. Bad weather, road construction, complex traffic situations and dealing with pets require our employees to pay special attention and to take personal responsibility. As in the past, accidents most frequently result from slipping, tripping or falling as well as from falling objects. Accidents are analyzed, the respective root causes are identified and actions are introduced to facilitate the continuous improvement of safety for our employees. Solutions that have proven effective in terms of reducing or eliminating potential hazards are entered into a database and shared across the Group. This enables all divisions to make direct use of the solutions shared. In addition, regular work meetings and workplace inspections are carried out at our sites, and areas with greater hazard potential are identified with the corresponding signage.

We have presented our occupational health and safety metrics and targets under occupational health and safety metrics.

Respect for human rights

As a signatory to the UN Global Compact, we uphold its ten principles in operating our business. These principles are embedded in our Code of Conduct, as are the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the principle of social partnership. Our Human Rights Policy Statement goes into more detail on the topic of respect for human rights. We thus respect the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and implement them in our Group and in the downstream value chain.

Our human rights activities focus on the prevention of child and forced labor, decent working conditions (working hours, occupational health and safety, remuneration), equal opportunities, data protection and the right to freedom of association. Our Supplier Code of Conduct requires suppliers and subcontractors to comply with our ethical, social and environmental principles and to implement them in their own supply chains.

Our actions aimed at ensuring respect for human rights in our own workforce and in the supply chain follow the specifications of the German Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains (LkSG). Implementation is monitored by the LkSG Council, which acts as an HR officer as defined by the LkSG. The LkSG Council is made up of senior-level executives from the Group functions of Human Resources, Corporate Development, Corporate Public Affairs, Legal Services and Global Compliance, Corporate Procurement and Corporate Internal Audit.

Our internal management system ensures that our Human Rights Policy Statement is implemented among our employees in addition to ensuring that we adhere to due diligence requirements. The management system includes undertaking both annual and ad hoc assessments of human rights risks, implementing actions to raise awareness among employees and executives, producing annual reports on the Group’s fulfillment of its due diligence requirements and operating a professional compliance incident reporting system, whistleblower system.

To identify human rights risks, we conduct a risk analysis of both abstract and specific risks. First, the risk is analyzed using external data (Verisk Maplecroft). Then, it is substantiated by evaluating questionnaires completed by our country organizations on the basis of their specific risk profile.

The risk assessments are the basis for conducting targeted audits onsite. The audits are conducted by specially trained and externally SMETA-certified (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit) professionals from our divisions and corporate headquarters. The countries are selected based on the results of weighting and prioritizing the identified risks – a process that considers the findings from questionnaires, the number of employees, the assessments of relevant Group committees and responsible experts and recommendations from international trade union confederations, among other things. If violations are identified, they are immediately addressed at the site in question as part of a structured action plan. In the year under review, our HR organization carried out onsite audits at 30 subsidiaries in ten countries in Asia, Latin America, Africa and Europe, among other regions (2023: 30 subsidiaries in ten countries).

Corporate Internal Audit also reviews respect for human rights in the context of its audits and monitors implementation of the agreed-upon follow-up measures. Corporate Internal Audit conducted 36 internal audits relating to respect for human rights during the reporting year (2023: 53 internal audits).

We recommend that our employees participate in training courses for raising awareness for respect for human rights. Participation is mandatory for executives in middle and upper management; the certification rate for this entity-specific metric was 98.6% in the reporting period (2023: 99.5%).

Violations of statutory provisions or of our standards and policies can be reported any time via our whistleblower system, incidents, complaints, and violations.

Processes for engaging with own workforce and workers’ representatives about impacts (ESRS S1⁠–⁠2)

In addition to direct dialog with their superiors or other executives, our employees can at any time turn to employee representatives – for example works councils, trade unions and other bodies – to represent their interests indirectly. Concerns regarding matters such as working hours, health and safety, gender equality and equal pay, training and employee engagement can also be submitted via a range of channels, which are set out in the table below. Reports can be submitted 24/7 via the whistleblower system. Reports may also be submitted anonymously. Reports of alleged violations are reviewed and investigated internally as part of a standardized process. The Board of Management and the Supervisory Board are informed on a regular basis. We also engage in regular, open social dialog with employee representatives at the global, European and national level.

Processes to remediate negative impacts and channels for own employees to raise concerns (ESRS S1⁠–⁠3)

Our employees can report potential violations of any kind via our whistleblower system, which is available 24/7. Reports may also be submitted anonymously. Reports of alleged violations are reviewed and investigated internally as part of a standardized process. Reported incidents are systematically reviewed. Whenever necessary, reports are addressed and followed up on by implementing appropriate plans for taking remedial action.

Management of material impacts, risks and opportunities (ESRS S1⁠–⁠4)

As a globally operating Group, we can contribute to the financial stability of our employees by providing job security based on offering employment opportunities all over the world. Moreover, equal treatment for all employees is enshrined in our Code of Conduct. We therefore ensure equal opportunities and equal pay for the same work, and reinforce diversity and fair treatment at the workplace. This can positively impact employee satisfaction and make us more attractive as an employer.

We offer a wide range of continuing education and development programs aimed at improving the skills of all employees at all levels, both personally and professionally. Such training and continuing education programs can also positively impact employee motivation, which is why all of our employees are given the option of taking advantage of our training programs online or in person. We provide training on our Group strategy and on how each of our employees can contribute to our success. One example is our Group-wide “Certified” employee motivation and development program, which aims to make our employees certified specialists in their respective areas of responsibility. It also creates an atmosphere that places our customers at the heart of our activities and ensures we provide excellent service. In addition to the foundational module made available under our “Certified” employee motivation and development program, we offer our employees a wide range of follow-up modules customized to their specific roles and areas of expertise. We also provide numerous professional development options around the topic of digitalization, including courses on data science applications. In addition, we offer our workforce a number of personal development options, such as special training for those with potential and development ambitions, including coaching, mentoring and participation in interdisciplinary or international projects; these options are selected together with the respective manager as part of an individual development plan. We also launched a digital career marketplace in the year under review. Employees can set up a profile listing their skills and desired roles, on the basis of which additional development opportunities or opportunities to switch roles within the Group are suggested with the goal of enhancing each individual’s range of skills. The user profiles can also be consulted for the purpose of succession planning.

Our leadership attributes act as a guide for our employees in how to conduct themselves respectfully and achieve results on a daily basis when dealing with internal and external stakeholders. In addition, we encourage our employees to take a positive attitude to taking on challenges, to focus on their individual strengths and to act decisively. We place additional emphasis on providing training for executives aimed at enabling them to work together with their employees to contribute to the success of both internal and external stakeholders.

Our employees are involved in shaping working conditions through the social dialog that we conduct with the Group’s various works councils and with trade unions. The annual employee survey we conduct also serves to improve communication between the employees and management. Although collective wage and labor agreements offer planning security for employees and the Group alike, they can also lead to higher personnel expenses due to the high number of employees covered by such arrangements, social dialog.

Our compliance management system enables us to track adherence to statutory provisions and our own policies, including regulations concerning working hours and occupational safety. After all, any violation can negatively impact our reputation or lead to fines or penalties.

Qualified, dedicated and motivated employees are a prerequisite for our sustainable success. Demographic change and a tense labor market situation across all job types in some regions represent a challenge for recruiting workers at a local level. To address this adequately and to avoid a skilled labor shortage, we place particular emphasis on our recruiting activities in Germany and abroad. We also offer migrants and refugees employment opportunities, which benefits their integration into society. In addition, we place value on vocational apprenticeships as well as trainee and dual-study programs. In the year under review, we again opened up numerous spots in our vocational apprenticeship and dual-study programs. College and university graduates have the opportunity to choose between various postgraduate training programs. We place importance on keeping our employees motivated and committed in order to maintain personnel fluctuation at a moderate level and ensure loyal, long-term employees. In doing so, we focus on the professional development of our executives, with our leadership attributes serving as a guide for action. Furthermore, we ensure that our employees are able to continuously improve their skills in line with their needs through on-the-job learning opportunities as well as off-the-job training courses.

Our occupational safety management system ensures that statutory requirements and internal policies are implemented in practice. We train our employees by teaching them to handle workplace machinery safely and by raising awareness of potential hazards.

We take a systematic approach to ensuring an independent and balanced remuneration structure. Due to widespread collective bargaining coverage, many of our wage and labor agreements are subject to collective wage scales. In addition, we prevent discrimination on the basis of personal characteristics by exercising neutrality when making hiring decisions. We select candidates based on the duties involved, the position in the company and the area of responsibility and rely on – in addition to formal qualifications – relevant professional experience to increase the equity of opportunities for suitable applicants.

The success of these actions is regularly reviewed by the responsible parties and presented to the HR Board department and to the Operations Board (responsible for occupational safety). In the context of the materiality assessment, we identified negative impacts with regard to the health and occupational safety of our employees, material impacts, risks and opportunities. We map the resources provided by the Group for these actions via the respective organization in qualitative terms.

Targets related to managing material negative impacts, advancing positive impacts, and managing material risks and opportunities (ESRS S1⁠–⁠5)

Our targets for Employee Engagement and the share of women in middle and upper management were set by the HR Board department, and the accident rate (LTIFR) targets were set by the Operations Board. All targets were approved by the Board of Management. Progress towards these targets is tracked by the ESG Reporting & Controlling department within the Finance division. The various committees are responsible for checking the effectiveness of the targets and identifying any improvements to be made. Our employees are involved via social dialog and the Supervisory Board.

Characteristics of the Group’s employees (ESRS S1⁠–⁠6)

DHL Group’s employees totaled 601,723 employees in the year under review (2023: 594,396), note 15 to the consolidated financial statements. A total of 121,347 employees left the company in the year under review, around 11% of whom were employees with permanent contracts who left of their own volition (2023: 11%). The relevant entity-specific is “unplanned employee fluctuation.” Total employee fluctuation was around 20%.

We report on our employees by division in conformity with our Segment Report; a breakdown of our employees by region is provided under business model and value chain. Unless otherwise indicated, we report our employee numbers as headcount as of the December 31 reporting date.

Diversity metrics (ESRS S1⁠–⁠9)

Diversity, inclusion and freedom from discrimination are anchored throughout the Group in the form of our Code of Conduct. We expressly reject any form of discrimination. We take an equal-opportunity approach to new hirings, both internally and externally, and look exclusively to a candidate’s qualifications when deciding on their suitability.

• Women in top management roles
  Top management roles are the most senior level of leadership within DHL Group. For internal management purposes, we also incorporate middle management in order to factor in the size of our Group and to reflect the responsibility held by middle management leaders while promoting diversity on a broad scale. We continue to focus on raising the share of women in middle and upper management. Our goal is for women to occupy at least 30% of the Group’s middle and upper management positions by 2025; the target is at least 34% by 2030. We specifically empower female talent to take the next step in their career journeys on the way to becoming middle- or upper-level executives through various methods such as coaching, mentoring and online training.
• In the year under review, the share of women in middle and upper management was 28.4% (2023: 27.2%), which translates to 2,369 women and 5,968 men. We therefore fell just short of our target of women occupying 28.8% of middle and upper management positions in the year under review.
• Employee age distribution
  Our employees average 41 years of age across the Group (2023: 41 years of age). In response to demographic change, we have modified our employee retention activities to focus more on recruiting and retaining talent as well as on our apprenticeship programs.

• Employees with disabilities
  In line with our inclusive approach, we offer career prospects to persons with disabilities. In Germany, companies of a certain size and above are required by law to ensure that persons with disabilities make up at least 5% of their employees. At Deutsche Post AG, our principal entity in Germany, 13,628 persons with disabilities were employed in the reporting year (2023: 14,014). This puts the employment rate at 7.7% (2023: 7.9%).

Collective bargaining coverage and social dialog (ESRS S1⁠–⁠8)

In addition to direct dialog with their superiors or other executives, our employees can at any time turn to their employee representatives – for example union representatives, works councils, trade unions and other bodies – to represent their interests indirectly.

At the global level, we engage in regular, open dialog with international trade union confederations such as UNI Global Union (UNI) and International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) within the scope of the OECD Protocol, which was first published in 2016 and then revised this year. In the year under review, this involved discussions of a wide range of topics, for example our Human Rights Policy Statement and the different working time arrangements in our divisions. For 2025, we agreed to initiate regional talks with international trade unions.

At the European level, employee concerns are regularly discussed with our European works council, the DHL Group Forum. The Board Member for Human Resources takes part in the discussions twice per year. UNI and the ITF are also represented.

In addition, as the largest postal service provider in Europe, the Group is represented on the European Commission’s European Social Dialogue Committee for the Postal Sector as the Committee Chair. The European Social Dialogue Committee facilitates information sharing between employers and union representatives in the postal sectors of European member states on topics related to social matters – for example future changes in the working world and their impact on employees.

Adequate wages (ESRS S1⁠–⁠10)

We did not identify any employees being paid below the applicable benchmarks in the year under review.

Staff costs amounted to €28,305 million and thus exceeded the prior-year figure of€26,977 million. This trend is explained in note 15 to the consolidated financial statements. We foster employee loyalty and motivation by offering performance-based remuneration in line with market standards. The remuneration includes a base salary plus the agreed variable remuneration components such as bonus payments.

Due to our number of employees, the evolution of staff costs is a key factor for us. Staff costs are also impacted by inflation. The current collective bargaining agreement of Deutsche Post AG applies to the years 2023 and 2024. New collective wage negotiations commenced in January 2025.

Remuneration metrics (pay gap and total remuneration) (ESRS S1⁠–⁠16)

In addition, we prevent discrimination on the basis of personal characteristics by exercising neutrality when making hiring decisions. Our evaluations focus on the type of job, position in the company and the responsibilities assigned and rely on relevant professional experience in addition to formal qualifications. In doing so, we ensure equal opportunities for suitable applicants. Our systematic approach enables an independent, discrimination-free and balanced remuneration structure.

Across the Group, the gender-specific pay gap ratio was ⁠–⁠2.2%, meaning that the average pay afforded to female employees was slightly higher than that of male employees. We use the gender-specific pay gap to map the difference in the average level of remuneration for male and female employees. The remuneration granted includes a base salary, target bonuses, allowances and long-term incentives. Equal treatment for all employees is enshrined in our Code of Conduct.

The total annual remuneration paid to the Chair of the Board of Management (the highest paid individual in the Group) is 130-times higher than the median annual total remuneration for all employees (excluding the Chair’s remuneration).

Health and safety metrics (ESRS S1⁠–⁠14)

We measure the effectiveness of our actions aimed at protecting employees’ health by tracking the sickness rate, which we aim to keep as low as possible. The sickness rate increased to 5.9% in the year under review (2023: 5.7%). A number of new viruses contributed in particular to a sharp rise in colds and respiratory-related illnesses, which is reflected in the trend. We calculate the sickness rate as the ratio of the number of days lost due to ill health to the total number of working days. The number of days missed by part-time employees is converted to full time.

With respect to occupational safety, we use the performance indicator of accident rate (lost time injury frequency rate, LTIFR) to measure our success. We calculate LTIFR based on the number of work-related accidents per million hours worked. In our experience, this corresponds to accidents that result in at least one missed day of work and covers all material categories required under the ESRS. We also record all work-related injuries to temporary external workers. We investigate the incidents leading to injury in order to derive actions to eliminate their root causes and avoid reoccurrence. The accident rate (lost time injury frequency rate, LTIFR) declined to 14.5 in the year under review (2023: 15.6 adjusted), which is significantly lower than the target of 16.5 for 2024. A safe working environment remains a priority for us. We are therefore aiming for an accident rate (lost time injury frequency rate, LTIFR) of no more than 15.5 for the 2025 fiscal year and no more than 10.8 by 2030.

As per ESRS requirements, we expanded the group of individuals covered by the fatalities from work-related accidents metric to include workers suffering fatal accidents at our own sites. Applying the new definition to the prior-year data did not require a need for adjustment.

To our great regret, we recorded 11 fatalities from work-related accidents in the year under review. Each fatality is presented to and discussed in detail by the Operations Board, which is chaired by the CEO. The Operations Board is informed on an ongoing basis about changes in work-related accident statistics and decides on action to be taken.

Incidents, complaints and severe human rights impacts (ESRS S1⁠–⁠17)

As a globally active company, upholding human rights is a top priority for us. We account for this responsibility through our Human Rights Policy Statement. Whenever infringements are reported, we take appropriate actions to resolve the situation.

The incidents listed in the table include cases related to discrimination based on gender, ethnic or national origin, and other characteristics protected by law as well as incidents of breaches of privacy/personal space. We address each incident individually and take appropriate action to remedy the situation. Responses include training for both employees and executives all the way to taking disciplinary action. We expect each and every employee and executive to contribute to an atmosphere of respect in which no discrimination or personal harassment whatsoever is condoned, as enshrined in our Code of Conduct, our Human Rights Policy Statement and our DEIB Statement. This expectation also forms an important part of our Group-wide training on the Code of Conduct and the Human Rights Policy Statement.

No severe human rights incidents were recorded in the year under review: There were also no significant fines or penalties relating to social or human rights incidents reported in our annual IFRS financial statements.

Characteristics of non-employees in the Group’s own workforce (ESRS S1⁠–⁠7)

In addition to our own employees, we use temporary workers at our sites, i.e. workers provided by third parties who are contractually beholden to the respective supplier. This is particularly helpful in covering peak operational periods or making up for absences among our personnel as well as in the case of fixed-duration projects, which primarily occur in our Supply Chain division. We also receive support from self-employed workers.

In the reporting period, we deployed an average of 85,245 temporary workers, FTE, (2023: 81,782) at our sites (entity-specific). Our data is based on information provided by the respective supplier. Self-employed workers are not yet included in this figure given that we were still developing a system for recording and delimiting such workers at the time of preparation of this report.

Temporary personnel are protected under the provisions of our Supplier Code of Conduct. This means we oblige our suppliers to comply with our ethical, social and environmental principles and to implement them in their own supply chains. The Supplier Code of Conduct sets forth clear requirements concerning working conditions, human rights, occupational health and safety, equal opportunity, data protection, discrimination and freedom of association.

Training and skills development metrics (ESRS S1⁠–⁠13)

In the year under review, our employees spent a total of 6.3 million hours (previous year: 4.7 million hours) on training and professional development. This corresponds to an average of 10.6 hours per employee. The Group invested additional time and money in job-related qualification elements such as orientation and service training, which are not included in this figure but make up a significant share of the professional development offerings in our business operations. We have opted not to disclose the gender breakdown required under the ESRS for the first year of ESRS reporting (phase-in option).