Diversity & Inclusion

Commitments to promote the participation of women in leadership positions in accordance with §76 (4) and §111 (5) of the German Stock Corporation Act and information on minimum representation on the Supervisory Board

thyssenkrupp has been pursuing a Groupwide strategy to promote diversity since 2013. Among other things we aim to achieve a 15% proportion of women in all the Group’s leadership positions by 2020. We report on this strategy and progress made in the “Employees” section of the annual report.

Currently 24 German companies of the thyssenkrupp Group are additionally subject to a statutory obligation to set targets for the proportion of women on supervisory boards, management boards, and two management levels below, in each case specifying a deadline for meeting these targets. All companies concerned have fulfilled this obligation. All the initial implementation deadlines expired on June 30, 2017. In the implementation period the share of women on supervisory boards was increased from 13% to 20%. There is no supervisory board without a female member. The number of Group companies without women on the management board was also reduced. For the period after June 30, 2017 the companies have set new targets for the proportion of women on supervisory boards, management boards, and the two management levels below. The implementation deadlines run until June 30, 2022.

For the Supervisory Board of thyssenkrupp AG, the rule is that the board must be composed of at least 30% women and at least 30% men. The overall proportion of women on the Supervisory Board is 25%. In the past fiscal year an employee representative stood down from the Supervisory Board and was replaced by a court-appointed male employee representative after the employee side objected to joint fulfilment of the minimum quota by the Supervisory Board as a whole. As the employee representative side already had a 30% proportion of women members, the legal requirements for the appointment were met.

The Supervisory Board of thyssenkrupp AG initially set a target of 0% women on the Executive Board of thyssenkrupp AG, to be implemented by June 30, 2017. For the period after June 30, 2017 the Supervisory Board has now set a target of 20%, to be implemented by June 30, 2022. The composition of the Executive Board has since remained unchanged.

The Executive Board of thyssenkrupp AG had adopted targets of 8% for the first management level and 23% for the second management level, also to be implemented by June 30, 2017. 5% female representation was achieved at the first management level and 23% at the second. This means that the proportion of women at the first management level did not reach the 8% target in the first implementation period. It was not possible to fill a first management level position with a female candidate within the short initial implementation period. thyssenkrupp AG is working to increase the number of women in the talent pool with the skills required for these positions. For the period after June 30, 2017 targets of 11% for the first management level below the Executive Board and 25% for the second now apply, to be implemented in each case by June 30, 2022. At the same time the Executive Board of thyssenkrupp AG continues to pursue the aforementioned Groupwide strategy targeting a global 15% proportion of women in all leadership positions by 2020.