Diversity and equal opportunity are anchored in our mission statement. Our forward-looking and sustainable Human Resources policies ensure a level playing field for professional success, respect cultural differences, and promote interaction among each another. For Messer, diversity is essential to innovation and sustainable business success, and mutual trust and respect form the basis of our corporate culture.

The goal of our diversity management program is to create a respectful work environment that is free of prejudice, regardless of the employees’ gender, nationality, ethnic origin, religion, ideology, disability, age, sexual orientation or gender identity. With that purpose in mind, we have established an interdisciplinary team.
Since 2019, Messer Group has been a recipient of the Total E-Quality Award for equal opportunity in personnel and organizational policy with the special citation for diversity. Valid for three years, the award is supported and recommended by the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth as well as by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. In addition, we are signatories to the “Diversity Charter,” an initiative that promotes diversity in companies and institutions under the patronage of German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel.

Contact persons responsible for diversity management will continue to strengthen and anchor it in our national subsidiaries. Moreover, our Diversity Team is already creating an international in-house training program to reveal and combat the employees’ “unconscious biases,” which represent one of the major impediments to the implementation of diversity strategies.

In December 2020, Messer published the first Diversity Report. In the meantime, we have compiled additional data that will be published in a Diversity Report in May 2021 and annually thereafter. The key indicators of the workforce relative to male or female gender are collected anonymously along with length of company service, age distribution and nationality. This monitoring will help us achieve the established objectives and manage the subject.

As of December 31, 2020, Messer employed 10,764 people; on December 31, 2019, that figure was 11,063. The share of women was 28.4 percent versus 29.5 percent in the previous year; 24percent  of managers in the first and second levels of management were women, versus 26.2 percent in 2019. The decrease was partly due to a 9.1 percent reduction in the share of women in Messer Group GmbH, which was attributable in part to a change in the definition of second level management: To motivate women to accept a leadership role, since the start of 2021, team or project managers who report to first level management are now also counted as second level management.

The share of women will be increased over the long term. To that end, among other things, equality at Messer was analyzed in 2020. For example, a study was conducted to determine whether there are any inappropriate systematic inequalities in remuneration. A review of salaries paid to women and men in comparable functions revealed no gender-specific discrimination against women.
Our salaries are based on function, market, performance, education, experience and number of years of service, as well as any collective wage agreements or comparable collective wage agreements and adjustments for inflation. It goes without saying that our remuneration policy makes no distinction among genders.

In 2019, the Messer Group was recognized for equal opportunity in personnel and organization policy for the first time by the non-profit association Total E-Quality Deutschland e.V. The Total E-Quality award is supported and recommended by the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth as well as by the German Federal Ministry
of Education and Research. Among the 13 new award winners, only four earned the supplementary award for “Diversity” – and one of them is the Messer Group. It is valid for three years.

In 2019, the Messer Group participated in the “Made in Germany – Made by Diversity” initiative, speaking out along with some 50 other German family-run businesses in favor of an open-minded attitude toward the outside world and against xenophobia.

In November 2019, Stefan Messer signed the Diversity Charter, sending a signal of commitment to diversity and respect at  Messer. The Diversity Charter is an initiative that promotes diversity in companies and institutions under the patronage of German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel. In signing the charter, the Messer Group undertakes to create a respectful work environment that is free of prejudice, regardless of gender, nationality, ethnic origin, religion or ideology, disability, age or sexual orientation and identity of the employee. The signing falls within the scope of measures developed and implemented by the Diversity team in the context of the Diversity Management program.