DENIOS as an employer
Here at DENIOS, our employees are one of the most important pillars of our success. Their expert knowledge, skills and dedication ensure that our company is able to continuously evolve, and are thus a huge part of what makes us a successful company – both now and in the future. As a matter of mutual interest, the DENIOS Group provides its employees with developmental support at every stage of their careers – from apprentice to specialist and even manager – ensures effective occupational health and safety and works hard to foster a constructive culture of interaction amongst its workforce.
This is also made clear by the fact that all our trainees and students are automatically taken on for at least six months after successfully completing their training. This is stipulated in one of our company agreements.
Employee numbers and personnel structure
After our growth stalled briefly in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, we already succeeded in continuing our positive development from 2021 onwards. This is also reflected in the figures for the current reporting period (2022/2023).
Works agreements
In Germany, all our workers except for the management team are governed by works agreements. These are drawn up based on negotiations between the works council and the management, before being legally approved and ratified. The works agreements form an integral part of the respective employees' employment agreements and can be viewed at any time on the intranet.
DENIOS Czech Republic
There were no works agreements at DENIOS Czech Republic during the reporting period. There was no works council.
DENIOS France
In France, all our employees were governed by works agreements. These are based on the framework agreement for the metals industry. The only exception to this is Mr André, the Managing Director.
DENIOS Italy
All our employees in Italy had works agreements that defined how extra hours would be handled, the amount of expenses provided for business trips and other conditions. There was also a works council in place during the reporting period.
Wage and salary structure / remuneration policy
| Land | Jahr | Nied. Lohngruppe | Mind.-lohn (pro Stunde) | Mind.-lohn (pro Monat) | % über Mind.-lohn* | % über Mind.-lohn** | ⌀ Monatslohn* | ⌀ Monatslohn** |
| Deutschland | 2022 | 11,63 € | 10,45€ | -- | 11,29% | -- | -- | -- |
| 2023 | 12,23 € | 12,00 € | -- | 1,92% | -- | -- | -- | |
| Frankreich | 2022 | -- | 10,52 € | 1.559,00 € | 76,27% | 25,08% | 2.748,00 € | 1.950,00 € |
| 2023 | -- | 11,52 € | 1.747,00 € | 64,80% | 24,61% | 2.879,00 € | 2.177,00 € | |
| Tschechien | 2022 | -- | -- | 648,00 € | 247,69% | 118,67% | 2.253,00 € | 1.417,00 € |
| 2023 | -- | -- | 717,00 € | 222,32% | 85,91% | 2.311,00 € | 1.333,00 € | |
| Italien | 2022 | 8,46 € / 9,56 € | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2.513,00 € | 2.122,00 € |
| 2023 | 9,08 € / 9,68 € | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2.600,00 € | 2.306,00 € |
* Employees
** Industrial
Despite not being obligated to adhere to tariffs, we base our wage structure at DENIOS closely on trade association IG-Metall's collective agreements. This also applies to corresponding salary increases. All employees at the DENIOS sites in Bad Oeynhausen, Löhne and Stuttgart (the main business locations of DENIOS SE) are grouped into in-house wage and salary groups. All employees in Germany can view the wage and salary tables on the intranet. Moreover, DENIOS Germany also employs staff on individual contracts in addition to those covered by collective labour agreements.
Salaries at DENIOS France are also grouped by tariff level. DENIOS France adheres to these tariffs and applies them to all its employees. Fortunately, we offer well above the minimum wage in France.
In the Czech Republic, the statutory minimum wage is expressed as a monthly salary. Compared to these figures, the average salary at DENIOS Czech Republic is much higher, which is very pleasing. However, it should not be forgotten that the average salary has fallen due to several staff changes.
There is no statutory minimum wage in Italy. Of the four companies compared, Italy is the only one in which industrial employees earn more than salaried employees. It is pleasing to note that the average monthly wage of both groups is significantly higher than the lowest wage group.
Recruitment of management staff
The leadership positions at our subsidiaries are generally filled by the respective Managing Directors. Our larger subsidiaries also have Division and Department Heads. In the 2022 financial year, there were few changes to the management team at the Bad Oeynhausen site. Dominik Lassonczyk took up his position as Head of Marketing in July 2022. The Managing Board comprised Helmut Dennig (CEO), Ricarda Fleer (CFO), Alexander Dolipski (COO) and Horst Rose (CSO).
As a rule, we focus our headhunting efforts for management candidates locally, an approach that has also brought success.
In this context, 'local' refers to people living in the same country where they would be based in their new position.
DENIOS is one of Germany's top apprenticeship destinations
The BEST PLACE TO LEARN® seal is awarded to businesses for outstanding work in providing qualifications for young people. AUBI-plus's scientific online survey covers seven areas of quality and 70 quality criteria. The survey focuses particularly on the company's training process, the content of the apprenticeship training, learning on the job, the ability of the training personnel, and the integration of the course and apprentice into the company's business processes. A total of 76 of 85 apprentices and students, former apprentices who completed their training within the last three years, training staff and training officers at DENIOS took part in the comprehensive survey.
We are delighted to hear how much our apprentices, students and training staff value our work, and that they see us as one of the top destinations for professional apprenticeships. For us, this award is also important as it puts us on the map, allowing us to uncover potential and continue to improve. Getting qualified young people enthusiastic about our company has become more important than ever, and we want to establish the best possible conditions for this by offering good apprenticeships.
The seal is valid for a total of three years, i.e., until the end of July 2024. Even after this, we will continue to take part in the online survey and of course hope to be able to hold on to the seal (DENIOS is one of Germany's TOP apprenticeship destinations).
DENIOS Academy
Promoting our employees through the DENIOS Academy
With their diverse range of skills and expertise, our employees play a key role in the success of our company. As such, we see basic, further and advanced training as an incredibly important part of our business. To enable our employees to continuously expand their expertise, we offer them a comprehensive training and further education programme with the DENIOS Academy, which is continuously being revised and expanded. The new DENIOS Academy first opened its gates in 2019. The Academy motto, 'Where experts grow' is reflective of an institution that offers skilled workers and managers from every part of our company a wide range of options for their personal development. This includes valuable specialist knowledge in areas such as fire protection, occupational health and safety and working safely with hazardous substances, as well as one-to-one language courses. In addition to this, we also offer various seminars to enable employees to learn new techniques and hone their social skills, such as manager development, time management and phone training. The table below lists the average number of hours for our (external) further and advanced training courses for the reporting period, grouped by gender and type of employment:
DENIOS DE
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
| Angestellte | 3 | 4 | * | * | 4 | 6 |
| Gewerbliche | 7 | 13 | * | * | 9 | 9 |
| männlich | 5 | 8 | * | * | 7 | 8 |
| weiblich | 3 | 7 | * | * | 3 | 3 |
* The Covid-19 pandemic changed the types of training courses we were able to offer and their time-frames, thus altering the data base. As such, it is not possible to provide data comparable to previous years.
The number shown for training courses refers to external training and further education programmes. A corresponding evaluation is not available for our international locations. However, by introducing our in-house E-Learning Academy (see the 'Sustainability Goals' section), we will continue to expand our employee development – especially at an international level.
Company pension
DENIOS SE provides a company pension subsidy; this is available to all employees once they have completed their trial period. In accordance with a works agreement, our employees can arrange for a portion of their compensation to be deferred and added to their company pension. DENIOS provides a maximum subsidy of €80 for this, which is more than the legally required amount (according to the German Company Pension Bolstering act (Betriebsrentenstärkungsgesetz)).
This plan was specifically designed to ensure that no government involvement is required in the form of either financial contributions or contributions to our shareholding structure.
DENIOS FR
Like every company in France with more than 50 employees, DENIOS also offers its employees a profit-sharing scheme. A contract negotiated by the company enables employees to invest their share either for five years or until retirement (PERCO). Alternatively, the sum can be paid out again immediately instead, but is then subject to taxation.
DENIOS CZ
Employees at DENIOS Czech Republic receive a company subsidy towards their pensions. Once they have been at the company for six months, all employees receive CZK 600 (approx. €23) per month. These contributions are transferred to their pension accounts.
DENIOS IT
DENIOS Italy provides the legally required payments towards its employees' pensions.
The company also takes part in additional money transfers to special specific investment funds for both wage workers and salaried employees.
We are family: DENIOS KidsCamp
As a family company, we actively support our employees in ensuring a good balance between their family lives and their careers. In spite of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is still ongoing in places, we were able to offer our employees holiday care for their little environmental heroes aged between three and twelve in 2022 and 2023. In addition to letting off steam together, this programme offers DENIOS kids an opportunity to enjoy great activities every year, such as visiting a fire station, a beekeeper's hives, and a mine. DENIOS KidsCamp will be held for the sixth time in 2024.
Company culture / People@DENIOS
Every company has its own culture, lived values and norms, common symbols or words and common rituals. Actively living the corporate culture and being part of it creates identity and a strong sense of community. How are decisions made, how do we communicate with each other, how do we deal with successes and how do we handle mistakes? A positive corporate culture is crucial for the well-being of everyone in the company and helps us actively live by our values and achieve our goals.
How we run
Transparency
Innovation
Expertise
Reliability
Stability
In a fast-growing family business like DENIOS, it is important to keep the corporate culture and employee satisfaction in focus. For this reason, the idea of the 'Company Culture' initiative was developed at an international Group meeting with all subsidiaries in 2018. Corporate Culture Officers were nominated in all companies of the DENIOS Group, who together formed the 'Value Multiplier' team. The responsibility of the Value Multipliers was to set up and share projects that promote corporate values and a common corporate culture. As a highlight, the most popular initiatives were honoured with the Company Culture Award. In 2022, we developed the format further and opened it up to all DENIOS Group employees. The 'PEOPLE@DENIOS' initiative was born – since then, the focus has been on all ideas that promote
Kooperation
Zusammenarbeit
Kommunikation
of all employees around the world. At the start of the initiative, ideas focusing on these three aspects of cooperation were collected at several Steering Committee meetings. All interested employees worldwide can take part in the Steering Committees and discuss, evaluate and thus prioritise their ideas. The Steering Committees are moderated by members of executive management who support the international 'PEOPLE@DENIOS' initiative. In 2023, the idea of an 'International Exchange Programme' received the highest rating and is to be implemented by the end of 2024. An international high potential programme and a summer camp are planned for 2025, where young managers from the Group companies will be specifically promoted and brought together to exchange ideas.
Communication
'We' are more than just 'me'.
Unconditional feedback and objective criticism.
I am responsible for the tasks I take on.
Praise and appreciation for achievements, successes achieved and good cooperation.
Openness and respectful interaction are a prerequisite.
In addition to this, a culture of open and respectful communication is an important part of our foundation at DENIOS, and one of the keys to successful employee motivation. A targeted and transparent approach to communicating with our employees provides a framework for the transfer of important information and knowledge, along with a continuous dialogue between all parties.
DENIOS uses various channels to make information known within the company or to enter into dialogue:
Social intranet (activity stream that can be used by any employee)
Screens with current internal information
Regular digital meetings
Employee magazine 'WE are DENIOS' (4x per year, in English and German, distributed to all subsidiaries)
Weekly team meetings
A 'suggestion box' also offers a direct line to our CEO Mr Dennig (anonymously if desired)
Works meetings organised several times a year by the Works Council
Regular management meetings
Situative/topic-oriented information events
Personal contact with the company's international subsidiaries is an integral part of the company's philosophy and is also crucial to consolidating our common goals. This is why, as mentioned above, we hold two international group conferences per year, which are attended by all overseas Managing Directors. We also hold international information events and training sessions several times a year in order to promote an exchange of knowledge. DENIOS uses a mixture of in-person and written communication to ensure that relevant information reaches the employees for whom it is intended.
A regular dialogue between the management and the workforce is also a feature of the work environment at our foreign subsidiaries. At works meetings, which are usually held up to four times a year, the Managing Director of the company in question presents the company's financial and social KPIs and answers employees' questions.