In recent years, we have established various dialog formats to strengthen communication between management and employees – both at Group level and in the individual business segments. This allows the Management Board to provide employees with information on important issues personally. In addition, we promote our feedback culture and the constructive exchange of ideas.

Employees at the level of the corporate functions as well as our global locations have the opportunity to provide feedback and engage openly and directly with the company. In 2022, we introduced an annual Group-wide employee survey for this purpose. In this way, we regularly collect feedback from our employees on their working environment in the business segments. We inquire about the strengths as well as about opportunities to improve. The aim is to obtain a picture of opinion and sentiment about working at Fresenius based on the survey results. The survey divides employee engagement into three aspects: would employees speak positively about Fresenius or its subsidiaries? Do employees intend to stay with Fresenius? And how motivated are employees to perform at Fresenius? In addition, the business segments can include their own questions, e. g., on teamwork, feedback culture, or appreciation.

In the reporting year, more than 80% of our employees were invited to participate in the annual survey. Those excluded from participation are, for example, in entities engaged in ongoing transformation processes. The participation rate was 44%¹. Once the survey is completed, a Group-wide Engagement Index is created from the three globally collected Employee Engagement questions. The index is the weighted average of engagement scores derived from a business segment’s entities included in the survey. The initial evaluation at the end of 2023 revealed an engagement index of 4.13² within the range of 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree). Thus, we did not achieve our target under the short-term variable Executive Board compensation – an engagement index of at least 4.33. Based on the overall results of the employee survey, follow-up measures can be derived and implemented for each business segment to increase employee engagement. Fresenius Helios in Spain, for example, has set up committees for dialog between management and employee groups in order to incorporate their direct feedback into improvement measures. The Corporate / Other segment has used focus groups to gather new insights on the topic of recognition and feedback frommanagers. The employee survey and the assessment of the Employee Engagement Index are important tools for developing as an employer, attracting new talents, and retaining our employees in the long term. Employee engagement is also related to relevant HR key performance indicators such as absenteeism, turnover, productivity, and customer care.

Further information on compensation can be found in the Compensation Report of the Annual Report 2023.

To support dialog between management and employees, video messages from the CEO on relevant topics, for example, are published on the global intranet to encourage lively discussions. The other board members also communicate on new developments in their departments. In addition, digital formats and on-site meetings foster the exchange between the CEO and top executives. Various dialog formats are used within the Fresenius Group. We offer a standardized feedback discussion between supervisors and employees on performance, competencies, and development potential for the majority of ouremployees every year. It serves to strengthen the exchange on the individual development planning and promotion of the employees. In addition, it is intended to strengthen employee loyalty and reduce staff turnover. Furthermore, non-tariff employees agree their annual targets as part of the appraisal interview and carry out the associated assessment of the target achievement.