Employee Structure

The total number of employees in the REWE Combine in Germany and Austria, including independent retailers (the scope of the Sustainability Report), remained constant at about 264,000 between 2020 and 2021. The REWE Group currently employs about 380,000 people throughout Europe.

The scope of this report also includes about 72,000 people who are employed by independent REWE retailers. REWE independent retailers predominantly operate their stores in accordance with the REWE partnership model. For this purpose, REWE and the individual retailer jointly establish a general mercantile partnership. The key figures cover all retailers who can be recorded via a central accounting system – a figure that totals about 95 per cent.

Not included in this are the other foreign companies of the REWE Group, national and international companies that are not part of the combine, independent retailers, REWE Dortmund SE, akzenta, REWE Spedition und Logistik GmbH and the small companies Mayflor, ZooRoyal and Eurogroup in Germany as well as ADEG and Sutterlüty in Austria.

The percentage of trainees in the workforce in Germany and Austria has remained relatively constant for years. In 2021, the share totalled 4.0 per cent, a slight increase from the previous year (3.7 per cent). The percentage of part-time employees (excluding marginally employed individuals and trainees) totalled about 41.8 per cent during the reporting period. The percentage of open-ended full-time employees was about 87.7 per cent in 2021. As a rule, all new employment contracts issued in Austria are limited term. These country-specific “timeframe” jobs are included in the number of limited-term employment contracts.

* GRI 102-48: The figures differ from those contained in the previous year’s report due to a new classification system used in the areas of Trade Germany and Miscellaneous.

As of 31/12/2021, a total of 189,276 of the 192,327 employees in the combine company (excluding employees of the independent REWE retailers in the partnership model) were covered by collective bargaining agreements and/or labour-management agreements. This represents a coverage rate of 98.4 per cent. In terms of the scope of the Sustainability Report, including the independent retailers, 71.7 per cent of employees were covered by collective bargaining agreements and/or labour-management agreements. The REWE retailers are independent entrepreneurs who are part of a general mercantile partnership. Collective bargaining coverage is generally created when a company joins an employers’ association. Joining such an association is an autonomous decision taken by the independent REWE retailers themselves. The retailers must pledge to the REWE Group that they will apply a minimum level of human resources standards. This naturally includes compliance with all laws, including payment of the minimum wage.