Clariant is committed to creating a collaborative working environment that focuses on its core value of appreciation. The company strives to attract and develop talents central to its future success and is committed to engaging with all its employees to realize the full potential of its diverse workforce.

Compared to 2018, the distribution of the workforce between regions remained almost unchanged, with minor increases in Europe (0.1 percentage points), Asia-Pacific (0.1 percentage points), Latin America (0.8 percentage points), and Middle East & Africa (0.1 percentage points), while in North America, the regional share of total FTE decreased by 1.2 percentage points. SEE FIGURE 001

The age and gender structure of Clariant employees also remained constant. In 2019, 14% of employees were younger than 30 years, 59% were 30 – 50 years old, and 27% were older than 50 years. SEE FIGURE 002 The total workforce consisted of 78% men and 22% women. The number of full-time equivalents declined by 3.8% to 17 223 in 2019.

In 2019, Clariant strengthened its safety-oriented leadership culture and worked towards its goal of zero accidents through its multifaceted health and safety programs. This continuous focus resulted in a relatively stable lost time accident rate.

001 FTE BY REGION

¹ Middle East & Africa

002 AGE DIVERSITY

1.1. Talent attraction and development

Clariant considers talent attraction and development a central factor in future business success. To support this priority, the company follows a structured approach, using its MySuccess platform to integrate all Human Resources processes from recruitment and onboarding to learning, talent and performance management. In 2019, Clariant implemented a broad range of projects along the entire employee journey to realize the full potential of its workforce.

Clariant strives to attract people who not only meet the defined role requirements, but also fit with its values. In 2019, Clariant hired 1 570 new employees (490 women and 1 080 men) to support its profitable growth strategy. With 34.6% of new hires, Europe accounted for the largest share of new employees, followed by North America, which accounted for 27.6% of new hires.

Clariant’s performance management process ensures that strategic business objectives are translated into the employee’s day-to-day activities. In 2019, 10 063 employees followed a standardized performance management process.

Overall, 13 891 employees participated in a training recorded in the central learning management system, for a total of 205 861 training hours. This represents a reduction of around 12% compared to 2018 and can mainly be attributed to the global data privacy training conducted in 2018, which led to an extraordinary number of training participants and hours. The average hours per employee that engaged in training remained stable at 15 hours per employee.

More than 1 600 talents were discussed in 60 talent reviews across the organization, and concrete development steps and career measures were defined and will be implemented in 2020. The reward for Clariant’s systematic talent management activities is a very high talent retention rate of 93% in 2019, which is 2 percentage points lower than in 2018. Clariant promoted internal candidates into 87% of senior management positions and filled 90% of group management positions with the internal population.

1.1.1. Employer branding and recruiting

Since 2018, Clariant has enhanced its recruiting of highly skilled people that can support the company into its digital future. It hired a Digital & IT Talent Acquisition Specialist whose primary mission is to engage in the business-critical hunt for digital talents. Read more in Talent Attraction and Development

Clariant also rolled out a targeted digital campaign via the Asian social network WeChat. In 2019, Clariant increased its follower base by building a network of potential candidates and regularly received spontaneous applications from people with diverse skillsets and backgrounds. In 2020, Clariant will further define its brand identity on WeChat and enhance the integration between the social network, Chinese job boards, and the internal performance management platform in order to improve the user experience.

In 2019, Clariant also expanded the rollout of its digital interviewing platform, which was introduced in 2018. The platform facilitates the application process for candidates from around the world, allowing them to record and upload their video interview anytime and anywhere, saving time and travel expenses. In the pilot region Asia-Pacific, more than 70% of hiring managers used the tool to conduct interviews and virtually meet candidates. Feedback collected over the course of 2019 revealed that the platform was perceived as beneficial and user-friendly, prompting Clariant to further promote its adoption in Europe and North America.

1.1.2. Key position placement and succession planning

Clariant maintains a strong talent pipeline and a robust succession planning system in order to fill key roles according to a transparent set of criteria. In 2019, this system was complemented with clearly defined criteria for senior management position placements and the establishment of succession planning committees. In addition, Clariant’s performance management tool was further enhanced, allowing the Business and Service Units to access better statistics about their talent pools in order to predict future gaps and take measures accordingly.

Another important element in strengthening Clariant’s talent management approach was the launch of »Talent Management Fundamentals« – a new training program for people working in Human Resources across all regions that provides knowledge of talent management topics, such as succession planning, capability development, or performance assessment, and assures global talent management standards.

Clariant’s assessment center and capability development program provides aspiring leaders with clarity on competence requirements for various job levels and offer an assessment to identify development opportunities at organizational and individual levels. In 2019, around 90 employees from operational functions, Human Resources, and Finance attended a competency assessment.

To secure a stable talent pipeline for positions in the innovation organization, Clariant launched the Innovation Talent Management Review (ITMR) initiative in 2018. It is assigned to identify talents, develop key innovation skills, and assign innovation professionals to suitable Business Units. Since the inception of the initiative, 80 talents have been reviewed in this forum. As part of the program, Clariant also defined career paths for its innovation professionals and developed a learning curriculum focused on innovation-specific topics. So far, 50 roles were mapped and more than 60 proposals for learning measures, such as trainings and on-the-job learnings, were collected. The second ITMR was concluded at the end of 2019.

1.1.3. Strengthening commercial competencies

To strengthen commercial competencies, Clariant developed an advanced marketing e-learning module in 2018, which was rolled out in 2019. The three waves of the training that were implemented received very positive feedback, encouraging Clariant to continue this course offering in the future.

The advanced marketing module is complemented by »Manage for Growth,« a three-day program targeted at senior sales managers, which aims to strengthen their competencies for driving growth within their teams. After its rollout in 2018, Clariant conducted three editions of the program in 2019 in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.

1.1.4. Training and development programs to enhance leadership skills

Clariant offers a wide range of formal and informal programs for high-potential employees. One example is the »Pioneer Program,« which was successfully concluded in 2019 for the third year in a row. A key element of the program is the presentation of a new business project, which can be further pursued as part of the program upon approval of the management committee of a Business or Service Unit. Based on the positive feedback from Business and Service Units to these presentations, four new projects were initiated in 2019.

In 2019, the Mentoring Program was revamped, and more than 50 managers were included in the pool of certified mentors. By the end of the reporting year, these mentors coached 30 employees. Other informal learning and development initiatives include learning communities, peer coaching sessions, and a coaching program led by an externally certified consultant that focuses on behavioral change.

Jump to next paragraph

These informal development initiatives are complemented by formal learning programs delivered by business schools, specialized training companies, and Clariant’s internal experts. In 2019, a range of new formal learning programs was launched, including a »First-Time Leaders« coaching program for leaders and a »Clariant Excellence Manufacturing« program for managers in operational functions.

Clariant also continued to offer various well-established leadership trainings. These include, for example, the »License to Hire« program, which is offered to all hiring managers, and the »Authentic Leadership Training.« The »Frontline Leadership Training« was again conducted with more than 150 employees. Three modules were rolled out in Asia-Pacific and a brushup module was created to keep people engaged with the topics.

1.2. Employee engagement

Clariant’s people are at the core of the company’s sustainable value creation. In developing, improving, protecting, and delivering Clariant’s products and services, they are an invaluable competitive factor. Therefore, Clariant is committed to engaging with its employees on all levels, focusing on its core value of appreciation.

Clariant believes that diverse perspectives enable the company to capture market opportunities faster and foster a corporate culture that is conducive to innovation and growth. Thus, cultivating an inclusive work environment that values differences in experience, culture, nationality, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, and physical ability is vital for Clariant’s business success. It also contributes to keeping the turnover rate at a stable level.

1.2.1. Supporting employees in times of change

After conducting the »Pulse Survey« for the first time in 2018, Clariant’s Business Units thoroughly analyzed the results in 2019 and identified improvement areas through so-called »Team Barometers.« Team Barometers are short focus group surveys that allow for insights regarding the satisfaction with specific actions taken following the Pulse Survey, such as global team meetings to improve collaboration or a new newsletter that strengthens the communication between management and employees. This process, which was supported by employee engagement committees in several countries, will enable Clariant to better tailor the support and resources that employees need to achieve their goals.

Engaging and supporting employees is particularly important in the case of Business Units that are divested from the Clariant Group. Communicating openly and transparently with the employees from discontinued operations assures that they are well-informed of all developments. For example, Business Unit Pigments specifically focused on analyzing cultural aspects of their employee group and used the findings from the Pulse Survey to create insights that supported the development of a set of new business values.

1.2.2. Streamlining working conditions across the organization

Clariant ensures that the company stays open to new ways of working, offers a global workplace based on common values, and creates a sense of purpose for all employees across regions and age groups. To support these goals, a global Employment Policy was adopted in 2018 that describes what fair working conditions mean in daily practice, underlining the importance of employee collaboration. It clearly commits to equal development and promotion of all people across every organizational level and age group.

In 2019, Clariant introduced trainings on the Employment Policy for regional heads of Human Resources and – in an exchange with the local Human Resources teams – clarified its content and objectives throughout the organization. The policy was also included in the onboarding curriculum for new employees. To monitor implementation and adherence to the new policy, Clariant conducted an internal audit in all major countries by means of a survey and calls with regional and local heads of Human Resources as well as Human Resources consultants.

The objective for the coming years is to further raise awareness among business leaders and managers by introducing the policy in management meetings. Clariant will also assess the implementation of the policy and potentially adjust processes in certain regions to ensure full alignment with the global policy.

1.2.3. Expressing appreciation and promoting internal development opportunities

In 2019, Clariant decided to further formalize its Recognition Program. Besides its monetary recognition awards, Clariant established a global guideline to streamline noncash recognition awards and introduce appreciation award programs in countries where no such programs existed. Furthermore, a new function in the »MySuccess« Human Resources platform was implemented to support the nomination and administration process of the existing Special Recognition Award.

In addition, Clariant further developed its Referral Program and rolled it out in India and several countries in Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East & Africa. The expansion of the program was part of a concerted effort to advertise internal development opportunities to a wider audience, which was triggered by feedback from the Pulse Survey 2018. As a result, internal applications have increased by 30% in 2019 as compared to 2018.

1.2.4. Aligning benefit programs with the global policy

In 2018, Clariant adopted a Global Benefits Policy to establish a consistent framework for benefit programs across the organization. In 2019, Clariant documented the benefits offered in all countries to identify potential gaps between country programs and the global policy. Clariant also introduced an updated approval matrix, defining the process of reviewing or newly establishing local benefit offers.