2030 target
Proportion of women in leadership positions with disciplinary responsibility
30%
Investors
Diversity and Inclusion
BASF strives to foster an inclusive working environment with room for diversity and where people encounter mutual respect, trust and appreciation. We connect people with different backgrounds, views and perspectives on an equal footing. Promoting and valuing diversity across all hierarchical levels is an integral part of our strategy and is also embedded in our corporate values.
Employees should be able to contribute their individual perspectives and skills in an inclusive working environment. As a global company, we serve many different customer needs. We want to reflect, value and promote this diversity among our employees in order to increase their creativity, motivation and sense of belonging to BASF.
Promoting diversity has positive consequences for BASF, for example through having an inclusive working environment and a more diverse workforce. Negative consequences could arise if our employees lose their sense of belonging, we are no longer perceived as an attractive employer or not all customers feel that we appeal to them. We systematically record short and long-term opportunities and risks as part of our general opportunity and risk management.
At BASF, we value the diversity of people, opinions, experiences and skills. It is an important factor in our long-term success. That is why we promote an inclusive working environment in which our teams treat each other with respect, trust and appreciation – regardless of gender, age, ethnic background or other characteristics.
We expect our leaders to create an inclusive working environment and promote diversity. This is why it is one of our focal points in our leadership development. For example, our leaders learned about promoting openness as part of the CORE Leadership Values online training series. This training supported them in what they can specifically do to make the work environment more inclusive for all employees and how they can live up to their role model function and develop further in this respect.
In addition, we expect all employees to create an environment in which different aspects of diversity and individual strengths are valued. With the Diversity Moments format, we offer teams concise information, everyday examples and reflection exercises on the topic of diversity and inclusion. In 2023, as part of the global employee survey, we again used the inclusion index as a relevant point of reference for the inclusion of our employees and provided our leaders with suggestions for follow-up measures.
In Brazil, there is an initiative to attract, retain and include people with disabilities in BASF. Among other things, we are focusing on improving the accessibility of our Brazilian sites and our internal and external communication channels. With further measures as part of the initiative, we want to ensure that we consider more people with disabilities in the recruitment process and offer them specific training opportunities. The project team works closely with leaders, the HR department and the local network of employees with disabilities.
Diversity also relates to the company’s demographic profile. Our aim is to create a suitable framework to help maintain the employability of our personnel at all stages of life and ensure the availability of qualified employees over the long term.
As we are convinced that better decisions are made by considering diverse perspectives, we set up a Shadow Board for BASF sites in Africa and the Middle East in 2023. The Shadow Board is made up of younger employees and advises the leadership team on strategic and operational topics. Using this reverse monitoring approach, we want to broaden and enrich the perspectives of the leadership team and bridge the gap between hierarchical levels and between generations.
