Mercedes 2010 Annual Report Download - page 149

Sustainability | Human Resources | 145
Employee qualification. “You never stop learning” is an expres-
sion that has been true for many generations and is becoming
even more relevant today. As a result of our employees’ own moti-
vation and our targeted range of qualification programs and
courses, we ensure that our employees can exercise the full range
of their capabilities, particularly with regard to new technologies.
In the year under review, we invested €202 million in the training
and continuing education of our employees in Germany alone
(2009: €207 million); each of our employees received on average
2.3 days of training in 2010 (2009: 2.4 days).
We apply a range of different qualification measures to maintain
our technological leadership. We are the leading company in
Germany in the training and further training of electrical special-
ists, for example. Since 2006, more than 1,000 employees at
Daimler AG in Germany have been trained in high-voltage tech-
nology. Over the next three years, more than 30,000 executives
and employees throughout the Group are scheduled to take part
in the Green Qualification Program, which offers training courses
in environmentally friendly technologies. The participants will
include specialists along the entire value chain (from development
to sales and service) worldwide.
Diversity management. In its commitment to a varied work-
force and diversity management, Daimler is promoting employee
diversity, creating networks and making the company fit for the
future. This is because diversity management is a success factor
not only from a social point of view but also from an economic
one.
Diversity management has been established at Daimler since
2005. One of its focuses is on promoting women to executive
positions (gender diversity). At the end of 2010, the proportion of
executive positions at the Daimler Group around the world that
were held by women was 9%. We intend to increase this propor-
tion to 20% by the year 2020. This objective takes account of
industry-specific facts and constitutes a realistic target on the
basis of the current workforce situations of 13.5% women at
Daimler AG and 15% at the Daimler Group. Another important
aspect that we have considered in setting an appropriate target
is the proportion of female students of engineering subjects.
This is currently between 5 and 20% in Western Europe.
In addition to the advancement of women, we are also focusing
on many other aspects of diversity, including topics such as
generation management and internationality.
Healthy employees in a healthy company. Daimler provides
workplace-related preventive support to ensure that its employ-
ees remain healthy over the long term. Highly qualified emer-
gency medical personnel provide accident victims with first aid
at our company locations. Our plant medical services assist
employees who are suffering from health-related problems or
require occupational health examinations. We take preventive
action against increased physical strain and the associated health
risks by incorporating ergonomic measures and assessment
methods, whose suitability has been proven in labor research,
into the entire product-creation process.
Another method that is greatly helping employees to stay healthy
is integration management. One focus of these activities is on
reintegrating employees with disabilities. In 2010, we created
binding regulations and guidelines for dealing with health data
throughout Germany in order to support responsible and success-
ful management behavior.
A “thank you” to our workforce. The Board of Management
would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our employees
for their support during the crisis and for their efforts during
the subsequent phase of recovery. Without the flexibility of our
workforce, this achievement would not have been as great as
it was. We would also like to thank the employee representatives
for their great commitment and constructive cooperation.
Employees with many different skills and experience work together at Daimler on shaping the future of the automobile.