Diversity management

In 2007, we signed the Charta of Diversity issued by the German Government. By signing the Charta, we committed to mutual respect, to promoting equal opportunities and to diversity, as well as to transparency, by issuing a report every year.

Promoting women is one of the key issues addressed by our diversity management activities. Women make up 37 % of our global workforce, which means that about 165,000 women are employed by Deutsche Post DHL. In 2009, the proportion of female executives in top management was at 15.6 %. In an effort to encourage more women to accept management roles, we support talented female employees with mentoring schemes. 2009 also saw us continue our International Mentoring Program, in which about half the participants are women. They join experienced mentors to work on their personal career plans.

In May 2009, the DHL Supply Chain division launched the Diversity & Respect initiative throughout Europe. It is dedicated to getting young people from different countries, especially women, interested in a career in our industry. DHL Express Europe has also committed itself to increasing the diversity of its workforce. The division conducted a survey to identify priorities in diversity management. In the summer of 2009, DHL Express Europe launched the Women in Leadership initiative to support talented female employees.

In addition to development programs for female employees, we also offer flexible working hour schemes as well as support in child daycare. This helps employees balance their careers with their personal lives.

As one of the measures to help employees return to work after taking parental leave, DHL Express in the Czech Republic launched a Parents’ Club. In 2009, we received the TOTAL E-QUALITY award for the fourth consecutive time. The award is presented by the association of the same name and commended us for, among other things, our exemplary support of women in management positions.

We want to ensure that all our employees enjoy equal opportunities at work. We therefore integrate employees with disabilities and regularly conduct conferences on this issue with HR managers. At 7.5 %, the employment rate of employees with disabilities at Deutsche Post AG is considerably higher than comparable ratios in the German private business sector.

We have been campaigning for greater acceptance of homosexual employees since 2008. At the beginning of 2009, we launched RainbowNet, a network for lesbian, homosexual, bi- and transsexual employees at Deutsche Post DHL.

We also promote tolerance and mutual acceptance in our induction program Living with One Another at Work (Miteinander in der Arbeit leben), which is directed at our junior staff enrolled in vocational training programs. We also use training modules and internal media to increase awareness of diversity and build mutual understanding. Support is also extended to our youth and vocational trainee representative organization, which in 2009 addressed the issues human rights, tolerance and diversity in its campaign “Showing our colors, because Germany is diverse” (Lasst uns Flagge zeigen, denn Deutschland ist bunt).

Companies in industrialized nations have to be in a position to meet the challenges of a global market, despite having a shrinking and aging workforce. Deutsche Post DHL is working to identify the impacts of demographic change in an effort to be able to use the diversity of its workforce to its full potential in the future. We are committed to promoting this issue and have made demographics one of the key issues at our Germany-wide HR conference in April 2010.