Thumbs up

A lifetime bond? It’s certainly possible. Many people work for years or even decades at Endress+Hauser. Here they find the space to develop their careers, happy to play a part in a company that combines economic success with ecological and social responsibility.

Text: Martin Raab

Photos and Illustration: Endress+Hauser, Christoph Fein, Getty Images, Shutterstock, 3st

Education

Diversity

Leadership

Corporate Development

Corona

Water+Waste water

Logistics

Supply chain

Sustainability

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101

nationalities work for the Group.

employees have more than 45 years of service to the company.

10.3

years is the average length of employment.

332

young people are pursuing vocational education at Endress+Hauser.

29.6%

percent of employees at Endress+Hauser are women.

Time for the kids

The lockdown was often a double burden for parents. Moms and dads suddenly had to work from home while simultaneously caring for the kids on their own or helping them with their schooling. Where necessary and possible, Endress+Hauser sought flexible solutions and gave parents a maximum of five days to arrange childcare on short notice.

A boost for female power

The higher you go in the company hierarchy, the more it’s a man’s world. Today, one out of every six management positions at Endress+Hauser is held by a woman – although nearly one-third of the workforce is female. At Endress+Hauser, the conference table will one day be more diverse and colorful. The goal is to increase the presence of female managers to around 30 percent by the year 2030.

Paving the way to this goal is the Women’s Integrated Network, a global initiative whose members develop local measures at locations around the world. One of the objectives is to attract more women to the company, seeking a target of 40 percent at all levels. Another goal is to encourage women to assume responsibility for personnel, projects and technical areas.

Job advertisements will be written so that they appeal to both genders. The company wants to make managers aware of unconscious bias when selecting personnel. Endress+Hauser wants to specifically target the professional development of female employees and further improve work-life balance. Finally, female role models in the company should enjoy increased visibility.

Behind all of this is the conviction that diversity makes companies more successful. As more people with different perspectives become involved in the company, the more robust, agile and innovative the organization becomes. For this reason, Endress+Hauser wants all of its employees to feel comfortable and free to flourish, regardless of gender, age, ethnic background, religious and ideological beliefs or sexual orientation.

Donating know-how

No visits, no events, no training programs. How can trustworthy relationships be built in such an environment? Companies are not the only ones facing this challenge during the pandemic. Humedica, a humanitarian assistance organization based in Kaufbeuren, Germany, was also struggling with the abrupt severance of personal contact with donors and volunteers. It’s a good thing that experts in digital learning and virtual knowledge transfer are nearby. The team at Endress+Hauser Temperature+System Products in Nesselwang readily shared its theoretical and practical know-how with the team at Humedica, which now wants to increasingly connect with supporters in an online environment, ensuring that the humanitarian assistance organization can continue with its activities in more than 30 countries around the world. humedica.org

1000000

300,000 protective masks for entities in countries heavily impacted by Covid-19 were distributed by Endress+Hauser China at no cost when the pandemic first hit. Another 700,000 were acquired centrally with the help of colleagues in China to supply employees across 25 Group companies with masks.

International hub

Endress+Hauser is strengthening its logistics network in Europe. In Wörrstadt, Germany, near Frankfurt Airport, a new logistics center will start up in mid-2021. The hub, operated by Hellmann Worldwide Logistics, can handle eight times the volume of the current system. The new logistics hub will bundle all products belonging to an order and ship them to domestic and international customers. It will bring supplies to overseas production locations as well. The logistics center will also receive and distribute materials destined for Endress+Hauser production facilities in Europe. Shuttle trucks that deliver products will return with supplier parts, thus improving the eco-balance of the entire supply chain.

The blue world

Four more countries on the Endress+Hauser sales organization map will be shaded blue in the future. Endress+Hauser is establishing sales offices in Bulgaria, Egypt, Peru and the Philippines, all built on many years of activity by local sales representatives. And in Panama, the Group will provide the established sales support for Latin America with its own legal entity.

1 Bulgaria – Sales Office
2 Egypt – Sales Office
3 Panama – Regional Support Center
4 Peru – Sales Office
5 Philippines – Sales Office

Leader in climate protection

In Reinach, Switzerland, Endress+Hauser produces world-class measurement technology – and combines this with outstanding climate protection. Within five years, the Reinach product center reduced its relative greenhouse emissions by 43 percent, from 1.68 to 0.95 equivalent tonnes of CO₂ per million euros in sales. In recognition of these efforts, a survey conducted by Bilanz magazine, daily newspaper Le Temps and the Statista statistics portal ranked the location as being among Switzerland’s top 20 companies. Behind this success lie continuous investments in energy efficiency, plus the fact that the plant is powered entirely from renewable sources. The ambitious goal is to reduce the site’s CO₂ emissions to zero by the year 2030.

Up and running again

Full of vim and vigor, the Endress+Hauser Water Challenge was launched in 2019. With this initiative, employees around the world collected donations through charity runs – with the company doubling the donated sums – to bring people access to clean water. Although the coronavirus crisis brought these activities to a halt, employees found a way to dodge the pandemic with the Winter Water Challenge: skiing, snowshoeing or jogging, each employee alone but all with the same goal. The proceeds from this and other campaigns are flowing into a new project in the Philippines. In the province of Cavite, a two-hour drive south of Manila, the plan is to connect 80 households to the water supply system, thus permanently improving the living conditions of 400 people.