Diversity, equity and inclusion

We are committed to promoting a strong sense of inclusion among our employees. Therefore, we approach diversity, equity & inclusion (DE&I) with the same purpose as our other global business objectives and aspirations. While we have always been a diverse organization – we currently span 66 countries and have over 64,000 employees from 139 nationalities – we recognize that our success depends on our ability to foster an environment that champions equity and inclusion. In addition, our DE&I approach fuels our efforts to make positive impacts in the communities where we live and work. We expect our leaders and managers to be mindful and considerate in how they attract, hire, retain, and promote their people. We aim to help every employee maximize their potential, regardless of their gender identity, culture, ethnicity, race, religion or creed, sexual orientation, nationality, socioeconomic and family status, language, disability status, age, mindset, faiths, military service, or political conviction.

We strive to create equitable outcomes and identify and eliminate any barriers that may hinder our employees’ contributions or their access to opportunities or career advancement. Ultimately, we believe diversity inspires progress and strengthens our ability to innovate in all areas of our business.

Roles and responsibilities

The Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer is responsible for our global DE&I strategy and steering its related activities. In this role, she reports directly to the Chair of the Executive Board, whose Board responsibilities include Group Human Resources. In addition, we have established a centralized Diversity Council consisting of high-ranking executives from all our business sectors and selected Group functions.

Our commitment: Industry-wide initiatives and regulations

Our Social and Labor Standards Policy categorically states that our company does not tolerate any form of discrimination, physical or verbal harassment, or intolerance. To underscore our commitment to equality, fairness, inclusion, and tolerance in the workplace, we also participate in industry-wide initiatives:

• Women’s Empowerment Principles
• Inclusion Action Plan of the German Mining, Chemical and Energy Industrial Union (IG BCE)
• Equal Opportunity Charter
• German Diversity Charter, Charta der Vielfalt e. V.

Strategy rollout and new structure introduction

In 2022, we rolled out our DE&I strategy globally. We created a network comprising our 18 major countries, nominated dedicated representatives and developed tailored roadmaps for each country. We also streamlined the councils and working groups in the business sectors and major Group functions, renaming them Diversity, Inclusion, Community & Equity Councils.

In 2021, we pledged to our people, partners, patients, and industry to intensify our DE&I efforts and set robust aspirations to hold ourselves accountable. In 2022, we continued this strong focus and demonstrated that we are on track to advance toward our 2030 goals.

Gender equity

We developed measures to achieve a more balanced gender structure at various hierarchical levels of our business. We are steadily making progress and have increased the share of women in leadership (roles 4+) to 38% (2021: 36%) while maintaining a stable 43% proportion of women in our global workforce. Building on this effort, we are aiming for gender parity in leadership positions by 2030. Moreover, we are committed to fair and equitable pay for all employees.

Culture and ethnicity

With 24% of our employees based in the United States, it is crucial that we become an employer of choice among underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in this market. Therefore, we plan to increase the share of employees in U.S. leadership (roles 4+) who are members of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups from 21% to 30% by 2030.

Additionally, due to our current performance and future growth in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East and Africa (MEA), accounting for 40% of our Group sales, we aim to increase the global share of nationals from Asia, Latin America, and MEA in leadership positions (roles 4+) from 16% to 30% by 2030.

Inclusion

Beyond our aspiration to foster specific types of diversity and equity, we are accelerating our efforts to create a genuinely inclusive culture for all employees. To achieve this, we rolled out training courses to help leaders reflect on how they can lead more inclusively. All leaders will be encouraged to complete these courses over the coming years. At the end of 2022, 64% (2021: 37%) of our leaders had participated in this training program.

Committed to fair and equitable pay

Our commitment to pay equity is a critical aspect of our DE&I strategy. To create transparency around unexplained pay gaps and identify their underlying root causes, we conducted a pay equity analysis in 2021 with a focus on gender-based discrepancies. In this first step, we analyzed ten of our largest countries, covering approximately 80% of our total employees. Based on this analysis, we continued to improve our transparency by releasing pay data publicly for the first time: The identified adjusted (unexplained) gender pay gap is less than 1.5% in favor of men. While this is a good starting point and below the existing benchmark, we will continue to monitor pay data and take measured actions as needed. These include enabling our leaders to ensure we continue making equitable and unbiased pay decisions.

Ensuring fair treatment for all

We do not tolerate any form of discrimination in our company, as stipulated with binding effect in our Code of Conduct and Social and Labor Standards Policy. In 2022, we published two new position papers on non-discrimination and non-harassment, complementing our position paper on DE&I. In addition, we have established various reporting channels to ensure employees have a clear point of contact should they experience harassment or discrimination in the workplace, or any other violations of our standards. Their first points of contact are their supervisors, HR or compliance teams. Alternatively, employees can also make anonymous calls to our compliance hotline. In 2022, 20 alleged cases of discrimination were reported via the compliance hotline and other channels, seven incidents were confirmed.