Indicators: Employees

Supervised workers such as temps are currently not logged in our employee data system. We are investigating possibilities to record information on supervised workers throughout the company.

The Global Rewards Policy applies across all our subsidiaries worldwide and guarantees a systematic compensation structure. Base pay is oriented to the median base pay, and short-term variable compensation is based on the third quartile of the relevant reference market. The overall compensation package thus exceeds the market median.

Despite our efforts at accident prevention, we've had four fatal workplace accidents over the last two years. In 2015, one employee died in a car accident in the USA, and in Germany one employee suffered a fatal accident involving a fork lift. In 2014, an employee died in Venezuela in a traffic accident, and in Pakistan an employee suffered a fatal incident doing maintenance work on a scissor lift.

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany employees have been included in the calculation of the indicators as well as supervised employees of external companies.

Using the LTIR, we record work-related accidents of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany employees that involve at least one day of missed work. A work-related accident is an injury that results from the type of work, in the course of doing said work, and that has no internal cause (cumulative trauma). Work-related accidents are considered relevant if they occur on the premises, on business trips, during transport, in the course of external influences (e.g. natural disasters), or due to criminal acts involving personal injury. Commuting accidents and accidents during company sporting activities are not included. First-aid incidents are generally not included in the LTIR since these usually do not result in more than one day of missed work.

By 2020, we intend to sustainably lower the LTIR to 1.5. The aim is to permanently stabilize or outperform this challenging figure, which we achieved for the first time in 2015.

For our German sites Darmstadt and Gernsheim (about 19% of the employees of the company) we report work-related illnesses if these have been diagnosed and verified by a physician. In the reporting period, no cases of work-induced illness were recorded. We do not keep track of the number of work-related illnesses throughout the entire company.

We have defined the LTIR as a key indicator for us. Therefore, we do not publish any other indicators such as workplace accidents, lost days or days of absence. The LTIR is not broken down by gender as this differentiation is not relevant to our strategic planning.

We record and report the costs of vocational training and continuing education for our employees. We are not currently tracking the average number of continuing education hours consolidated at Group level, but we are working on a technical solution to track all training hours globally.

Regular feedback and employee performance evaluations are essential to a systematic development process. Our globally uniform Performance and Talent Management Process requires annual feedback meetings and performance assessments for all employees rated Global Grade 10 and up in our position grading system. Apart from evaluating employee performance, this helps us to identify individual development opportunities. The Performance and Talent Management Process is coordinated via the HR Suite IT system.

When it comes to applying this process, our individual subsidiaries can decide for themselves whether to include employees rated below Global Grade 10. In Germany, all permanent employees have been participating in the Performance and Talent Management Process since 2013. In 2015, around 36,017 employees worldwide were involved in the process.

In addition to having statutory accident insurance, more than 95% of our employees are covered by locally arranged company accident insurance.

We offer a company pension in numerous countries along with various programs for supplemental company pensions and survivor's benefits. Around two-thirds of our employees are enrolled in such a program.

In addition to this, in numerous countries we also offer supplementary health insurance for employees and family members, an option utilized by roughly two-thirds of our employees.

Depending on the legal, economic and fiscal circumstances prevailing in each country, different retirement benefit systems are provided for our employees. Generally these systems are based on the years of service and salaries of the employees. Pension obligations of the company include both defined benefit and defined contribution plans and comprise both obligations from current pensions and accrued benefits for pensions payable in the future. Defined benefit plans are funded and unfunded. Provisions also contain other postemployment benefits, such as accrued future health care costs for retirees in the United States (see our Annual Report 2015, Note on Provisions for pensions and other post-employment benefits).