Corporate practices : the German group Henkel boosts and internationalizes its corporate diversity management policy

Henkel illustrates the human diversity policy of the group at its site in Vienna. There, the firm has set up its headquarters for Austria and the east European countries. 10.000 people of 33 different nationalities are located there. In 2007 there were around 120 employee transfers between the national subsidiaries and the Austrian location. On every occasion it is necessary to integrate the newcomer and prepare the teams for his/her welcome. For the company, such heterogeneity can therefore be as much a force as an obstacle not be neglected especially in a context where 80% of the 53,000 employees work from outside Germany and are scattered in 110 countries.