Employment conditions
We are continuing to develop employment conditions on the basis of current and future social developments, as well as employees’ and applicants’ expectations of a modern employer, consistently within the meaning of the Strong Rail strategy. Topics such as participation and individualization are becoming increasingly important.
Collective bargaining package Alliance for Our Railway
In May, DB Group together with the Federal Transport Minister, the EVG, the Group Works Council and the AGV MOVE employer association signed the Alliance for Our Railway. Against this backdrop, we reached an agreement with the EVG on a comprehensive collective bargaining package in September 2020. In addition to regulations for moderate wage increases in 2022 and a period up to February 2023, the overall package includes numerous agreements on relevant topics for the future. With this package, together with the EVG, we make an important contribution to overcoming the Covid-19 crisis within DB Group. The collective bargaining agreement enabled successful continuous investment in personnel, qualifications and recruitment even in difficult times.
Collective agreements
| Employee by employee type as of Dec 31 (NP) | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | |
| Employees subject to collective bargaining agreements | 184,508 | 177,286 | 169,494 | |
Civil servants | 17,081 | 19,087 | 21,113 | |
Employees on individual contracts 1) | 11,298 | 10,742 | 10,285 | |
Total | 212,887 | 207,115 | 200,892 | |
Germany (companies with about 98% of domestic employees).
1) The figures for employees on individual contracts primarily include executive employees (managers), employees paid above the wage agreement level (known as non-tariff employees) and employees with individual contractual agreements.
In addition to country-specific legislation, the working conditions for our employees primarily follow the collective bargaining agreements that have been concluded with the trade unions in the respective countries.
In principle the collective bargaining agreements apply to employees in Germany. The activities of civil servants in DB Group are based on statutory allocation under Article 2, Section 12 of the Rail Restructuring Act (Eisenbahnneuordnungsgesetz). The same wage agreement provisions within DB Group therefore apply on this basis to civil servants, insofar as the legal regulations governing civil servants do not conflict with this.
Occupational safety and health management
Our workplace safety policy is designed to continuously decrease the number of accidents and the severity of accidents. In view of the Covid-19 crisis, the central occupational health and safety management unit has made a great deal of progress with the business units and service units to protect all employees. Thanks to our cross-functional cooperation, we were able to implement preventive measures across the Group in a very short time. In doing so, we have not only strictly complied with legal requirements in consultation with employees, management and the statutory accident insurance scheme for Federal agency and railway personnel (Unfallversicherung Bund und Bahn; UVB), but we also set minimum requirements for protective measures throughout Germany, irrespective of the various Federal state-specific regulations. Group-wide models for risk assessments were created and occupational health and safety instructions were issued based on the so-called AHA+L rules: social distance, observe good hygiene practices, wear masks, and ventilate spaces well.
| Occupational accidents and LTIF | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | |
Fatal accidents 1) | 6 | 7 | 6 | |
thereof in Germany 2) | 2 | 5 | 4 | |
Lost time injury frequency (LTIF) 2), 3) | 21.5 | 25.0 | 24.4 | |
1) Worldwide (companies with about 98% of employees).
2) Germany (companies with about 97% of domestic employees).
3) Lost time injury frequency = LTIF (work accidents that cause the employee to be absent for longer than one calendar day) 1,000,000/working hours.
We recognize that we have a duty with regard to occupational health and safety. Compliance with internal standards and national laws serve to protect employees. A safe work environment as well as healthy and motivated employees contribute to the Group’s success. There were digital events and active communication measures on the topic of occupational health and safety to achieve the goal of raising awareness among executives and employees about safety and their responsibility for their safety. We are continuously working to optimize safety.