Diversity and Equal Opportunity
GRI 103-1,2,3; GRI 405-1;
Oerlikon is committed to creating a workplace where all employees feel comfortable and safe and are able to be their true selves. Instead of focusing on one aspect of diversity, we are taking a broader approach to ensure equal attention and focus are given to the different interest groups across the company.
To promote organization-wide awareness, we launched a number of direct and indirect initiatives on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in 2021, such as the Diversity Conference, employee support groups and DEI trainings. In December 2021, we piloted an internal training called “Inclusion in Action” to increase employees’ understanding and awareness of inclusive thinking and unconscious bias. This program introduced the so-called Inclusion Sequence in analyzing workplace practices and processes to help overcome unintended bias. The aim is to help employees become more self-aware of personal bias and learn how to be more open, tolerant and inclusive in their thinking and actions. The training will be rolled out globally in 2022. A second training on wellbeing, mindfulness and trust building is also scheduled to be rolled out globally in 2022.
Ultimately, the aim is to enable employees to gain a better and healthier understanding of the different perspectives of the business, customers and employees, which will help us in fine-tuning our diversity and sustainability strategy.
Market Presence
GRI 103-1,2,3; GRI 202-2
We clearly see the connection between our internal diversity and the strength of our market position and innovations. In 2021, we took further actions to foster cultural and geographical diversity so as to leverage the different backgrounds, experiences and areas of expertise across the Group.
Our global workforce in 2021 was represented by 94 nationalities (2020: 93). Among our leadership team, we improved the geographical diversity, with 21% of our designated Global Leaders being non-European (2020: 12%). A major driver of this trend was the transformation of our Surface Solutions division.
The division undertook this transformation to enhance its competitive advantages and professional potential for employees. From a business perspective, it sharpens the focus on countries and markets, bringing us into closer proximity to our customers, and strengthening our capacity to leverage synergies among our businesses and solutions.
In an organizational context, shifting to a more regionalized management model facilitates promoting people in a variety of roles to positions of greater prominence within the region. Among the new positions created during the transformation were 12 country heads to lead the 12 key countries. As the decision-makers are selected in the regions, for the regions, this will support Oerlikon’s goal of improving its balance of leadership in the regions, thereby increasing the cultural and geographical diversity within the Oerlikon management team.
The regional decision-making framework also supports Oerlikon’s goal of breaking down silos and facilitating more cross-team and cross-business collaboration. By doing so, we are able to achieve business and personnel benefits in tandem. Customers gain access to a more comprehensive portfolio of materials, technologies, equipment and solutions, while employees gain exposure to a greater range of perspectives, expertise and ideas. The net effect is a more engaging and satisfying working environment – one that promotes continual learning and heightens employees’ ability to tap into the full scope of Oerlikon’s capabilities.
Diversity Conference
In December 2021, we hosted for the first time a diversity conference to celebrate differences within the organization and to recognize that each employee is unique within the One Oerlikon team. For further details on this successful conference, see the case study here.
Gender and Sexual Diversity
We remain committed to strengthening gender diversity on the Board and at the senior management level. In 2021, two out of seven members of the Board are women, while one out of six members (17%) of the EC is female. With the retirement of CTO, Dr. Helmut Rudigier, at the end of 2021, one out of five members (20%) of the EC is now female. During 2021, Oerlikon’s global workforce (FTEs) increased by 10% to 11 808, of which 23% is female (2020: 21%).
Achieving gender balance remains challenging given the predominance of men in engineering. Our overall workforce is largely male (85%) (2020: 79%), and women account for 12% of management and leaderships roles (2018: 12%).
We are actively working on improving gender diversity and making Oerlikon an attractive workplace for women and to increase the number of women in leadership positions within the company.
A number of initiatives and programs were launched in 2021, including participating in the Top Women Tech Summit, hosting our first “topwomentech” jobinar and launching an Oerlikon Women’s Council as a pilot of our employee support group concept. For further details, please see the case study here.
Our diversity policies extend to all employees and candidates regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation. Employees are under no obligation to reveal these details of their lives, so we do not track this element of diversity statistically. All employees are welcome to be open about their spouses or partners and families and are respected in their requests regarding use of personal pronouns in oral and written communications.
Oerlikon is also fully supportive of candidates and employees who require a special workstation or other accommodations because of illness or physical impairments.
Age Diversity
At Oerlikon, employees of all ages collaborate, cooperate and support one another with respect. We value a healthy mix of established experience and fresh perspectives working in concert. Our Horizons program and Success Model are some of the initiatives that facilitate the interactive exchange between employees of different ages. For example, in performance management, we are piloting a new model that encourages intergenerational feedback from different stakeholders.
In 2021, more than 16% of our workforce was aged 30 or younger, 57% were between the ages of 30 to 50 and more than 27% were over 50 years of age. Nearly 57% of new hires in 2021 were under 35. Among our designated Global Leaders, 30% were aged 45 or younger.
We continue to have over 1 543 (2020: 1 500) employees who have been with Oerlikon for more than 20 years. This clearly demonstrates our appreciation of long-established talent and the long-term opportunities we offer our employees. The average employee tenure at Oerlikon is nine years (2020: nine years) – notably longer than the industry average. Together, our people build on our traditions while bringing in new perspectives to forge new paths forward.
FT Diversity Leaders 2022
Oerlikon was listed again among the top 850 companies with the highest total scores of 15 000 companies assessed in the Financial Times’ Diversity Leaders 2022 report. Oerlikon was ranked eight in the category Manufacture and Processing of Materials, Metal and Paper, and 423rd overall.
The assessment is conducted by the independent market research company Statista, and survey participants rated on how well companies promote diversity in general and with regard to age, gender, ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation.
