Back to Overview

Employees

The REWE Group faces a variety of challenges in the area of personnel policy. Owing to demographic developments, the proportion of older employees is steadily increasing and there is a growing shortage of trainees and skilled workers. Moreover, the working world will change dramatically as globalisation and digitalisation continue to progress – accompanied, among other things, by technological change, a shift in cultural values and increasing individualisation. Work will become more digital, more connected and more flexible in the future. This structural change means that many of tomorrow’s jobs will be different from those we have today (Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Digitalisierte Arbeitswelt 2020).

A focus on employees is one of the four central pillars of the REWE Group’s Sustainability Strategy. Within this pillar, the REWE Group is systematically working on positioning itself for the future, attracting talented young people and binding them to the company in the long term.

Strategic approach

Principles

The corporate culture of the REWE Group is characterised by a trusting and respectful relationship among employees, customers and business partners. The company strives to create a diverse employee structure and to offer employees – regardless of gender, age, religion, origin, sexual identity or disability – a workplace that is free of discrimination and provides equal opportunities for everyone.

Implementation

Committed and qualified employees play a crucial role in the success of the company. It is therefore a central concern of the REWE Group to promote employee satisfaction, performance and productivity. For this to succeed, given the size and diversity of the company, it is essential that there is a strong sense of cohesion among all employees. Various other factors also play a role, including fair pay, extended company benefits beyond the level of negotiated wages, flexible working models that can be adapted to the personal needs of the employees and individually tailored offers that make it easier for them to reconcile their professional and private lives. To this end, the group of companies relies on strategic Human Resources management – with employee-oriented work concepts, safe working conditions, personalised training opportunities and an appreciation of each individual.

Responsibility

All of this is monitored by the “Employees” working group, which is led by Dr Daniela Büchel (Divisional Board Member of Retail Germany – HR and sustainability areas).

Areas of action

The following areas of action have been identified for the “Employees” pillar: values and culture, training and development, health and safety, career and stages of life, and diversity and equal opportunities.

Targets and key performance indicators (KPIs)

To make its progress in the “Employees” pillar measurable, the REWE Group has defined KPIs and corresponding targets. These were updated at the beginning of 2021 in terms of target value and target horizon.

Targets	2019	2020	2021	Measures
Keep the training percentage (trainees as a percentage of the total workforce in full-time equivalents) at 5.4% until 2025	5.3%	5.3%	5.6%	See the section Education and Training Programmes
Increase the level of internally staffed management positions to 80.0% by 2025	74.4%	72.1%	75.1%
Achieve a balanced gender ratio in management positions by 2025	45.4% female	45.6% female	45.3% female	See the section Diversity and Equal Opportunity
	54.6% male	54.4% male	54.7% male	See the section Diversity and Equal Opportunity
Reduce the number of accidents per 1,000 full-time equivalents to 43.5 by 2025	46.9	48.3	48.8	See the section Occupational Health and Safety Management
Keep the employment rate of individuals with disabilities at a level of at least 3.0% until 2025*	3.2%	3.1%	3.0%	See the section Diversity and Equal Opportunity
In progress Goal attained Not available Goal not attained * The employment rate of people with disabilities is calculated by headcount and therefore has a different calculation basis than when determining the mandatory share of employed people with severe disabilities according to Section 154, Book IX of the Social Welfare Code (SGB) (Germany). The decision to calculate the employment rate of people with disabilities by headcount was made in order to be able to determine a uniform key figure for all countries (Germany and Austria). Individuals with disabilities are defined according to Section 2 of the German Social Welfare Code and the Austrian Disabled Persons Employment Act (BEinstG).

Reporting

In the GRI report, all approaches, data and topics related to the “Employees” pillar can be found under: