Management approach and targets

DB Group delivers mobility and logistics services in Germany. Our employees are the backbone of this. The common goal is to implement the Strong Rail strategy, thereby bringing about a shift in the mode of transport to rail. Success in this regard is particularly dependent on our ability to attract and retain the necessary specialist and executives and young talents. Our HR strategy provides the framework for this. This is an integral element of the Strong Rail strategy. With the strategic topics in the “100,000 employees” building block firmly in view, we are laying the foundations for modern, forward-looking human resource activities.

• Forward-looking staff planning: We endeavor to identify personnel shortages as early as possible and to counteract them in order to avoid the effects of capacity bottlenecks in the provision of services. To this end, we are continuously refining our staff planning systems.
• Innovative recruiting: In what is a competitive labor market, we want to attract committed employees to DB Group and at the same time mitigate structural risks in our dem­ographic age structure.
• Holistic leadership, qualification and transformation: Our employee development activities are geared towards making DB Group more robust, more powerful and more modern. We support employees during change processes so that they can help shape the transformation of DB Group into a modern, sustainable and digitalized supplier of mobility and logistical services. We support executives in their special role as facilitators and guides by offering continuing education opportunities. To develop the potential of our employees and to build up the necessary skills for the future, we create targeted training programs as part of  a modern learning ecosystem, which is open to all employees. Our Group-wide perfor­mance management system focuses on our performance capability.
• Standardized HR products and processes: We want to encourage appreciative and results-oriented coopera­tion. As a culture-building element, the compass for strong teamwork forms the basis of this. We regularly measure the satisfaction of our employees and the current state of our corporate culture and various organizational framework conditions across the Group with our employee survey and with our culture barometer in the Integrated Rail System.
• The work of the future and diversity: Within this strategic area, we are continuing to develop our working and employment conditions so that we can continue to be an attractive employer in the future and live up to our social responsibility. To this end, we are exploring the HR topics of the future as part of the Group initiative “People. Make. The Future.”.
• Diversity and equal opportunities: Both of these are particularly important issues and a core component of our working culture. We value the different perspectives, values and experiences of our diverse workforce and, as DB Group, we always try to be a force for greater social solidarity. To this end, we actively practice diversity management with stakeholders at all levels.
• Occupational safety: The health and safety of our employees and safe working conditions are fundamental aspects of our business activities and form the basis of our company health management system at DB Group. We support our employees in their efforts to take responsibility for their own health, and create working conditions that are health- and age-appropriate and take into account the special needs of people with disabilities.

The Management Board member responsible for Human Resources and Legal Affairs is responsible for employee issues at DB Group and is supported in this by the HR Group functions in Group management. Group-wide measures are implemented in coordination with the business units, taking into account economic, national, international, local and market-specific characteristics. Compliance with Group-wide principles and standards is governed by the Group directive on human resource management. Codetermination according to the Works Constitution Act is carried out in a spirit of partnership and trust with our employee interest groups and social partners.

The principles of equal opportunities, social partnership, HR compliance, diversity and inclusion are safeguarded with­­­in DB Group on the basis of statutory provisions and inter­­nal regulations. This ensures the consistent application of laws and labor court rulings as well as the legal positioning and contractual standards derived from them.

As one of Germany’s leading employers, we live up to our corporate and social responsibility. In our DB Code of Conduct for Employees and Executives (Group Principles on Ethics) and the DB Code of Conduct for Business Partners, we committed to complying with our globally applicable standards and expectations with the aim of conducting our business operations in an ethical manner. DB Group respects internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms in its business operations in accordance with its policy statement on protecting and respecting human rights and the principles set out in the International Bill of Human Rights and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (core labor standards). DB Group has committed to uphold the ten principles of the UN Global Compact. We are also guided by the principles of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) and the OECD Guiding Principles for Multinational Enterprises.

Through our actions, we make a positive contribution to the protection and promotion of the principles of internationally recognized human rights, where we can do so without breaching local laws.

15 employee building blocks

In 2023, two further employee building blocks were identified and expanded upon. Within this framework, the most important concerns of employees are prioritized and implemented with Management Board support. A total of eight building blocks have been implemented to date.

Smart HR transformation project

We are pursuing the replacement of our current HR management system with a cloud-based solution, Smart HR, in which employees can use HR products any time and anywhere. We are currently in the implementation phase. The system is expected to go live at the end of 2024.