Employer attractiveness
Achieving the Company’s strategic and financial targets is largely dependent on its employees and on their skills and commitment. Increasing complexity and a fast-moving competitive environment are leading to an increased demand for skilled employees and executives. For this reason, it is of central importance for HUGO BOSS to further strengthen its position in international competition for the most qualified employees. To increase its attractiveness as an employer, in addition to a fair and value-based corporate culture, the Company is also working primarily to promote diversity in the organization, create opportunities for individual development and a variety of offers to make it easier to combine professional and private life.
NEW Spirit
Our entrepreneurial spirit, our team mentality, and the strong passion of our more than 14,000 employees are key to the successful execution of “CLAIM 5”.
Learn more Learn moreThe central department Human Resources is responsible for personnel strategy and personnel management across the Group. It remains in close contact with the managers of the central departments and with the HR departments and managers of the Group companies. The Managing Board is kept regularly informed of the progress of the personnel work and is involved in all significant decisions.
Targets
Further increasing its attractiveness as an employer is an important target in the personnel work at HUGO BOSS. This is intended to strengthen the Company’s position in international competition for highly qualified workers and to increase motivation, commitment and loyalty among the Company’s approximately 14,000 employees.
Measures
For HUGO BOSS, in addition to promoting diversity in the workforce, the systematic training and development of its employees, as well as supporting a work-life balance are among its top strategic personnel management priorities. Employees and Teams
As an international company, diversity is a fundamental part of the corporate culture at HUGO BOSS. All employees are to be guaranteed a working environment free of discrimination, and equal opportunities. In addition, HUGO BOSS places an important focus on promoting an inclusive environment of trust and belonging, as the Group sees the individuality of every employee and a culture of diversity as key factors for the success of the Company. To reflect the importance of diversity also from an organizational perspective, the position of Head of Global Diversity and Inclusion was established and successfully filled in 2021. The Head of Global Diversity and Inclusion is to address important diversity issues at HUGO BOSS. In 2021, for example, a survey was conducted for the first time to assess employees’ perception of the diversity practiced in the Company at a total of 30 locations, on the basis of which specific measures were developed to promote diversity and integration at HUGO BOSS. Progress should therefore be made in particular in the areas of “inclusive leadership”, “diversity and inclusion training” and “gender empowerment”. An internal task force will continuously drive forward the implementation of the identified measures as well as other topics relating to inclusion and diversity at HUGO BOSS.
HUGO BOSS offers its employees a variety of opportunities for individual development. Structured training programs for professionals and leaders, such as the Employee Development Program (EDP) and the Leadership Development Program (LDP), are designed to support employees in ways that are appropriate to their abilities, to broaden their knowledge and to strengthen their skills, potentially with a view to pursuing a management career. The EDP was revised in 2021 with the aim of establishing it throughout the Group together with the LDP. An international implementation of the EDP and LDP is planned for the first time in spring 2022, having so far only been available in Germany and to employees at selected international locations. Moreover, the Group’s employees have access to a broad selection of face-to-face and guided online live trainings as well as e-learning courses on social, professional and management skills via the Group-wide “HUGO BOSS University” platform. At the Group’s own production and logistics sites, face-to-face training sessions and workplace orientations are an integral part of initiating industrial staff. While the range of online live training and e-learning continued to gain further importance in the wake of the pandemic, face-to-face events could only be conducted to a limited extent in the past fiscal year.
In recent years, HUGO BOSS has successfully established the “Performance & Development Dialog” (PDD) to provide process and system support in creating individual development opportunities. An online tool collects the data relating to performance assessment, potential evaluation and development planning of employees and is designed to ensure the greatest possible objectivity, including using the presentation of multi-dimensional feedback. The aim of the PDD is to create greater transparency, particularly with regard to possible cross-divisional and transnational development paths within the Group, to get the best out of employees and retain talent in the Company for as long as possible. In addition to all administrative staff, the PDD has also been available to HUGO BOSS employees in the Group’s own retail business since 2021.
To increase its attractiveness as an employer, HUGO BOSS also supports its employees in combining work and private life. A variety of flexible working models, such as individual part-time arrangements, trust-based working hours or working from home, are designed to further increase motivation and commitment among employees. The majority of the Group’s employees already benefit from flexible working hours and possible part-time arrangements. For example, employees in the Group’s own production site in Izmir (Turkey) are able to take accrued overtime hours as time off within two months or make use of alternative part-time arrangement options. Working from home is now available to almost all administrative staff in the Company. In addition, HUGO BOSS introduced the hybrid “Threedom of Work” working concept already in the prior year, which initially applies to administrative staff in Germany. The concept provides for three days of attendance at the Company’s headquarters in Metzingen from Tuesday to Thursday. Employees can choose their place of work on the other two days. This model is the Company’s response to the increasing desire of employees for flexibility in terms of where and when they work. At the same time, it reflects the Company’s positive experiences with the home office concept during the pandemic. Similar models have also already been established in other Group companies.
HUGO BOSS is also involved in the collaboration “Success Factor Family” to strengthen family-friendliness across Germany. The Company already offers a broad variety of family-friendly options to its employees. For example, young families at the Metzingen site have access to places in the local daycare center and holiday care programs. The Company’s own daycare center, which is under construction, is expected to open in the second half of 2022. At international sites too, the Company promotes the combination of professional and private life. For example, employees in the United States and Canada have free access to an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), which offers independent advice on matters such as childcare and caring for family members. In addition, employees there have the choice of spending part of their personal gross income on external care and support services through flexible spending accounts (FSAs).
The attractiveness of HUGO BOSS as an employer was also awarded several prizes in 2021. In the annual survey conducted by the Trendence Institute, the Company was once again among the top 100 most attractive employers in Germany among relevant target groups. In the “Working in Fashion 2021” study conducted by the German industry magazine TextilWirtschaft, HUGO BOSS took fifth place (2020: third place). The Company ranked particularly well in the categories of mobile working and salary levels, ranking second in both categories. In addition, on the basis of an independent study in collaboration with Statista and the Financial Times, in 2021, HUGO BOSS was once again among the Top 100 Diversity Leaders in Europe.
Performance indicators
HUGO BOSS determines the satisfaction and the needs of its employees as part of an employee survey conducted annually in cooperation with Great Place to Work® Germany. The knowledge gained provides the Company with an important impetus for the further development of its personnel work and the corporate culture. In addition, employee satisfaction at HUGO BOSS is an important component within the long-term incentive program (LTI) as part of the Managing Board compensation. With a Group-wide participation rate of 62%, overall satisfaction rose to 76% in 2021 (2020: Overall satisfaction of 72% with a participation rate of 70%). This means that the Company has achieved its target of increasing Group-wide overall satisfaction to 75% by 2025 ahead of schedule. HUGO BOSS aims to at least maintain this level in the future. At HUGO BOSS AG, overall satisfaction increased to 83% (2020: 82%). Employees particularly praised the fair and open corporate culture.