The knowledge, experience, expertise, and commitment of our employees are critical to our success. For this reason, Fresenius values a culture of diversity. The interplay of a wide range of views, opinions, cultural backgrounds, experiences, and values enables us to successfully exploit our potential as a global company.

The number of employees increased slightly and amounted to 193,865 at the end of 2023. Personnel expenses for the Fresenius Group were €9,930 million in 2023 (2022: €9,439 million), equivalent to 45% of revenue (2022: 44%). Personnel expenses per employee, based on the average number of employees, were €52 thousand (2022: €50 thousand) and €53 thousand in constant currency.

In Germany, Fresenius companies have signed tariff agreements with IG BCE, Marburger Bund, and ver.di (labor union for services). There were no significant structural changes to compensation or employment agreements in 2023.

Human resources management

We are constantly adapting our human resources tools to meet new requirements arising, among other things, from demographics, the transformation to a service economy, the shortage of skilled workers, and employees desire for a better work-life balance. For example, we offer flexible working hours and have created a modern hybrid working environment.

Employee recruitment and personnel development

In order to meet our need for highly qualified employees in the long term and attract new employees, we rely on targeted HR marketing activities. For example, we cooperate with universities for a variety of formats, have our own HR channels on the most important social media platforms for our target groups, and have launched an ambassador program for all Fresenius employees (Fresenius Ambassadors).

In addition, we try to retain our employees in the long term by offering attractive development opportunities and making internal development opportunities transparently available to all employees through an attractive, cross-divisional internal job exchange (stayFresenius).

The development and implementation of concepts and measures for recruiting and promoting staff will be aligned with the market requirements of the respective segments and will be more standardized in the future. A cross-divisional approach is being pursued in order to ensure a more coherent and effective strategy. We select applicants solely on the basis of their qualifications and experience. We aim to ensure that all people with comparable aptitude have the same career opportunities at Fresenius, regardless of gender, age, origin, nationality, religion, disability, sexual identity and orientation, or other characteristics.

The proportion of female employees in the Fresenius Group was 68% as of December 31, 2023 (Dec. 31, 2022: 68%). The proportion of females in services or care is traditionally higher than in the area of production. This is reflected in the proportion of female employees in our business segments: our business segment Fresenius Helios has, with 75%, the highest proportion of female employees within the Group. The number of female participants in the Group-wide Long Term Incentive Plan (Long-Term Incentive Plan 2023 LTIP) is a good indication of the share of women in management positions. According to this, the ratio of women among these 501 top executives was 27% as at December 31, 2023 (Dec. 31, 2022: 28% of 522 top executives).

You can visit our multiple-award-winning careers portal at www.careers.fresenius.com.