Diversity, Equal Opportunities and Equal Treatment

On the occasion of the tenth Diversity Day on 31 May 2022, the participatory campaign “Diversity” took place in Germany on the “Gemeinsam.topfit” online portal. Employees were able to take part with photographs and statements on the topic of “Diversity means for me/us...”.

Like other companies, the REWE Group is faced with an imbalance of men and women in top executive positions. The REWE Group aims to address this issue with projects as part of the “Diversity in the REWE Group” initiative. For example, “f.ernetzt” – a network for women in the REWE Group – has been in existence since 2019. Several hundred female executives and experts have since taken part in the dialogue on topics such as leadership, new work, personal development and work-life balance. During the reporting year, meet-ups were offered on a variety of topics, for example, roundtable discussions with experienced executives or a dialogue with two executives who work in a job-sharing tandem.

At PENNY in Germany, 22 workshops with employees from all regions on the topic of “Diversity in Leadership” were implemented during the reporting year. At the workshops, measures were drawn up to promote gender diversity in executive positions in sales.

With the mentoring programme “women@toom”, toom Baumarkt DIY stores support sales employees with leadership ambitions to grow into executive roles.

More information on projects to promote women in executive positions, such as the Women’s Drive programme (since 2017) or the Cologne partnership “Mit Frauen in Führung” (“With Women in Leadership”) (since 2016), can be found in the Archive of the REWE Group sustainability reports.

In November 2022, the REWE Group adopted a group-wide Guideline on Gender Neutral Language and communicated it internally. It provides guidance and a framework for gender-neutral language in internal and external communication. 

The REWE Group has been committed to JOBLINGE as part of its strategic communication since 2016: With the JOBLINGE Klassik programmes, the initiative supports socially disadvantaged young people and with JOBLINGE Kompass, it supports young refugees who are to be integrated and become qualified for the labour market. Employees from REWE and PENNY in Germany, the REWE Group headquarters and DER Touristik can provide voluntary support through mentoring as part of the project “Ehrensache” ("Matter of Honour"). There are now 85 mentors and just under 174 mentoring tandems across Germany. In around 750 work placements, young people involved in JOBLINGE gained insights into working life (2021: around 7501), and around 250 young people were taken on as trainees or given employment (2021: around 240).

¹ GRI 2-4: GRI 2-4: The number of work placements differs from the number given for the previous year because of a rounding error.

To guarantee their integration into society and professional life, the REWE Group in Germany fills work placements throughout the country with young refugees. They are accepted for training – especially in sales and logistics – after recruitment through taster days and work placements. Refugees are very often initially given linguistic and cultural preparation as part of a six to twelve-month entry qualification before being accepted into training.

The integration initiative “KIMAT” of REWE Region Süd supports people with a history of migration to become better integrated into the labour market and promotes intercultural coexistence. Many of them are already trainees at REWE; others are prepared for training with the help of language training, for example.

The REWE Group in Austria conducts targeted recruitment of refugees. Within this framework, various traineeships, along with numerous work placements, were filled with young refugees.

The REWE Group is committed to integrating unemployed and long-term unemployed people aged over 25 years and without vocational qualification into the labour market in Germany. The measure “Teilqualifizierung in ca. 58 Wochen” (“Partial Qualification in around 58 Weeks”) is a certified programme from the "Entwicklungszentrum für berufliche Qualifizierung und Integration GmbH in Dortmund (EWZ)" (Development Centre for Vocational Qualification and Integration GmbH in Dortmund). It prepares people who are actively seeking work for the Salesperson (Chamber of Industry and Commerce) exam focusing on “Service” in approximately 58 weeks. The participants are employed at a REWE store and receive their salary from the store itself. It is reimbursed by the Employment Agency (Agentur für Arbeit) and the job centre until the qualification is achieved. The first partial qualification began in December 2019 with 23 participants. 13 of them passed their exam with an average grade of 2.1 in January 2021 and received an employment contract in a REWE store. The second partial qualification with 13 participants began in November 2021. It is expected to last until June 2023.

In November 2022, the REWE Group received the Pride Champion employer seal (formerly PRIDE 500), the LGBTIQ+ employer seal in Germany. This was confirmed by independent auditors as part of the PRIDE Champion Audits by the UHLALA Group, Germany’s leading LGBTIQ+ Social Business. The REWE Group received a high score, especially in the areas of organisational structure (diversity, inclusion, equity management and networks), as well as legal frameworks and regulations (points of contact and grievance departments, principles and instructions).

di.to (“different together”) is the REWE Group’s LGBTIQ network across Germany. It helps all employees to feel at ease in the company, regardless of their sexual orientation. Since it was established in 2013, the network has been able to gain around 350 members and just under 2,000 followers on social media channels (2021: 300 members and over 1,300 followers) The goal is to connect employees and promote dialogue across all sales lines. A national, virtual network meeting with internal and external guest speakers on queer, political as well as job-related topics has been held several times a year since 2020. Furthermore, di.to has been a partner in the “PEPP –PROUT EMPLOYER PARTNER PROGRAMME” network since 2020. It contributes to establishing a diverse work culture.

One of di.to’s successful campaigns is the distribution of rainbow stickers. In recent years, all REWE and PENNY stores, toom Baumarkt DIY stores and DER Touristik travel agencies in Germany have demonstrated tolerance and diversity by displaying the symbol on their entrance door. On the initiative of the network, more than 5,000 rainbow flags were hoisted at numerous stores of the REWE Group across Germany to mark IDAHBOT (International Day against Homophobia) in May 2022. This drew a lot of attention in the regional and national media. Participation in the CSD at Cologne and Vienna Pride was made possible again in 2022, albeit to smaller extent. This is intended to create a sense of belonging between employees and the community.

PENNY in Germany supported the training and empowerment network Queermentor in 2022 by supporting 20 mentorings aimed at helping young LGBTQIA people aged 16 and over to develop the mindset of “I’m okay as I am”.

With the campaign “Sexuelle Belästigung und Diskriminierung – NEIN danke!” (“Sexual Harassment and Discrimination – NO thank you!”), the REWE Group in Austria informs its employees about options for taking action against this kind of attack. The campaign includes a poster that was sent to all stores and locations, as well as accompanying communication. A workshop with the Ombud for Equal Treatment on the topic of “Sexual Harassment and Discrimination” was also held in 2021 for selected employees from the works council. The event is planned to be repeated in 2023. Affected persons in the company are supported by their own trained employees – whether in an anonymous discussion but also by actively initiating steps. The works council also provides information on the topic of “Gleichbehandlung – keine Chance für Diskriminierung” (“Equal Treatment – No Room for Discrimination”) in a brochure. Since 2021, the e-learning module on the topic of “Sexual Harassment” has been available to all employees and is compulsory for active executives.

To prevent harassment by customers, the “Fair Play” campaign is currently underway in Carinthia, Austria. Trainings, workshops and posters at the point of sale make remind everybody to treat people with respect.

The REWE Group in Germany is committed to equal opportunities for all employees. People with disabilities and people at risk of disability in the company can talk to the representative body for severely disabled persons and inclusion representatives at any time. The representative body for severely disabled persons advises on matters of applications to the social security office, reintegration into the workplace after long illness and on all other legal issues. Moreover, it supports the employer in the inclusion of newly hired employees. With accessible workplaces, the REWE Group enables employees with disabilities to work in administration and in the stores – for example in the form of checkout workplaces for wheelchair users. The REWE Group employed 7,955 people with disabilities in the reporting year (Scope sustainability report; 2021: 7,899).

The websites of the REWE Group and the career pages of REWE and PENNY in Germany are barrier-free according to applicable standards.

A strategic cooperation between the REWE Group and Aktion Mensch has existed since 2017. Numerous projects on the topic of inclusion and promotion of children and young people have been implemented as part of this cooperation. For example, set-up of a nursery and school inclusion assistance service and creation of inclusive playgrounds were supported during the reporting year (see section Projects and Promotion).  

As in 2021, the REWE and PENNY sales lines in Germany participated in the talent recruiting programme by myAbility in the reporting year. Students with chronic illnesses or disabilities, the myAbility Talents, received targeted coaching on career planning and soft skills over the period of a semester. In addition, they are networked with the company as possible future employees and are given the option of job shadowing – accompanying employees to observe workplaces – and taster work placements. This reinforces open communication about disabilities in companies. 

The REWE Group in Austria takes a holistic approach to the issue of disability and follows the vision of “thinking accessibly and giving employees, customers and partners the same opportunities”. This includes, for example, increasing the number of employees with a handicap in the company itself – deaf employees were able to be employed in the stores and people with autism were able to be employed in the central units. The job profile “employee for supportive activities” has been open to applications from people with disabilities at the headquarters and at BIPA stores since 2021.  

In Austria, the REWE Group Austria is one of the largest employers of people with disabilities and employs over 800 staff with different disabilities in all parts of the company.

BILLA actively reaches out to disabled people with its job advertisements. The sales line employs people with different disabilities, such as learning difficulties or chronic illnesses, at its headquarters, in the stores, in the online shop and in logistics. To raise awareness among the workforce, BILLA also made videos of success stories of employees with disabilities. There are also new training videos on dealing with customers with disabilities that are available to employees. Furthermore, the BILLA job market has been certified as barrier-free since 2020 through the “Web Accessibility Certificate Austria” (WACA), the first independent certificate in Austria. 

toom Baumarkt DIY store has been cooperating with institutions of the association "Bundesvereinigung Lebenshilfe e. V." (Federal Association Lebenshilfe) since 2014 on joint projects for people with and without disabilities as part of local partnerships as well as work placements and outsourced workshop jobs. In 2022, 28 (2021:21) workshop jobs were provided and 20 of them could be filled. A guide on these local partnerships with the Lebenshilfe association was available in stores during the reporting period.