Sluisweg 10 | 5145 PE Waalwijk | Netherlands +31 416 689 111
Contact us | stahl.com
We welcome your feedback and suggestions regarding this ESG report. Click here to share your input.
Insights from the Global Employee Pulse Survey (GEPS)
The GEPS aims to measure the effectiveness of local action plans that have been put into practice following the results of the 2021 People Experience Survey. In 2023, employee participation in this survey increased from 92% to 94%. Key insights from these contributions include:
Equity and disability
Our commitment to equal treatment includes people with disabilities. Currently, Stahl employs 15 people with a disability, compared to 12 in 2022. The need to respect strict security and emergency measures can limit the opportunity to employ a higher proportion of disabled people in our factories around the world, but this does not mean that it cannot be done. We continue to engage with local teams to make this happen.
Governance Statement
In 2023, we drafted a DEI Governance Statement, establishing a clear framework of processes and structures by which decisions concerning DEI will be made and implemented. The statement reflects Stahl’s commitment to transparency and accountability, as well as the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders in decision-making related to DEI.
DEI Policies:
We updated our DEI Policy in September 2023, the key highlights being:
Helping our people reach their full potential
Strengthening employee engagement
TOPICS
Advancing our DEI culture and vision
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Climate change threatens to have a significant impact on our business over the coming decades. We also recognise our own contribution to this critical issue, either directly through our production processes or indirectly through our wider value chain activities. By integrating our climate resilience plans into our core strategy, we believe we can secure our future and be a positive force for climate action in our industry.
The Stahl Climate Resilience and Adaptation Plan sets out our approach to climate risk mitigation, including our ambitious targets and how we plan to achieve them.
Taking action on climate change
Stahl is committed to helping employees improve their skills through a wide range of training and education opportunities. In doing so, we strengthen our business while helping our employees build successful long-term careers, both within Stahl and beyond.
In 2023, we offered training for our global workforce through our online learning platform, which provides access to an e-catalogue of training materials on compliance, cybersecurity, diversity, anti-bribery and anti-corruption, and soft skills development. We added new training programmes to our global curriculum to help employees understand Stahl’s strategy and progress towards leadership roles.
We also reactivated our global leadership training programme and updated it with new content for managers and leaders to create and strengthen relationships. Three cohorts from across the globe participated in a weeklong programme, laying the foundation for subsequent satellite programmes. In addition, our Extended Leadership Team participated in an executive course titled ‘Leading a changing world’.
Training hours completed by Stahl employees are tracked locally by our individual business units, with the total number consolidated at a company-wide level. In 2023, the number of training hours per full-time equivalent (FTE) was 17.35 hours, compared with 18.5 hours per FTE in 2022.
At Stahl, we see an engaged, aligned, and well-informed workforce as the starting point for delivering on our purpose and strategy.
In April, we launched our new purpose, Touching lives, for a better world. As part of the launch event, all colleagues received a ‘purpose box’ containing an explanation of the purpose and its significance. We also introduced an employee volunteering day programme, enabling Stahl colleagues to dedicate one workday per year to supporting a social or environmental programme of their choice.
In October, we launched MyStahl, an internal digital workplace hub for all Stahl employees around the world. MyStahl is a direct outcome of the 2021 People Experience Survey, which underlined the need to improve internal engagement. Now employees can stay up to date with the latest news, and connect and interact with each other. Our weekly employee newsletter has been incorporated into this platform.
Gender equality
At Stahl, we are working to improve gender equality and the representation of women across the company. We track the ratio of female to male employees (25.5% female and 74.5% male in 2023) and the number of female employees in supervisory positions (employees with direct reports and/or in a management position). In 2023, 26.4% of managerial positions were held by women, compared to 25.1% in 2022.
Under our ESG Roadmap to 2030, our goal is to achieve gender-balanced (30-60% ratio) female representation across Stahl’s Leadership Team, Extended Leadership Team and heads of function by the end of the decade. To achieve this, we are successfully recruiting women into head-of-function positions, thereby creating a strong pipeline of internal female candidates from which to fill future vacancies. This is evidenced by key recent appointments, including our new Group Director Marketing and Sustainability, Head of Digital Marketing, and Global Market Manager Adhesives, as well as various internal promotions.
We recognise that gender is not binary, and we are committed to treating everyone equally. We have tracked and reported the percentage of employees in our different business units by gender for many years, and this is the information we continue to collect for consistency. However, we are aware that this does not provide the full picture, and we continue to discuss our approach with employees.
Internal communication on DEI
During the year, Stahl’s weekly employee newsletter featured about 50 articles focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. In October, we celebrated Diversity Awareness Month with a series of ten videos.
We spotlighted members of the Leadership Team, regional managing directors, and female site managers who spoke about working in male-dominated environments.
With the transition to MyStahl as our official internal communication engagement platform, the newsletter has been replaced with a dedicated global DEI page. This page holds relevant news, resources, event updates, and details of local DEI committee members. In 2024, we plan to restructure the global DEI page and create local pages. In doing so, we aim not only to enhance communication about our activities but also to inspire more individuals to join and support their local committees.
Diversity, equity and inclusion: 82% of employees feel fairly treated, a nine-point increase from the 2021 survey.
Engagement: 81% of employees feel motivated to go the extra mile every day, a three-point increase from 2021.
ESG Roadmap: 85% of employees view our business ethics and impact on communities positively, and 84% feel they have the knowledge and skills to positively contribute to Stahl's 2030 ESG Roadmap. While this was a new category in the survey, our score is 5% above the global benchmark set by industry peers.
Leadership Team effectiveness: 75% of employees expressed confidence in the Leadership Team and our business strategy, a five-point increase from 2021.
Overall experience and culture: 82% of employees understand Stahl’s values, a four-point increase from 2021.
From 2024, the Steering Committee will be organised within five working groups, each with a specific focus area:
Governance: Responsible for launching Stahl’s updated DEI Policy, implementing its governance, creating a global anti-harassment procedure, and incorporating Stahl’s ESG commitments in their work.
Training: Responsible for launching DEI training for all employees, establishing a presence at the Annual Management Conference, and strengthening DEI content within global leadership training.
Inclusion: Responsible for increasing the representation of disabled employees by conducting a comprehensive investigation into local disability quotas legislation.
Engagement: Responsible for setting up employee resource groups, reviewing employee survey results, integrating employees from companies acquired by Stahl, and publishing DEI content on MyStahl, our new digital workplace platform.
Pay Transparency and Equity: Responsible for measuring the pay gap, assessing the living wage in countries where we operate, and formulating a plan to address any identified gaps.
Inclusion of the concept and definition of ‘Equity’,
Introduction of a Smart Working Policy to accommodate the needs of the evolving workplace,
Identifying and setting out specific objectives for vulnerable groups and generations, in alignment with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
• ESG Advisor
• Legal Advisor
• HR Advisor
• Executive Sponsor
• Eight members
Employee experience: We want to ensure that every employee feels included and welcome, and that people from all backgrounds have the right environment to grow and thrive.
Employee engagement: We want our people to feel motivated to make a difference every day, and to create a shared sense of community in which everyone participates.
Employee value proposition: We want our people to achieve their full potential by providing them with the right skills and training.
We have taken additional steps to strengthen diversity within the Committee. As of 2023, the committee has representation from the following nationalities: Spain, Italy, the United States, Brazil, the Netherlands, France and Mexico. CEO Maarten Heijbroek will continue to be the Committee’s Executive Sponsor in 2024.
We also appointed DEI representatives at each Stahl site or location, who act as a bridge between the global committee and Stahl’s local DEI committees.
Finally, we continued to be supported in our DEI ambitions by Catalyst, a non-profit organisation with a 60-year track record of helping companies achieve their DEI goals, and a focus on creating workplaces that work for women. The partnership gives our employees access to a range of tools and resources focused on developing awareness, knowledge and skills around gender diversity and other aspects of DEI.
Celebrating and improving our diversity is an important foundation of Stahl's new purpose, Touching lives, for a better world. At the end of 2023, our global workforce included 60 different nationalities and a broad range of generations and backgrounds. However, we also believe that diversity goes beyond age, gender, race and cultural background: a diverse workplace encourages freedom of thought and expression.
In 2023, we started defining and introducing local DEI plans in each of Stahl’s legal entities worldwide. We appointed local DEI committees for each entity, responsible for implementing company-wide DEI policies, defining local action plans, and providing information on progress in support of Stahl’s KPIs.
DEI Steering Committee
In late 2022, Stahl established a dedicated global DEI Steering Committee, responsible for defining Stahl’s DEI strategy, setting targets and KPIs, and facilitating local action. During 2023, the Steering Committee added an HR advisor.
The composition of the committee is therefore as follows:
We are strengthening three key areas of our people strategy:
2023 was a year of change and action, and progress was made in all three areas. A company-wide unconscious bias training was completed. MyStahl was launched - an internal digital workplace hub for our colleagues to connect. Read on to find out what else we achieved during the year.
Our team of 1,912 employees (including former ICP employees) is our most important asset.
We encourage innovation and diversity of thought to generate new ideas. At year-end 2023, Stahl employed 1,802 full-time equivalents (FTEs) worldwide, a decrease of 0.69% from 2022.
Mandatory unconscious bias training
In 2023, we reached an important milestone with the introduction of our first company-wide unconscious bias training for all employees, achieving an 84% completion rate. Over the coming years, we plan to address different aspects of DEI in more depth. In 2024, we will focus on ‘Equity’, followed by ‘Inclusion’ in 2025, and ‘Diversity’ in 2026. The Steering Committee will play a key role in this, together with local DEI representatives.
Sluisweg 10 | 5145 PE Waalwijk | Netherlands +31 416 689 111
Contact us | stahl.com
We welcome your feedback and suggestions regarding this ESG report. Click here to share your input.
Back to top
At Stahl, we see an engaged, aligned, and well-informed workforce as the starting point for delivering on our purpose and strategy.
In April, we launched our new purpose, Touching lives, for a better world. As part of the launch event, all colleagues received a ‘purpose box’ containing an explanation of the purpose and its significance. We also introduced an employee volunteering day programme, enabling Stahl colleagues to dedicate one workday per year to supporting a social or environmental programme of their choice.
In October, we launched MyStahl, an internal digital workplace hub for all Stahl employees around the world. MyStahl is a direct outcome of the 2021 People Experience Survey, which underlined the need to improve internal engagement. Now employees can stay up to date with the latest news, and connect and interact with each other. Our weekly employee newsletter has been incorporated into this platform.
Diversity, equity and inclusion: 82% of employees feel fairly treated, a nine-point increase from the 2021 survey.
Engagement: 81% of employees feel motivated to go the extra mile every day, a three-point increase from 2021.
ESG Roadmap: 85% of employees view our business ethics and impact on communities positively, and 84% feel they have the knowledge and skills to positively contribute to Stahl's 2030 ESG Roadmap. While this was a new category in the survey, our score is 5% above the global benchmark set by industry peers.
Leadership Team effectiveness: 75% of employees expressed confidence in the Leadership Team and our business strategy, a five-point increase from 2021.
Overall experience and culture: 82% of employees understand Stahl’s values, a four-point increase from 2021.
Stahl is committed to helping employees improve their skills through a wide range of training and education opportunities. In doing so, we strengthen our business while helping our employees build successful long-term careers, both within Stahl and beyond.
In 2023, we offered training for our global workforce through our online learning platform, which provides access to an e-catalogue of training materials on compliance, cybersecurity, diversity, anti-bribery and anti-corruption, and soft skills development. We added new training programmes to our global curriculum to help employees understand Stahl’s strategy and progress towards leadership roles.
We also reactivated our global leadership training programme and updated it with new content for managers and leaders to create and strengthen relationships. Three cohorts from across the globe participated in a weeklong programme, laying the foundation for subsequent satellite programmes. In addition, our Extended Leadership Team participated in an executive course titled ‘Leading a changing world’.
Training hours completed by Stahl employees are tracked locally by our individual business units, with the total number consolidated at a company-wide level. In 2023, the number of training hours per full-time equivalent (FTE) was 17.35 hours, compared with 18.5 hours per FTE in 2022.
Insights from the Global Employee Pulse Survey (GEPS)
The GEPS aims to measure the effectiveness of local action plans that have been put into practice following the results of the 2021 People Experience Survey. In 2023, employee participation in this survey increased from 92% to 94%. Key insights from these contributions include:
Gender equality
At Stahl, we are working to improve gender equality and the representation of women across the company. We track the ratio of female to male employees (25.5% female and 74.5% male in 2023) and the number of female employees in supervisory positions (employees with direct reports and/or in a management position). In 2023, 26.4% of managerial positions were held by women, compared to 25.1% in 2022.
Under our ESG Roadmap to 2030, our goal is to achieve gender-balanced (30-60% ratio) female representation across Stahl’s Leadership Team, Extended Leadership Team and heads of function by the end of the decade. To achieve this, we are successfully recruiting women into head-of-function positions, thereby creating a strong pipeline of internal female candidates from which to fill future vacancies. This is evidenced by key recent appointments, including our new Group Director Marketing and Sustainability, Head of Digital Marketing, and Global Market Manager Adhesives, as well as various internal promotions.
We recognise that gender is not binary, and we are committed to treating everyone equally. We have tracked and reported the percentage of employees in our different business units by gender for many years, and this is the information we continue to collect for consistency. However, we are aware that this does not provide the full picture, and we continue to discuss our approach with employees.
Governance Statement
In 2023, we drafted a DEI Governance Statement, establishing a clear framework of processes and structures by which decisions concerning DEI will be made and implemented. The statement reflects Stahl’s commitment to transparency and accountability, as well as the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders in decision-making related to DEI.
Inclusion of the concept and definition of ‘Equity’,
Introduction of a Smart Working Policy to accommodate the needs of the evolving workplace,
Identifying and setting out specific objectives for vulnerable groups and generations, in alignment with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
Internal communication on DEI
During the year, Stahl’s weekly employee newsletter featured about 50 articles focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. In October, we celebrated Diversity Awareness Month with a series of ten videos.
We spotlighted members of the Leadership Team, regional managing directors, and female site managers who spoke about working in male-dominated environments.
With the transition to MyStahl as our official internal communication engagement platform, the newsletter has been replaced with a dedicated global DEI page. This page holds relevant news, resources, event updates, and details of local DEI committee members. In 2024, we plan to restructure the global DEI page and create local pages. In doing so, we aim not only to enhance communication about our activities but also to inspire more individuals to join and support their local committees.
DEI Policies:
We updated our DEI Policy in September 2023, the key highlights being:
Mandatory unconscious bias training
In 2023, we reached an important milestone with the introduction of our first company-wide unconscious bias training for all employees, achieving an 84% completion rate. Over the coming years, we plan to address different aspects of DEI in more depth. In 2024, we will focus on ‘Equity’, followed by ‘Inclusion’ in 2025, and ‘Diversity’ in 2026. The Steering Committee will play a key role in this, together with local DEI representatives.
Governance: Responsible for launching Stahl’s updated DEI Policy, implementing its governance, creating a global anti-harassment procedure, and incorporating Stahl’s ESG commitments in their work.
Training: Responsible for launching DEI training for all employees, establishing a presence at the Annual Management Conference, and strengthening DEI content within global leadership training.
Inclusion: Responsible for increasing the representation of disabled employees by conducting a comprehensive investigation into local disability quotas legislation.
Engagement: Responsible for setting up employee resource groups, reviewing employee survey results, integrating employees from companies acquired by Stahl, and publishing DEI content on MyStahl, our new digital workplace platform.
Pay Transparency and Equity: Responsible for measuring the pay gap, assessing the living wage in countries where we operate, and formulating a plan to address any identified gaps.
From 2024, the Steering Committee will be organised within five working groups, each with a specific focus area:
• HR Advisor
• ESG Advisor
• Legal Advisor
• Executive Sponsor
• Eight members
We have taken additional steps to strengthen diversity within the Committee. As of 2023, the committee has representation from the following nationalities: Spain, Italy, the United States, Brazil, the Netherlands, France and Mexico. CEO Maarten Heijbroek will continue to be the Committee’s Executive Sponsor in 2024.
We also appointed DEI representatives at each Stahl site or location, who act as a bridge between the global committee and Stahl’s local DEI committees.
Finally, we continued to be supported in our DEI ambitions by Catalyst, a non-profit organisation with a 60-year track record of helping companies achieve their DEI goals, and a focus on creating workplaces that work for women. The partnership gives our employees access to a range of tools and resources focused on developing awareness, knowledge and skills around gender diversity and other aspects of DEI.
Celebrating and improving our diversity is an important foundation of Stahl's new purpose, Touching lives, for a better world. At the end of 2023, our global workforce included 60 different nationalities and a broad range of generations and backgrounds. However, we also believe that diversity goes beyond age, gender, race and cultural background: a diverse workplace encourages freedom of thought and expression.
In 2023, we started defining and introducing local DEI plans in each of Stahl’s legal entities worldwide. We appointed local DEI committees for each entity, responsible for implementing company-wide DEI policies, defining local action plans, and providing information on progress in support of Stahl’s KPIs.
DEI Steering Committee
In late 2022, Stahl established a dedicated global DEI Steering Committee, responsible for defining Stahl’s DEI strategy, setting targets and KPIs, and facilitating local action. During 2023, the Steering Committee added an HR advisor.
The composition of the committee is therefore as follows:
Employee experience: We want to ensure that every employee feels included and welcome, and that people from all backgrounds have the right environment to grow and thrive.
Employee engagement: We want our people to feel motivated to make a difference every day, and to create a shared sense of community in which everyone participates.
Employee value proposition: We want our people to achieve their full potential by providing them with the right skills and training.
2023 was a year of change and action, and progress was made in all three areas. A company-wide unconscious bias training was completed. MyStahl was launched - an internal digital workplace hub for our colleagues to connect. Read on to find out what else we achieved during the year.
Helping our people reach their full potential
Advancing our DEI culture and vision
TOPICS
Strengthening employee engagement
We are strengthening three key areas of our people strategy:
Our team of 1,912 employees (including former ICP employees) is our most important asset.
We encourage innovation and diversity of thought to generate new ideas. At year-end 2023, Stahl employed 1,802 full-time equivalents (FTEs) worldwide, a decrease of 0.69% from 2022.
