Employees and employment

HeidelbergCement strives to achieve outstanding corporate performance and a leading position as one of the best companies in its industry. To do this, a solid foundation of legally and ethically correct behaviour must be in place. With this in mind, the Managing Board approved a Code of Business Conduct that applies throughout the Group and must be complied with by all employees. The Code of Business Conduct specifies our values and the high ethical and legal standards that apply to all of our business activities — from strategic planning to everyday business operations.

Respecting international standards and norms
At HeidelbergCement it is a matter of course to respect and comply with the laws and regulations of all the countries where we operate, which are the legal basis of our business activities. In addition, we operate in accordance with the generally accepted recommendations and standards of recognised national and international organisations. HeidelbergCement is committed to upholding the ILO core labour standards and the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises, and we expect our employees and business associates worldwide to conform to these essential guidelines and recommendations.

Trade unions and employee representation
HeidelbergCement has a long tradition of employee co-determination, which has been proven in operational practice at our sites in Germany. Together the individual panels form the General Council of Employees and its committees for the AG, the Council of Employees for the Group and the European Works Council at the international level. Employees are equally represented on the Supervisory Board.

There is also employee representation in most European countries. Managers and employee representatives on the European Works Council work to maintain a constant constructive dialogue addressing business and social concerns. The stated aim is to initiate talks early on, especially when there are conflicts of interest, and to ensure cooperation based on mutual trust for the benefit of the employees and the HeidelbergCement Group. The information and consultation process involving the corporate management and the European Works Council harmoniously complements the existing local processes with employee representatives of the Group companies in the individual European countries. In addition, there are trade unions and similar organisations in almost all the countries in which HeidelbergCement operates.

Employees worldwide
At the end of 2010 HeidelbergCement employed a total of 53,437 men and women (2009 total: 53,302). The increase of 135 employees was essentially the result of two opposing developments. On the one hand, the workforce was reduced due to local optimisation measures and capacity adjustments, above all in North America and the UK. On the other hand, the number of employees was increased in Africa and Russia as a result of the initial consolidation of cement activities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and of the CJSC “Construction Materials” cement plant in the Republic of Bashkortostan.