Clariant cultivates a high-performance culture that is founded on strong leadership and a commitment to continuous development. Through honest, authentic, and consistent behaviors, Clariant’s leaders inspire and motivate their teams to continuously learn and achieve strong results.

1. Leading the way to performance and continuous development

People Excellence, Clariant’s philosophy for leading people and translating business strategies into relevant employee initiatives, embodies three major elements:

• Defining key leadership requirements and evaluating the status quo
• Designing the people strategy
• Translating measures into people processes.

To identify the key leadership requirements that are needed for success, the company must first understand the opportunities and challenges that arise when implementing the strategy. Clariant evaluated its senior management as part of its regular review to analyze individual leadership and business competencies. In addition, Clariant rolled out a structured competency evaluation process for its innovation leaders, creating a solid foundation for systematic, needs-based, and future-oriented skills development.

In 2017, Clariant systematically analyzes its recruitment needs, the onboarding experience of new hires, and the return on investments in training and development, in order to further define its people strategy. The people strategy summarizes priorities for all stages of the people cycle (attraction, recruitment, onboarding, development, retention, separation), each of which is necessary to execute business strategies successfully. It also sets out specific, actionable measures to support employees worldwide in becoming better at what they do. These measures enhance Clariant’s people processes, which are then tailored in a systematic way to the specific requirements of Business and Service Units.

2. Developing internal talent and shaping new leaders

Talent management is a crucial element of a high-performance organization. By proactively developing and promoting internal talent, Clariant manages to fill key positions with internal talents and to retain specialists. In 2017, more than 85% of open positions in Group Management were filled internally (chapter Talent Attraction and Development).

Strong leadership capabilities enable key position holders to choose the right people, motivate, develop, and promote them according to their individual potential. Clariant has invested in diverse learning formats to continuously develop these leadership skills. For example, the »License to Hire« training, launched in 2017, provides a toolkit for efficient recruiting and supports line managers in making the right hiring decisions. Clariant also launched the »Frontline Leadership Training«, which targets frontline leaders such as Production Managers or Shift Leaders. The training introduces basic leadership instruments, enabling managers to effectively lead and motivate teams, and to manage change. In addition to the leadership curriculum, Clariant is establishing and implementing learning formats to strengthen job-specific functional skills such as commercial competencies.

3. Adapting to evolving market requirements

With market requirements changing quickly, Clariant’s training and education initiatives have become increasingly agile to guarantee the development of required skills and knowledge within the organization. All programs are designed as modules that can be flexibly adapted to the specific needs of the target groups. Real-time virtual trainings also increase flexibility, as participants across regions can join them comfortably from their workplace, saving travel time and avoiding harmful emissions. Additionally, Clariant offers a variety of E-learning modules within its global HR system »MySuccess«. These E-learning modules give learners the freedom to set their own pace and continue the program individually, based on their availability. Read more about how the digital HR system transforms work (chapter Transforming Journeys).

Clariant’s learning philosophy – the »self-directed life-long learning journey« – emphasizes that employees should never stop enhancing their own competencies. Clariant encourages employees to share their knowledge, best practices, and lessons learned with their peers in facilitated workshops and interactive learning sessions. In 2017, Clariant implemented a »Team Effectiveness Program«, supporting teams across all organizational levels in increasing team cohesion, trust, and effective collaboration. More than 1 000 employees completed the program so far.

4. Addressing regional needs and tapping the full potential of marketing and innovation

After defining global people strategies for each Business Unit in 2017, Clariant will develop tailor-made solutions and priorities for each region in 2018. Initiatives include job rotations, short-term assignments, trainings to enhance technical competencies in emerging markets, and the implementation of tailored onboarding programs to accelerate the integration of newly hired employees.

In 2018, Clariant will also tap the full potential of the reorganized marketing organizations by launching a global marketing training program. Designed to foster collaboration between innovation, marketing, and sales teams, the program will ensure better alignment of all commercial activities and strengthen Clariant’s marketing expertise in order to become a Leading Marketing Organization. (Chapter Marketing Advances)

5. Positioning Clariant as a preferred employer

To stay competitive in a contested market, Clariant needs to retain its most valuable and differentiating asset: its people. They create, improve, protect, and deliver Clariant’s services and products and are at the core of sustainable value creation. Clariant positions itself as a preferred employer by focusing on its core value: Appreciation. This means providing the support and resources that employees need to achieve their goals and giving credit for extra efforts. Moreover, Clariant offers challenging assignments, enabling employees to grow professionally and unleash their full potential, which is at the heart of Clariant’s vision for People Excellence.

»Strong leadership, continuous development and consequence management are essential for a high-performance culture.«

Klementina PejicHead of Group Human Resources

6. Engaging with a diverse workforce and guaranteeing fair working conditions

For Clariant, diversity encompasses not only varied cultural and geographical backgrounds and experiences, but also different ways of thinking and acting. Diverse perspectives lead to a differentiated view on market potentials and opportunities and foster an environment of innovation and growth. Diversity is also valued in the recruitment of candidates, by evaluating individual development potential in addition to experience during the placement process.

Engaging with a diverse workforce starts with valuing diversity in career management, promoting for potential and valuing healthy and motivating leadership behaviors. After all, Clariant values those behaviors which reflect the six corporate values. (Chapter Vision, Mission, and Values)