Valuing diversity: More is better

All people are equal, but everyone is different. This is something that must not only be recognised, but also be seen as enriching. Hermes aspires to encourage and promote this diversity and to take advantage of it to benefit everyone.After all, as an internationally active company, Hermes employs people from 63 countries.

That is why the Hermes group has signed the Diversity Charter. The charter was established in 2006 as a business initiative to encourage diversity in businesses and institutions. The patron of the charter is Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel; Aydan Özoğuz, Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration, supports the initiative.

Through official diversity days, international conferences, thematic dossiers and youth projects, it seeks to promote the recognition, value and involvement of diversity in Germany’s business culture. Organisations are thus helped to create a work environment free of prejudice. In this way, all employees of a company can experience what it means to be valued - regardless of gender, nationality, ethnic background, religion or world view, disability, age, or sexual orientation or identity.

How do things look inside the company itself?

Almost half of the employees at Hermes are female. The share of women at Hermes is constantly increasing, even though the logistics industry is heavily dominated by men.

People with disabilities are especially dependent on solidarity and protection from society as a whole. For Hermes, proactively integrating them into the workforce is an important goal. That is why they are encouraged to apply for positions at Hermes.

Hermes also uses flexible worktime schemes, sustainably oriented towards employees, to promote diversity in the company. Flextime schemes are the most important of these. In addition, in certain areas it is also possible to work from home. Individual arrangements are specified in annual employee meetings that include setting goals and targets.

Combining family and career is also highly valued at Hermes - after all, like the Otto Group, the company itself is family-owned.Various part-time arrangements help to ease mothers’ transition back into professional life after parental leave. To give employees more control over their own time, in certain areas so-called “flex contracts” are offered that only specify a certain number of hours to be worked. More and more fathers as well are using the opportunity to take parental leave - and Hermes supports them.

Hermes’ success has been confirmed by the Top Employers Institute, which certifies the top employers in Germany in an independent evaluation process. In 2015, Hermes was one of 113 companies to receive this title - the seventh time in a row for Hermes. The official justification for the decision to give the award to Hermes reads:

“The Hermes Group has shown itself to be a human resources pioneer through its future-oriented approach to its employees, its continual optimisation of the work environment and its constant investments in employee development. This allows the company itself to grow and develop itself - at any time.”