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With Diversity & Inclusion to a strong team
Benefiting from and furthering the diversity of our employees is an important cornerstone of the success of our company. It is a source of creativity and innovation.
Diversity as a success factor
KUKA benefits from a variety of experiences and talents. It is our corporate culture to live and promote diversity. The appreciation of our diversity has a positive effect on KUKA as a company, on how we deal with our customers and on our role in society.
Our aim is to create a work environment that is characterized by acceptance and tolerance and is free of prejudice.
Diversity Management
Diversity is governed - among other things - by the Group guideline “Principles of cooperation within KUKA Group” which is part of the Corporate Compliance Handbook. One of these principles is “diversity and appreciation”.
In 2018, as part of diversity management, a new reporting system was introduced, which now enables national and international analyses based on gender, nationality and age at any time. These figures are regularly evaluated and provided to management.
In a market such as ours that encompasses so many countries, industries and areas, a diverse team is an important success factor for the company.
KUKA Diversity Principles
The introduction of Group-wide Diversity & Inclusion principles highlights KUKA's positive attitude towards D&I within the company. The principles contain a clear expectation from the Executive Board and top management to the entire KUKA workforce and clearly signal the binding nature of the content. In this way, awareness of the importance of diversity in the global working environment and appropriate action are to be promoted. The D&I principles create a transparent basis for dealing with diversity within the Group.
Diverse workforce
No discrimination
No harassment
Equal opportunities
Fair compensation system
Management commitment
The KUKA Diversity Principles ensure an equal and respectful cooperation at all functional levels. This is a requirement for achieving better decisions and results. Heterogeneous teams make efficient use of the diverse potential of employees. In addition to that, they create an innovative and creative environment in which different perspectives and waysof thinking, experience and knowledge can be exchanged and utilized.
As a global group operating in various business segments and uniting different corporate cultures under one roof, KUKA sees diversity and an appreciative attitude as well as cooperation between colleagues as the key to our success. The values of our company demand that all our stake holders (shareholders, customers, employees and suppliers) recognize, appreciate, include and benefit from individual personaldifferences. In a market that encompasses as many countries, industries and sectors as ours, a diverse team is an important success factor for KUKA. Employees at KUKA should find a working environment that is free of prejudice and characterized by acceptance.
Legal regulations such as the German General Equal Treatment Act are intended to prevent and eliminate discrimination based on gender, ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual identity. The Group guideline "Principles of Cooperation within the KUKA Group" contains a clear ban on discrimination and the principle of equaltreatment. As a signatory to the German Diversity Charter (Charta der Vielfalt), KUKA has committed itself to promoting these values in working life and has structurally anchored the issue of diversity and inclusion within the company.
Diversity at KUKA
Diversity in language
We all communicate in pictures and writing, verbally and nonverbally, in order to communicate. Out of habit and usually without giving it a second thought, we use established patterns of language and presentation. Because language transports and activates stereotypes, it is important to use them sensitively and to avoid "faux pas". Our goal is to address all people in all their diversity in an appreciative way. For this reason, KUKA has created an internal brochure with recommendations for appreciative communication in German-speaking countries and published it as part of Diversity Week 2021.
Diversity Charter
Intercultural understanding, tolerance and acceptance have a high priority in a global company like KUKA with locations and business partners all over the world.
Equal opportunities and gender diversity also play an important role at KUKA. Employees should find an environment free of prejudice with attractive working conditions and professional development opportunities - regardless of their origin, age, gender, sexual orientation or worldview.
By signing the Diversity Charter, KUKA has officially committed itself to these values.
Great results in external studies on diversity in German workplaces
According to another study done by Stern, KUKA ranks first among companies in the machinery and plant engineering sector with a score of 8.36.
Among other things, the studies asked about gender, ethnicity, age, disabilities and sexual orientation.
Diversity Weeks at KUKA
What is the Diversity Day?
The annual "National Diversity Day" in Germany is a nationwide day of action initiated by the Diversity Charter, which encourages organisations to promote diversity and create social awareness of diversity. Since the first day of action in June 2013, the number of participating companies and organisations has been steadily increasing, and several thousand actions have been carried out to set an example for diversity. As a signatory to the Diversity Charter, KUKA also wants to use targeted campaigns on Diversity Day to demonstrate that diversity management and the concept of diversity play a major role not only in society, but also in the working environment.
Diversity Day 2019
On the 7th German Diversity Day on 28 June 2019, a global poster campaign was launched under the motto "#diversity_drives KUKA" - both digitally and at the Augsburg site, as well as in the form of posters, which were displayed extensively.
In addition, an internal video was produced with KUKA employees from all over the world who made personal statements in their native language (with English subtitles) on various issues relating to diversity.
Diversity Week 2020
On the 8th German Diversity Day, 26 May 2020, KUKA drew attention to the topic of "Unconscious Bias" during Diversity Week. Unconscious bias describes unconscious thought patterns that can lead to cognitive distortions in perception, such as stereotypes or prejudices.
KUKA held an internal global campaign (print and digital), using explanatory posters and postcards with provocative text to make KUKA employees aware of unconscious prejudices, so that they can recognize them and learn how to deal with them. In addition, KUKA provided daily informational materials on various aspects of the topic on the company Intranet. The Diversity Week was very well received by the workforce.
Diversity Week 2021
This year, the focus of the annual Diversity Week around the 9th German Diversity Day on May 18, 2021 was the topic "Diversity in Language". Language creates awareness and has an impact - whether you intend it to or not. The words we choose influence our perception, our thinking and our actions. Language can make invisible - and visible. Our goal is to address all people in an appreciative manner in all their diversity. To this end, KUKA created an internal brochure with recommendations for appreciative communication in German-speaking countries and published it as part of the Diversity Week. In addition, further suggestions, tips and information on the topic were provided daily for the entire workforce.
Diversity Week 2022
KUKA is international. We therefore see it as our duty to promote positive interaction among our international employees.
To strengthen the sense of belonging, appreciation and mutual acceptance at KUKA, this year's Diversity Week on the 10th Diversity Day on May 31, 2022 revolves around the motto "Bridging Cultures". Within this framework, we educate with information on cultural competence, the emergence of prejudices and psychological backgrounds in order to increase the well-being of employees and create the ideal philanthropic basis for innovation and creativity.
More female employees
Within the scope of diversity management, KUKA is working on further increasing the number of women in the workforce and in leadership positions.
Worldwide, the general share of women in KUKA Group was 19 percent in 2020 (VDMA Benchmark 2017: 16,5 percent). Globally, at the first management level below the Executive Board and Management Boards the share is 15 percent. On the second level it is 14 percent.
The share of female apprentices for commercial-technical professions at KUKA was 13 percent in 2020. With our annual events such as participation in Girls’ Day and with work experience placements for girls, practical days, robot days and our cooperation with girls’ schools, our intention is to appeal to more female students to increase the number of women working in industrial automation.
Woman power at orangeWIN
The internal women’s network orangeWIN was founded in 2016 with the aim of promoting women in the company and identifying female talent. Events in various formats - for example business lunches on various inter-departmental topics - were held at four to six-week intervals during the reporting year. In addition to discussing technical topics, these events were also an opportunity to network.
In the reporting year 2021, the Women's Network, which is under the patronage of KUKA CEO Peter Mohnen, organized twelve events with around 322 participants (2020: five events with around 60 participants). The local offshoot of the Women's Network founded in the USA in 2019 was severely limited by the COVID pandemic. It was not until the end of 2020 that two virtual events could be held and a digital handout created, targeting around 150 participants.
The internal mentoring program initiated by orangeWIN serves as a regular exchange of experience between different levels of experience and is open to all KUKA employees. Through self-reflection and exchange, participants can further develop their skills and strengths in a targeted manner. It also supports the personal development of participating employees. In 2021, 21 tandems participated in the program; in 2020, there were only four due to the Corona pandemic. By June 2022, a total of 82 tandems had participated in the program, which was launched in April 2017.
External networks
The orangeWIN network is also well regarded outside of KUKA. In 2018, for example, orangeWIN was promoted at the “BayernMentoringProfessional” program for female students of the STEM faculties, which was presented at the Kempten University of Applied Sciences.
KUKA is also active in external networks, such as the "Women in Network" (WIN) corporate women's network from Munich and the surrounding area. These currently include 17 companies, whose representatives meet once a quarter. KUKA is also involved in a network with other Augsburg companies from various industries.
In addition, KUKA has been participating in the Augsburg cross-mentoring program since 2011. This program supports young managers with their professional and personal development and is designed as a company-wide cross-mentoring program. KUKA is also involved in the mentoring partnership MigraNet, which is committed to the professional integration of people with a migrant background.