We offer our employees the opportunity to develop professionally in a dynamic international environment. To this end, we use different concepts and measures for personnel development – depending on their own customer and market structures. We constantly adapt our approaches to current trends and requirements. In addition to Group-wide mandatory training courses on the respective Codes of Conduct and on integrity, there are mandatory training courses on environmental management, occupational health and safety in the business segments, and, where appropriate, quality management. Digitalization is also playing an increasingly important role in the daily work done by our employees. Therefore, we integrate digital skills in alignment with the digitalization grade of the respective function. Segment-specific talent management and individual further training offerings for employees and managers are our other personnel development measures.

All employees who are directly involved in production, as well as employees who work in a supporting role (e. g., technical maintenance, IT) receive mandatory training in job-related good manufacturing, control, and distribution practice and in occupational health and safety and environmental protection.

In 2023, every employee within the healthcare products market segment spent an average of almost 21 hours on quality management training. In addition to mandatory training, the key performance indicator (KPI) includes targeted training on communication and social skills for quality experts. The production area comprises the following employee groups: operation/manufacturing, quality control, quality assurance, maintenance/technical support and warehouse.

In the healthcare services market segment, a total of 537 training sessions were held in Germany in 2023 in the fields of emergency medicine, anesthesia, intensive care medicine, obstetrics, and pediatrics at our own simulation and emergency facilities. More than 4,300 doctors and nurses were trained. In Switzerland, more than 1,100 professionals were trained by Fresenius Vamed in over 80 training sessions in fields such as emergency management, delirium therapy, care documentation, hygiene, resuscitation, gerontotraumatology, and depression.

In addition, all certified sites conduct occupational health and safety and environmental and energy management training. Further training supplements this and serves to support the introduction, further development, and improvement of the corresponding management systems and measures.

Especially in the nursing sector, the demand for skilled workers has continued to increase over the past few years. For this reason, Fresenius Helios plans to acquire a large proportion of the necessary nursing personnel through in-company training or training cooperations. In Germany, the business segment has 34 of its own training centers. At the Helios Academy, in the training centers, and in other country-specific training programs offered by Fresenius Helios, employees can learn, train, and further develop their expertise – in professional and personal skills.

In Spain, Fresenius Helios focuses on cooperations with universities and also operates university hospitals and training facilities itself. More than 5,000 students are trained annually by experts; they acquire practical skills during their undergraduate and postgraduate training. In its two nursing schools, Helios Spain covers classroom and hands-on training as well as vocational training; for example to qualify students as Imaging Technicians for Diagnosis and Nuclear Medicine and Technicians in Radiation Therapy and Dosimetry. The division also has eight university hospitals where the classroom-based content of a medical school is taught and more than 400 medical staff are fully trained each year.

For explanations of vocational training in Spain, see the Recruitment section.

Employees in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic who do not have their own computer or laptop, or who do not have a quiet work environment, can take the training courses they need at specially set up learning locations. The platforms enable documentation of participation in training measures and success checks, for example through final tests.

Leadership development

We offer two Group-wide programs to our executives. In the reporting year, we fundamentally revised the Maximizing Leadership Impact program, which is directed at upper management levels exclusively. A first execution of the program together with the Harvard Business School is planned for 2024. In conjunction with the University of St. Gallen, we target middle management with a leadership program that focuses on strategy implementation, change management, and collaboration. In the reporting year 2023, a total of 26 people participated in the St. Gallen program, of which 31% were women.

Additionally, the individual business segments offer their own development programs for their executives. The Corporate / Other segment and Fresenius Kabi, for example, offer management programs aimed at both new and advanced executives. In the reporting year, 55 executives took part, 30 of whom were women. In our clinics in Spain, 398 employees participated in executive training programs, of which 69% were women.

Succession planning

In 2023, structured, Group-wide succession planning was carried out for the first time. The focus was on a total of 92 key positions up to two levels below the Group Management Board. Members of the Group Management Board were not included in the succession planning. Both successors who can assume the corresponding role in a timely manner in the event of an emergency and potential successor candidates were named. The key positions will be revised in 2024 to reflect the Group’s future portfolio.

In the reporting year 2023, there were changes in the Group Management Board as well as in the management boards of the business segments. In the process, around half of the positions were filled internally by executives.