Other reports

Diversity, equity and inclusion

We are committed to promoting a strong sense of inclusion and belonging among our employees. Therefore, we approach diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) with the same purpose as our other global business objectives and aspirations. While we have always been a diverse organization – we currently span 65 countries and have about 63,000 employees from 141 nationalities – we recognize that our success depends on our ability to foster equity and inclusion. In addition, our DE&I approach fuels our efforts to make positive impacts in the communities where we live and work. We expect our leaders and managers to be mindful and considerate in how they attract, hire, retain, and promote their people. We aim to help every employee maximize their potential, regardless of their gender identity, culture, ethnicity, race, religion or creed, sexual orientation, nationality, socioeconomic and family status, language, disability status, age, mindset, faiths, military service, or political conviction.

We strive to create equitable outcomes and identify and eliminate any barriers that may hinder our employees’ contributions or their access to opportunities or career advancement. Ultimately, we believe diversity inspires progress and strengthens our ability to innovate in all areas of our business.

Number of employees by hierarchical level

As of Dec. 31

 

2020

 

2021

 

2022

 

2023
Group
1

 

2023
thereof: Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

Total employees

 

58,127

 

60,348

 

64,243

 

62,908

 

3,924

Senior management (Role 6+)

 

193

 

194

 

191

 

200

 

48

Middle management (Role 4 & 5)

 

3,637

 

3,831

 

4,018

 

4,139

 

600

Low management (Role 3)

 

10,286

 

10,880

 

11,877

 

11,907

 

1,275

Other employees (below Role 3)

 

44,011

 

45,443

 

48,157

 

46,662

 

2,001

% of women (total)

 

43

 

43

 

43

 

44

 

39

thereof: number of women in senior management (Role 6+)

 

42

 

49

 

51

 

58

 

15

thereof: number of women in middle management (Role 4 & 5)

 

1,284

 

1,413

 

1,550

 

1,622

 

214

thereof: number of women in low management (Role 3)

 

4,352

 

4,669

 

5,123

 

5,150

 

475

thereof: number of women in “other employees (below Role 3)”

 

19,245

 

19,943

 

21,067

 

20,579

 

833

% of men (total)

 

57

 

57

 

57

 

56

 

61

thereof: number of men in senior management (Role 6+)

 

151

 

145

 

140

 

142

 

33

thereof: number of men in middle management (Role 4 & 5)

 

2,353

 

2,418

 

2,468

 

2,517

 

386

thereof: number of men in low management (Role 3)

 

5,934

 

6,211

 

6,754

 

6,757

 

800

thereof: number of men in “other employees (below Role 3)”

 

24,766

 

25,500

 

27,090

 

26,083

 

1,168

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by age group Up to 29 years old (%)

 

15

 

15

 

15

 

14

 

14

thereof: number of employees in senior management (Role 6+)

 

0

 

0

 

0

 

0

 

0

thereof: number of employees in middle management (Role 4 & 5)

 

6

 

8

 

12

 

8

 

2

thereof: number of employees in low management (Role 3)

 

199

 

241

 

263

 

249

 

39

thereof: number of employees in “other employees (below Role 3)”

 

8,365

 

8,880

 

9,651

 

8,484

 

494

30 to 49 years old (%)

 

60

 

60

 

60

 

60

 

53

thereof: number of employees in senior management (Role 6+)

 

68

 

63

 

58

 

65

 

19

thereof: number of employees in middle management (Role 4 & 5)

 

2,032

 

2,172

 

2,235

 

2,283

 

367

thereof: number of employees in low management (Role 3)

 

6,926

 

7,298

 

8,007

 

7,963

 

805

thereof: number of employees in “other employees (below Role 3)”

 

25,948

 

26,624

 

28,124

 

27,697

 

894

50 years or older (%)

 

25

 

25

 

25

 

26

 

33

thereof: number of employees in senior management (Role 6+)

 

125

 

131

 

133

 

135

 

29

thereof: number of employees in middle management (Role 4 & 5)

 

1,599

 

1,651

 

1,771

 

1,848

 

231

thereof: number of employees in low management (Role 3)

 

3,161

 

3,341

 

3,607

 

3,695

 

431

thereof: number of employees in “other employees (below Role 3)”

 

9,698

 

9,939

 

10,382

 

10,481

 

613

1

The Group also employs people at sites of subsidiaries that are not fully consolidated. For the 2023 reporting year, we have aligned the scope of consolidation also for the employee data in the non-financial reporting with the financial reporting. As of now, the figures relate to all employees who are employed in fully consolidated subsidiaries that manage personnel.

2

The sharp decline in comparison with the previous year (8,485 employees) is attributable to the fact that in addition to Healthcare KGaA, which was hived off in 2019, the two other business sectors, namely Life Science und Electronics, have now also been transferred to separate legal entities.

Roles and responsibilities

The Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer is responsible for our global DE&I strategy and for steering its related activities. In this role, she reports directly to the Chair of the Executive Board, whose Board responsibilities include Group Human Resources. In addition, we have established a centralized Diversity Council comprising high-ranking executives from all our business sectors and selected Group functions.

Our commitment: Industry-wide initiatives and regulations

Our Social and Labor Standards Policy categorically states that our company does not tolerate any form of discrimination, physical or verbal harassment, or intolerance. To underscore our commitment to equality, fairness, inclusion, and tolerance in the workplace, we also participate in industry-wide initiatives:

Strategy implementation

In 2023, we continued driving our global DE&I strategy. We accelerated the impact of our national DE&I advocates in our 18 major countries and developed tailored roadmaps for each market. We also published our Premier DE&I Report, providing detailed evidence of our strategy implementation and initiatives.

In 2021, we pledged to our people, partners, patients, and industry to intensify our DE&I efforts and set robust aspirations. In 2023, we demonstrated that we are on track to meeting our 2030 goals.

Gender equity

We developed measures to achieve a more balanced gender structure at various hierarchical levels of our business. We are making consistent progress and have increased the share of women in leadership (roles 4+) to 39% (2022: 38%) and senior management positions (roles 6+) to 29% (2022: 27%) while maintaining a 44% proportion of women in our global workforce (2022: 43%). This means our share of women in leadership has increased by 12 percentage points since 2015. Building on these efforts, we aim to achieve gender parity in leadership positions by 2030. Moreover, we are committed to fair and equitable pay for all employees. Our Executive Board comprises two female members (our CEO and CFO) and three male members, bringing the share of women to 40% (2022: 20%)..

Culture and ethnicity

With 23% (2022: 24%) of our employees based in the United States and 27% (2022: 27%) of net sales coming from the United States it is crucial that we become an employer of choice among underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in this market. Therefore, we plan to increase the share of employees in U.S. leadership (roles 4+) who are members of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups from 23% (2022: 21%) to 30% by 2030.

Additionally, due to our current performance in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East and Africa (MEA), accounting for 39% (2022: 40%) of our Group sales, we aim to increase the global share of nationals from Asia, Latin America and MEA in leadership positions (roles 4+) from 17% (2022: 16%) to 30% by 2030.

In 2023, we developed an Action Plan on Culture, Nationality and Ethnicity as well as a toolkit for leaders and HR to accelerate our progress as regards these aspects.

Inclusion

Beyond our aspiration to foster specific types of diversity and equity, we are accelerating our efforts to create a genuinely inclusive culture for all employees. To achieve this, we rolled out training courses to help leaders reflect on how they can lead more inclusively. All leaders will be encouraged to complete these courses over the coming years. At the end of 2023, 92% (2022: 64%) of our leaders had participated in this training program.

Committed to fair and equitable pay

Our commitment to pay equity is a crucial aspect of our DE&I strategy. To create transparency around unexplained pay gaps and identify their underlying root causes, we started a gender pay equity analysis in 2021. In the first step, we analyzed ten of our largest countries, covering approximately 80% of our total workforce. In 2023, we extended the analysis to all countries, except North America which is planned in 2024. The identified adjusted gender pay gap continues to be less than 1.5%, which is below benchmarks in the industry. We have developed a plan for a recurring analysis to continuously monitor pay data and to take effective actions as needed. These include individual adjustments based on the results of the analysis, as well as educating our HR community on the topic and taking other steps to ensure we make equitable and unbiased pay decisions.

Ensuring fair treatment for all

We do not tolerate any form of discrimination in our company, as stipulated with binding effect in our Code of Conduct and Social and Labor Standards Policy. In January 2024, we published a new position paper on disability inclusion to complement our existing papers on DE&I, non-discrimination and non-harassment. In addition, we have established various reporting channels to ensure employees have a clear point of contact should they experience harassment or discrimination in the workplace or any other violations of our standards. Their first points of contact are their supervisors, HR or compliance teams, and they can also make anonymous calls to our compliance hotline. In the reporting year, our HR Business Partners involved in HR-related compliance case investigations participated in a training and upskilling program to equip them with enhanced employee relations and investigation skills. In 2023, 30 (2022: 20) alleged cases of discrimination or harassment were reported via the compliance hotline and other channels, seven (2022: seven) of which were confirmed on our global reporting platform and appropriate action was taken.

Share this page: