Employees

Empowering people. Advancing care. Inspiring with our purpose and values.

Our more than 125,000 employees are our most valuable asset in bringing Fresenius Medical Care’s vision to life. That is why we give top priority to:

• Fostering an attractive, fair, and trusting work environment
• Growing and helping others to grow
• Together working to remain a successful, leading health care company

Employee engagement

The ability to attract, but also to retain talent, is essential for our Company’s success. So that our employees remain committed to our corporate targets and values and contribute to our long-term success, we have put various measures in place to encourage and improve employee engagement.

Our goal is to establish an ongoing dialogue with our employees with the aim of boosting commitment, increasing performance, and ultimately improving patients’ quality of life. To this end, we conduct regular engagement surveys, including pulse surveys, to gather feedback and assess employees’ engagement levels, tracking the overall engagement score.

Respecting human rights

As a global health care company, we are committed to saving lives, promoting health and improving our patients’ quality of life. Our products and services help to improve access to good and affordable health care in many countries. Respecting human rights and upholding labor and employment standards are an integral part of our corporate responsibility.

In 2023, the Management Board renewed our Human Rights commitment by adopting a Human Rights Statement, that supersedes previous statements, namely the Global Human Rights, Workplace Rights and Labor and Employment Principles from 2019 and Fresenius Group Human Rights Statement from early 2023. This statement builds on our commitment to respect human rights as stipulated in our Code of Ethics and Business Conduct (“CoC”) and complements our other relevant policies and guidelines.  

This document outlines our approach to embedding respect for human rights in our worldwide business activities – both in our own operations and in our supply chains. It is guided by relevant international standards including the principles described in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as well as the International Labor Organization’s 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, and applicable legislation such as the German Human Rights Due Diligence in Supply Chains Act (Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz).

Diversity, equity, and inclusion

We want our employees to feel empowered and appreciated, which is why we attach great importance to diversity, equity, and inclusion – not just as a smart thing to do, but as the right thing to do.

Diversity is defined in a broad way, including – but not limited to – age, gender, nationality, cultural and ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, educational background, and work experience. Diversity can only be effective in the context of inclusion. We define inclusion as giving people the feeling that they are respected and valued as unique individuals. Consequently, our global diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts focus on enhancing the sense of belonging of all our employees worldwide.

The Management Board of Fresenius Medical Care drives and supports all diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and monitors their progress on a regular basis. It has also defined female leadership participation targets for the first two management levels until 2025.

Diversity in governance bodies at Fresenius Medical Care has greatly increased in recent years.

Our diversity, equity, and inclusion commitment includes applying fair pay and compensation principles to our workforce.

Occupational health and safety

The health and safety of our employees and contractors is one of our top priorities. Occupational health and safety measures include identifying, mitigating and preventing potential work-related hazards and risks.

In 2021, we defined a global Occupational Health and Safety Policy that outlines our commitment to providing a healthy and safe workplace for our employees and contractors. This is also incorporated in our Code of Ethics and Business Conduct

As part of our Global Sustainability Program, we aim to facilitate the sharing of best practices across all of our regions to identify the root causes of incidents and take appropriate corrective and preventive action.