Global employment markets are increasingly becoming a reality. Accordingly, global challenges result in the search for qualified employees. In 2020, the world economy could be faced with an absence of approximately 40 million college graduates. The recruitment and linking of employees thus become important factors for lasting business success.

In a competitive environment such as the chemical industry, the employees of Clariant are crucially important for the success of the company. Their performance lays the basis for the company’s commercial strength and competitiveness. It is an important matter to Clariant to provide employees with a professional work environment in order to promote employee health and satisfaction on the one hand and overall company performance on the other. In the process, the motivation and the skills of each individual employee, the commitment to the quality of each individual’s deliverables, and the observance of environmental protection, safety and protection of health are promoted both individually and on a departmental level.

In 2015, nearly 8 000 employees took part in Clariant training courses, attending a total of about 140 000 hours of training. About 15% of this training occurred in the Clariant Academy programs with an emphasis on leadership and sales competencies, with about 6 500 hours and 500 participants each, and local training offerings with emphasis mainly on language courses, communication and presentation skills, as well as environment, health and safety (ESH).

The concept of Clariant Excellence is also used in the realm of Human Resources in order to create a culture of continuous improvement. The core of the concept is a process of the effective and lasting change in thought that each employee develops and promotes for him or herself on all levels. This change in thought is expected to increase the competitiveness of Clariant through gains in efficiency, and in the process create added value.

People Excellence seeks to improve the continuing education of employees by providing them with the required skills and resources. So that these improvements are also ensured in the long term, Clariant intensively promotes succession planning and talent management. Clariant offers suitable education programs for employees to improve their employment opportunities and thus promote the innovative, future-oriented continuing development of the company.

The continuous training of employees within the framework of the internal talent management process ensures well-functioning succession planning for important positions within the company: About 85% of the senior management positions can be filled internally.

At the end of 2015, more than 20% of the individuals hired at the top four management levels were citizens of the country in which the hiring part of the Group was located.

Sustainable value creation for all its stakeholders and for Clariant as a whole requires the alignment of all business on central factors that are inextricably linked and built upon each other. A common set of values sets the foundation for continuous performance improvement. To this end, the conduct of the employees should always be oriented toward the well-being of Clariant, and in the process, the well-being of the entire workforce, as well as that of the stakeholders.

The Clariant Code of Conduct defines responsible conduct and applies equally to all employees. It concerns first and foremost the avoidance of conflicts of interests. The Code of Conduct governs the realm of fair competition, freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, corruption, discrimination, child labor and forced labor (www.clariant.com/en/Company/Corporate-Governance/Codes-of-Conduct). See Clariant Annual Report, chapter Corporate Governance.