Employee interests

People & Culture strategy

Our company’s sCore growth strategy, which consistently aligns METRO towards multichannel wholesale business, is concomitant with a cultural transformation. Within this transformation process, the motivation of our employees is of essential importance, because they are the ones who actively support the change and whose dedication is necessary to achieve the company’s stated objectives. To demonstrate this understanding both internally and externally, the Human Resources department was renamed People & Culture. The department pursues a consistent operational agenda that is clearly aligned with the implementation of sCore and is intended to contribute to company growth. At the same time, our employer value proposition – ‘Shape the M’ – underscores for the labour market the high value METRO places on the mutual development and growth of employees and the company.

It is therefore important to us to invest in the skills and abilities of our employees and to maintain an inclusive, attractive, open-minded, inspiring work environment that is focused on performance and success. Our holistic HR approach with customised initiatives and programmes spans the entire employee experience life cycle – from recruitment across various career and life stages to retirement models. The global standard and country-specific models, for example, form the foundation for this.

TRANSFORMATION OF THE WORK ENVIRONMENT

Vesna Žigić, Key Account Manager HoReCa, with METRO for 20 years, and Christiane Giesen, CPCO METRO AG, in an interview.

MORE ON MPULSE.DE/EN

METRO’s personnel strategy makes clear the global priorities for People & Culture. In addition, thanks to the involvement of the Management Board and/or the management of the respective national subsidiaries and service companies, it ensures a balance between adaptation to specific country circumstances and a degree of group-wide standardisation, which is nevertheless necessary.

Our new company values, the METRO Fundamentals, represent the foundation for this and are a guide for the conduct and decisions of our employees. The METRO Fundamentals align the company even more towards wholesale and highlight the importance of the feeling of ‘us’. In order to integrate our corporate values even more strongly into our daily work, we have created occasions that allow our METRO culture to be experienced. For example, ONE METRO Day was celebrated around the world in financial year 2022/23.

Our consistently high level of commitment is proof that our employees feel a connection with the company and are doing their best every day to jointly achieve the goals of the group. At the same time, the biannual survey provides us with important insights for continuous improvement directly from the workforce.

In a nutshell, our sustainable HR strategy focuses on the following key areas:

• Promoting the ONE METRO culture as well as diversity and inclusion globally as a driver for sustainable business success
• Developing the skills and capabilities of all employees in our headquarters, stores and sales aligned with the requirements of the sCore strategy and supporting its implementation
• Long-term and comprehensive talent management and investments in our employer brand in order to fill positions in our company with the most talented employees for the future
• Increase productivity through targeted use of our resources, continuous improvement and simplification of our processes and digitalisation

FROM CHEF TO SALES MANAGER

Employee attraction

Our goal is to position METRO as an attractive employer and to attract qualified, talented people to our company. Through various activities in the field of talent acquisition, we identify and recruit suitable professionals and managers for METRO to sustainably fill critical roles for the business in order to strengthen the company’s own workforce.

Our main activities:

• Development of professionals and managers from our own ranks: we recruit and train junior employees by offering various internship, trainee and apprenticeship programmes to develop them into qualified employees.
• Recruiting experienced professionals and managers: we use direct sourcing activities (using the internal candidate pool to fill positions), talent pools and candidate relationship management (shaping relationships with potential candidates) to identify and attract specialised professionals.
• Target-group-oriented communication: we position METRO as an attractive employer through targeted communication at career fairs, on social networks and by means of strategic collaborations.
• Strengthening the employer brand: we make our employer brand more visible and tangible with the elaborated employer value proposition and the associated value platform. 21 METRO national subsidiaries have been provided with materials (brand manual, activation concept and open files) to use the employer brand concept to effectively increase perception of us as an attractive employer at a local level. Furthermore, HR employees from 13 countries successfully took part in this year’s Employer Branding Academy.
• Distinction as a top employer in 2023: being certified as a top employer once again in 8 METRO companies underscores our attractiveness as an employer.
• Digital recruiting platform: the introduction of a new applicant management system with an upstream careers website supports the effective recruitment of employees in now 17 METRO national subsidiaries and 11 other subsidiaries. The platform is an important step in the implementation of our growth strategy.

Talent management and succession planning

Through comprehensive talent and performance management, targeted succession planning and numerous career development opportunities, we continuously develop our employees. This way, we offer them attractive career opportunities within our company, thus creating the basis for sustainable success.

The processes of the performance and potential assessment are guided by the METRO Fundamentals and the sCore strategy. Managers are tasked with evaluating their employees with regard to their performance and their potential and – together with the respective management team and supported by the People & Culture department – with defining individual measures for the employee during the annual development meetings. Employees have an opportunity to introduce their own development ambitions into the process.

Succession planning takes place locally for all levels as well as across countries for the first and second management levels. Regarding filling positions with professionals and managers, we make a point of ensuring that they are not only suitable for their current position, but also have potential to develop beyond it. Therefore, with regard to filling management positions, we also look at the second and third management level and measure what proportion of employees can be assessed as having medium or high development potential and thus be given special consideration for succession planning.

We also pay increased attention to the proportion of women in management positions in our succession planning. METRO therefore aims to further increase the proportion of women in managerial positions. The objective is for 25% of employees on the first management level below the Management Board and 40% of employees on the second management level below the Management Board of METRO AG to be women by September 2025. At the end of financial year 2022/23, the share of women employed on the first management level below the Management Board was 25.8%, and on the second management level below the Management Board 22.4%. Furthermore, we voluntarily set a target for the share of women in executive positions in our wholesale business: the share of women in executive positions at levels 1 to 3 (including store management) of global METRO locations is supposed to be 30% by September 2025. At the end of financial year 2022/23, this percentage of women was 26.4%. In addition, pursuant to the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG), the Management Board of METRO AG must include at least 1 woman and at least 1 man (so-called participation requirement). METRO AG met these requirements in the reporting period.

The processes described above are supported by an integrated talent management and learning system. The learning module with its many opportunities for personal development is available to around 87,000 employees. The talent and performance module is currently available to around 46,500 employees. The broader roll-out to the entire organisation is planned for 2024.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD STORE MANAGER?

Performance-based remuneration

Our aspiration is to provide our employees with competitive, performance-based and fair remuneration. Our remuneration system ‘Perform & Reward’ for executives (with the exception of the members of the Management Board) comprises a monthly fixed salary as well as a variable annual remuneration component; the payment amount essentially depends on the economic development of the respective company in which the executive works.

With a clear focus on the economic development of METRO, our managers also receive a multi-year variable remuneration component that sustainably anchors our sCore strategy in our remuneration system.

Executive remuneration is complemented by additional benefits, such as an attractive pension model, promotion of health care and a mobility budget that can be used as part of METRO’s ‘Green Car Policy’ for a car, train rides or pension provision.

• For more information about the remuneration of the Management Board, see the remuneration report.

Career development and retention of talent

With regard to talent and organisational development, the in-house training academy House of Learning and the Global Leadership & Culture team continuously adapt their Learning & Development portfolios to the needs of the employees as well as the strategic alignment of the company.

The department thus supports the development and retention of employees and managers – both at METRO AG and its national subsidiaries. The Learning & Development portfolios focus on 2 fundamental core areas:

• Function-specific and cross-functional learning programmes: this offer is developed for target groups whose roles are in the focus of or are undergoing change as part of the sCore strategy (for example training of sales force team leaders to become sales coaches as part of the commercial transformation). A portfolio of learning solutions for professional skills development and mandatory compliance training is also offered across all functions. These offers are available to all employees.
• International talent and leadership development programmes in the form of programme modules lasting several months: this offer is reserved for high-potential employees with vertical growth potential. This potential is calibrated and validated through frequent talent management and succession planning processes at METRO. Identified talent and leaders are therefore prepared for the challenges of future management roles in the wholesale business. This offer also ensures long-term succession planning.

The Learning & Development portfolios are mapped in the global learning management system MPower, to which employees of METRO AG as well as of the national subsidiaries have access.

Occupational safety and health management

The purpose of our Occupational Safety Management System (OSMS), based on the principles of ISO 45001, is to create a safe and secure environment for our employees, suppliers and customers. We have launched the #BeSafeAtWork programme as part of the annual group-wide campaign to make safety a personal matter for every employee. The programme places a strong emphasis on behaviour-based occupational safety. We encourage our employees to watch out for unsafe conditions and remedy them immediately, regardless of whether they are operating the equipment or working in the vicinity.

Occupational safety reporting

Safety is always a top priority for METRO. Our operational safety strategy aims to raise awareness among employees that each individual bears responsibility for operational safety. This is supported by a transparent group-wide reporting system in which we document all incidents, near misses and non-conformities. Our incident management process is designed to ensure that each case is reported in a timely manner. The reports are analysed and action is taken based on the findings.

KPIs for occupational safety and health

The Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR), that is, the total number of lost-time injuries per 1 million working hours, for the METRO companies in financial year 2022/23¹ was 6.62 (2021/22²: 7.18; 2020/21³: 6.90). Furthermore, incidents are investigated according to a risk-based approach. Designated employees in the company are responsible for making sure that the causes are identified and measures are implemented promptly. We learn from our experiences on an ongoing basis: the focus is placed on significant incidents as part of the development of group-wide safety campaigns. Safety audits were conducted to measure compliance with the group-wide safety guidelines (Operational Safety Management System).

Health and well-being

Our aspiration is to promote the physical, mental, social and financial well-being as well as the health of our employees. At METRO AG, the following measures serve this purpose:

• Mental Health First Aid is a training course that teaches laypeople how to help other people who are in a mental crisis or who develop psychological health problems until the individual receives professional help or the crisis subsides; the training is not about diagnosing or treating psychological problems
• The topics of maintaining health, dealing with stress and resilience are components of our talent programmes
• E-learning modules on the topics of resilience, avoiding burnout and dealing with finances
• Yoga/fitness offers in the METRO Activity Center at the campus location
• Company doctor
• Psychological counselling
• Employee support programmes via external partners to help manage crisis situations

The national subsidiaries develop their own measures on the subject of the well-being of their employees. METRO Pakistan, for example, initiated a mental-health month in November 2022 for employees in their stores and at the head office, with events on healthy nutrition, physical health and fitness. METRO Turkey analysed its existing measures on well-being and supplemented them with measures on nutrition, fitness and relaxation, as well as social activities such as exercise festivals and sporting competitions.

Fair working conditions and social partnership

The METRO AG Declaration of Values on Human Rights and Environmental Concerns is crucial in shaping our employee–employer relations. The declaration anchors the prohibition of child labour, the prohibition of forced labour, occupational health and safety, freedom of association, the prohibition of discrimination in employment and compliance with the respective minimum-wage requirements in the structure of the company. A binding group guideline provides for the establishment of the resulting specific rights and obligations. As a responsible company, we have designed a risk management concept that is intended to effectively ensure that risks to the protected legal positions are discovered and mitigated.

On a national and international level, METRO maintains constant communication with works councils and unions and encourages management to engage in constructive and mutually informative dialogue with our employees and their representatives. This dialogue results in several collective employment agreements at the level of business units, countries or individual stores – depending on local laws and customary practices. There is also the METRO Euro Forum (MEF), our European Works Council.

Also, in a periodic social dialogue with the international trade union organisation UNI Global at the global level, discussions include the commitment to fair working conditions and social partnership.

Development of employee numbers

The table below shows the year-on-year development of employee numbers as an average for the 4 quarters of the financial year and as of the closing date of 30 September, both based on full-time equivalents: