Diversity is the future

The Krones Group employs almost 20,000 people – and each and every one of them is unique: “At Krones, we all work together in an atmosphere of mutual respect, without prejudice and bias, regardless of gender, nationality, religion, age, physical and mental condition, or sexual orientation,” says Uta Anders, the group’s CFO, summing up the workplace culture at Krones. “We encourage precisely that diversity. We think it’s the key driver that enables us to shape the future and continue Krones’ success story. In 2021, we underpinned our commitment by establishing the Diversity Board.” 

Advancement of women

To start with, the Diversity Board focussed entirely on the subject of women’s advancement. That was right in line with a resolution then taken by the Executive Board, specifying that at least 15 per cent of roles in top management, meaning the next two levels below the Executive Board, must be held by women by the end of 2024.
In this context, the Diversity Board has supported various ongoing HR initiatives: “We’re examining the general framework conditions applying for women at Krones and are involved in the development programme for female staff with management potential. We also launch pilot projects like the Leadership Tandem, in which two women share a single leadership role, each working part time. Each and every one of these measures will gradually take us closer to the targets we’ve set ourselves,” reports Astrid Haitzer, Head of Sales Staffing and Organization.

But the Diversity Board’s team also looks beyond company boundaries. They have, for example, actively sought to communicate with other large enterprises to exchange views and experiences gained on all aspects of women’s advancement. “It was precisely the feedback we got from other comparably large companies that has given us the confidence to continue our initiatives,” explains Jasmin Heindl, Head of eCommerce. What’s more, Krones has also been represented at various fairs and recruiting events on the topic. The herCareer in Munich, Europe’s leading career and networking platform for women, deserves a special mention here. “Our participation was a huge success and helped us make many good contacts,” says Jasmin Heindl.

The Diversity Team likewise started the conversation internally by setting up the Women@Krones network, a communication platform for all female staff at Krones. Firstly it offers Viva Engage, an intra-company social media tool and community for women only, where they can share exciting articles and podcast tips, answer questions or tell the others about experiences they’ve gained at network events. And secondly, regular network events have been held since early 2023. Claudia Mack, Head of Commercial Management at Steinecker GmbH, describes the initiative as follows: “These online meetings are aimed at promoting dialogue, offering a platform for exchanging news and views and not least at bringing new momentum to the community. This series of events has been enthusiastically received and is meanwhile organised by women from inside the network.” Each event focusses on one main topic. Ranging from advice among colleagues and work/life balance right through to the role of women in India, the issues cater for a broad variety of interests. Last October, for example, the former boxer Regina Halmich visited the Neutraubling plant and talked about her time as a female professional athlete in a male-dominated sport. She also addressed the topic of breast cancer awareness for which she acts as an ambassador.

Reconciling family life with work

At the same time, the other facets of diversity should not be ignored. Proactively examining the subject of women in leadership positions is therefore only one of many aspects and must be seen as a first step toward further discussion on promoting diversity within the company.
To give you an example: The Diversity Board made sure that all employees can use the German-language online information portal “Mein.Familienservice” free of charge. This portal provides access to specialist articles, videos, podcasts and checklists on issues like child care, (geriatric) nursing and much, much more.

To fit in with this concept, a survey of mothers and fathers at Krones was conducted in order to get an impression of how couples and single parents cope with the challenge of reconciling child care and work. “The responses of the persons surveyed indicate multi-facetted solutional approaches, and we can clearly see that frequently the family in the background is an important support. In conclusion, we can say this: As a company, we are in a position to design work models and specify working hours. And the greater the flexibility we’re providing here, the easier it will be for our staff to find a pragmatic solution that gives them enough time to look after their families,” is how Claudia Mack sums up the survey’s results. “The ‘Parents@krones’ network, which can be reached through a Teams channel, was set up in next to no time. It is open to all parents and used to share their experiences with child care, for example, and to help each other with any problems they encounter. The discussion on au pairs, for example, showed me an entirely new approach which I’ve meanwhile been using for a whole year.”

International facilities taken on board

Although the examples given in this article often primarily address the German workforce, the subject of diversity provides plenty to talk about all over the (Krones) world, of course. That is why the Diversity Board is also in contact with international colleagues, as Veronica Lautenschlager, Head of Corporate Project Management North America, reports: “We’ve assigned individual responsibility for certain areas within the Diversity Board. For example, I’m the contact person for North America, which happens to be my field of work anyway. We hold meetings at irregular intervals – mostly online – and share insights on what’s going on in each of the regions. We think it’s crucial in this context that the staff working here in Neutraubling are not seen as “headquarters” who set the tone and specify measures, but rather as members of a worldwide team that pulls together and thrives on mutual feedback.”