Mercedes 2015 Annual Report Download - page 178

D | CORPORATE GOVERNANCE | INTEGRITY AND COMPLIANCE 185
integrity in their departments. Furthermore, more than 55,000
employees worldwide have participated in our online game
“Monster Mission” since September 2014. The game increases
employee awareness of the principles contained in the
Integrity Code by simulating specific everyday work situations
in which ethical behavior is required.
Extensive training program
The Integrity Code also forms the foundation of the range of
training courses we offer. Our integrated training program is
defined on the basis of an annual planning cycle that starts with
a needs analysis, extends through the implementation of the
program and ends with a feedback and monitoring process.
Among other things, the program addresses the topics of integ-
rity, compliance, data protection and antitrust law. Depending
on the risk and the target group, we use classroom training or
web-based training sessions. Our training measures help ensure
that ethical and compliant behavior remain firmly and sustain-
ably anchored within the Group. They also help employees deal
with specific questions in their day-to-day business. Basic web-
based training in integrity, compliance and legal issues is offered
to our employees via the intranet. Every newly hired Daimler
employee must complete this training session as part of a
“Welcome Package” when they join the company. About
50,000 employ ees from various levels of the hierarchy partici-
pated in this training program in 2015.
Requirements for managers
Our Integrity Code also defines requirements for managers, who
serve as role models and have a special responsibility for
the culture of integrity. All training seminars for new managers
therefore also include modules that address the topic of
integrity. In addition, integrity and compliance are important
criteria in the annual target agreements and in assessing
the target achievement of our managers.
Advisory Board for Integrity and Corporate Responsibility
The Advisory Board consists of independent external experts
from the fields of science, business, politics and journalism,
and from non-governmental organizations. The Advisory Board
regularly collects information on the company’s activities,
conducts discussions with company representatives and monitors
the integrity process at Daimler in a constructively critical banner.
We also promote discussions of issues of current importance
to the company through our meetings with stakeholders.
To this end, we organized a conference in 2015 under the head-
ing of “Autonomous Driving, Law and Ethics.”
Integrity and Compliance
A culture of integrity
Integrity is one of our four corporate values, which form the
foundation of our business activities. We are convinced that
doing business ethically brings us sustained success and is
also good for society as a whole. As a group of companies
with global operations, we accept responsibility and want to be
a pioneer in terms of ethical business conduct. The further
development and permanent establishment of such ethical
conduct is an important task and therefore a component of
the target agreements for Board of Management remuneration.
Our business activities are also strongly guided by the ten
principles of the UN Global Compact, of which Daimler is a
founding member. We are also a member of the Global
Compact LEAD Group.
In order to further develop a culture of integrity at the company,
we also began conducting a continual dialogue with our
employees in 2011. Integrity cannot be dictated from above;
this is why the regular sharing of opinions on questions of
integrity is an integral component of our everyday working life.
We regularly address integrity issues in our internal media
and make extensive integrity-related materials available on the
intranet for use by all our business units.
Integrity Code
The Integrity Code is a result of our dialogue with employees.
The Code, which is based on a shared understanding of values
agreed upon with our employees, lays out the principles for
our everyday business conduct. Such principles include fairness,
responsibility, mutual respect, transparency, openness, legal
compliance and the honoring of rights. The Code is valid through -
out the Group and is available in 23 languages. A guide has
been prepared to support the application of the Code in every-
day situations, providing answers to the most frequently
asked questions.
Contact and advice center
In March 2015, we launched the “Infopoint Integrity” for the
employees at our locations in Germany. The team offers advice
on integrity-related issues in the daily work environment
and puts employees in touch with the right contact partner if
necessary.
Communicating with employees
By means of innovative dialog formats, our employees are
encouraged to discuss the issue of integrity. For example,
executives can use a toolbox to initiate discussions about