Development of personnel expenses

Our personnel expenses decreased by 5.1% to €4.0 billion compared to the same period of the previous year (2015/16: €4.2 billion). This amount includes €3.2 billion (2015/16: €3.4 billion) for wages and salaries, including payroll tax and the employer’s social security contribution. The remainder was attributable to social welfare contributions, pension expenses and employee benefits. We encourage our staff to set up their own private pension accounts. Our group-wide future package provides them with voluntary benefits that exceed the collective bargaining standards generally seen in the industry. During the reporting year, 31,517 employees took advantage of this possibility (2015/16: 32,034 employees). This represents a quota of 63.1% (2015/16: 61.3%).