As part of e-learning sessions on remote leadership, managers
received tips on how to maintain personal contact with
employees even at a distance. Digitally conducted orientation
meetings supported the integration of new employees.
For 2021, we have set ourselves the goal of combining
the opportunities gained from extensive mobile work with the
concepts that proved successful in the past and that are
based on personal networks.
Women in Leadership Positions
Diversity in leadership positions is an important goal of our
Keep Changing Agenda. At the end of 2020, the share
of women in the ALTANA Group’s workforce in Germany was
30.0 % and the proportion among the Group’s managers
in Germany 22.7 %. ALTANA’s medium- to long-term goal is
to increase the share of women in leadership positions in
the entire ALTANA Group to the percentage of women in the
company’s worldwide workforce.
The initiative LEADING WOMEN @ ALTANA is provid-
ing important impetus. It includes a mentoring program for
women that prepares women who have potential for a
possible leadership role and accompanies women who have
taken on a leadership role for the first time. The mentor-
ing program makes an important contribution toward increasing
the share of women in leadership positions.
The twelve-month program involves teams of two
consisting of a mentee and a mentor who meet at regular
intervals. During the meetings, the male or female mentor
shares his or her knowledge and experience with the mentee.
The mentoring program encompasses a kickoff event,
including training, and subsequent face-to-face meetings of
the tandems. To be able to continue the program in 2020,
the training of the two-person teams took place virtually.
During the training, the mentees sharpened their mentor-
ing goals while the mentors refreshed their knowledge of the
interviewing and mentoring process. Normally, the two-
person teams exchange information on site. In the reporting
year, the meetings took place predominantly online. In the
future, virtual exchanges will further enrich mentoring alongside
face-to-face meetings.
Recruitment
Online formats also became increasingly important for recruiting
in the year under review. For instance, initial interviews
in the selection process were partly held digitally on account
of the pandemic.
BYK introduced a new online assessment test. The main
target group is high school students who are interested in
an apprenticeship or a dual study program at BYK. The test,
which is used for a total of eight different professions,
gives applicants additional insight into practical work. Aside
from information about the company and the apprenticeships,
trainees also have their say, reporting on their personal
impressions at BYK.
For the recruitment of young talent, the ALTANA Group
has successfully relied on close cooperation with universities
for many years. Particularly noteworthy is the close cooperation
with the Young Chemists Forum (JungChemiker-
Forum, JCF), a scientific association for chemistry students
and doctoral candidates. In the 2020 fiscal year, ALTANA
was in close contact with various regional forums of the JCF,
which organize a wide variety of events ranging from
seminars, excursions, and job fairs to conferences lasting several
days. Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, however,
the focus in 2020 was on digital exchange. In the summer,
ALTANA and the JCF Aachen offered an online lecture
within the framework of university marketing for the first
time. Other online lectures followed, such as a talk on
corporate venturing and startups, which ALTANA organized
together with industrial chemists from the University of
100 Human Resources