GRI 2-7, 401/3-3, 401-1, 401-3, 404/3-3, 404-1, 405-1

In fiscal year 2022, the Fresenius Group continued to face strong competition for personnel in the healthcare markets. Particularly in the hospital sector, it became apparent that positioning as an employer, working conditions, and the design of attractive working models are essential in order to be perceived as an attractive company. The staff shortages continued, but were minimized by our focus on in-house training and development of own employees, as explained in the respective sections of the business segments, see section Employee development. The human capital development programs of the business segments will further support this progress. We aim to invest in employee development and retention to improve our employee KPI going forward. The average employee expense was €54.6 thousand in 2022, compared to €49.8 thousand in 2021.

It is also assumed that the vocational training situation in Germany and Austria may worsen in 2023. This supports our ambition to set the focus on training junior staff and specialists in the company’s own training facilities.

In the reporting year, no violations of internal policies with reference to employees were reported via our reporting channels whose impact would have been material for the financial position or reputation of the company. Further information on opportunities and risks can be found in the Opportunities and Risk Report.

At the end of the 2022 fiscal year, the Fresenius Group had 316,920 employees, which was on the previous year's level (December 31, 2021: 316,078). In terms of FTE (full-time equivalents), this represented a slight increase of 0.3%.

The regional distribution also remained at the previous year's pattern: about 31% of employees are employed in Germany, 26% in the rest of Europe, and 24% in North America.

Our distribution of employees by function remained largely unchanged in 2022: About 14% of the workforce was employed in the production sector, and 71% in the services sector. Our personnel structure was thus stable in terms of development. The high proportion of service personnel is mainly due to the large number of nurses in our healthcare facilities.

The rate of new hires^1,2 in relation to the overall number of employees in each business segment is evidence of our efforts within recruitment. The length of service¹ within the Group can vary with acquisitions in the business segments. In 2022, the average was 8.4 years (2021: 8.3 years).

In 2022, the proportion of employees who voluntarily left^1,3 the company increased to 14,7% (2021: 12.8%). Main reasons for this development are the transformation processes at business segment level, were the uncertainty in the labor market associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, stressful labor conditions in the healthcare sector and thus an increase in early turnover as well as people leaving the industry. We explain this development in detail in our business segments and measures taken to correspond to this situation in the Employee development section.

The average age⁴ of Group employees was 42.5 years (2021: 41.6 years). The majority (54%) of our employees are between 30 and 50 years of age. We aim to maintain a well-balanced age structure within our Group. The distribution reflects again the demand for a high proportion of skilled and experienced employees in our business segments.

The results of the group-wide employee engagement survey will be further evaluated in 2023, as explained in the Progress and measures in 2022 section. The Fresenius Group plans to continue conduct­ing employee engagement surveys in the future to create an engagement index. If possible, units not included in the reporting year will be taken into account.

Fresenius Medical Care

At the end of 2022, the number of employees at Fresenius Medical Care worldwide was 128,044 compared to 130,251 in 2021. The average tenure of employees increased to 7.9 years (2021: 7.6 years).

The voluntary turnover rate was 19.9% in 2022. This increase reflects a highly competitive labor market, especially in the clinic and manufacturing sectors. It also reflects a shortage of healthcare workers and the challenging environment created by the COVID-19 pandemic. To address this, the business segment implemented various measures to help managers improve employee retention.

Fresenius Kabi

Total employees at Fresenius Kabi increased slightly in the reporting year. The external hires as well as the voluntary turnover were marked by the constraints for personnel in the healthcare market, a development which we also experienced in the other business segments.

For training of employees in production on quality ­management an average of almost 29 hours was spent per employee in 2021. The quality management training for employees from previous years were updated and additionally supplemented by quality trainings for new employees. In addition to mandatory trainings, the KPI includes targeted trainings on communication and social skills for quality experts.

Fresenius Helios

The total number of employees increased in the reporting year at Fresenius Helios. Employee retention measures were initiated early and thus, we were able to respond to the impacts on the labor market. In all countries in which the business segment operates, the pressure on the labor market remained.

In Spain, the various measures to retain and develop employees were further expanded, as explained in the Progress and measures in 2022 section.

In 2022, a total of 472 training sessions were held in Germany in the fields of emergency medicine, anesthesia, intensive care medicine, and obstetrics at own simulation and emergency facilities, thus training a total of 3,618 physicians and nurses.

Fresenius Vamed

At Fresenius Vamed, the number of employees increased by 2%. In 2022, the business segment recorded an inc­rease in employee terminations from 16% to 2,139 (2021: 1,838). The voluntary turnover rate increased from 9.3% to 10.7%. The reason for this development is the unchanged highly competitive labor markets in all divisions of Fresenius Vamed. The main influencing factors are the structural shortage of skilled workers due to demographic change and the changing preferences of younger generations. These requirements must be countered by appropriate measures for personnel retention and development. Furthermore, the high demands on employees in the healthcare sector, e. g. restrictive protective measures as well as other possible limitations, also had an impact.

Fresenius Corporate

The decrease of 24% in the number of employees is attributable to internal transformation measures. These provided for tasks in the IT area to be transferred to an external partner. This was a transfer of operations in accordance with Section 613a of the German Civil Code (BGB), which ensured job security and unchanged general conditions at the external partner.

The internal restructuring also had an impact on the other key figures due to a significant increase of voluntary employee terminations. Further, in the area of age groups, some employees accepted the offer of partial retirement in 2022. In addition to voluntary fluctuation, this has led to a change in the weighting of the age structure.