People are Precious to us
Diversity is essential to our identity and culture. We actively encourage different perspectives, put together diverse teams, provide equal opportunity, and insist on real cultural change toward a truly inclusive work environment.
We believe that diversity makes us better—better at understanding our markets and customers, at generating business opportunities, and at being innovative. Consequently, we have made it a top strategic issue.
Diversity is part of our six core values at Heraeus Precious Metals. All dimensions of Diversity are important to us. But we are focusing in particular on promoting gender and international balance. Therefore, we have set ourselves ambitious targets to be reached by 2025.*
At year-end 2023, women accounted for 39% and non-Germans for 44% of our Global Management Team. Our company’s age structure, including for executives and managers, is well balanced across all age groups. At year-end 2023, our average employee was 42 years old.*
While making progress toward quantifiable targets is important, diversity also has a qualitative aspect that cannot be measured by KPIs—atmosphere and culture. We therefore address the topic from different angles.
*While we fully stand behind our approach to diversity, we also aim to comply with local regulations. We therefore do not apply diversity quotas in our employment practices at our sites in the USA from 2025.
Diverse recruitment and promotion form the basis of our successful workforce. We use gender-neutral language in job advertisements, are working to enhance our brand as a diverse employer, and place less emphasis on the ability to speak the local language fluently. We require search firms to provide us with at least 50% female candidates. Our trainee and talent programs include at least 50% women and 50% non-Germans. Ultimately, we hire or promote the best candidate for a particular position.
Diversity is a cornerstone of our culture. Therefore we have set ourselves ambitious targets. We are very well on track to reach our goals of 40% women and 50% international employees in our Global Management Team by 2025.
We have asked our employees worldwide and here is what they said.
News and Stories about Diversity