Well-qualified, experienced and motivated employees are of vital importance to the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Maintaining and developing the technical, methodological and leadership competences of our staff is crucial to Siegfried’s success, preparing us for current and future challenges and honing our competitive edge. 

Siegfried strives to attract talented and motivated employees and encourages them to develop as they take on challenging duties and responsibilities – we create the environment required and provide the necessary resources to make this possible. Equal support is provided for leadership, technical and project-based career advancement. In addition to developing professional and technical skills, desirable behavioural patterns and managerial skills are also cultivated among managerial staff.

Performance Management
Our Performance Management process is a key tool for developing our employees and implementing our entrepreneurial and performance-based company culture. In addition to a target-setting interview at the beginning of the year and an assessment at the end, the process includes a mid-year review and calculation of the effective Short Term Incentive is linked to target achievement. The Performance Management process also incorporates individual development measures, which are monitored at regular intervals.

Siegfried places highest priority on providing a flexible, diverse and discrimination-free working environment in which employees can develop personally and professionally, advance innovation and deliver superior performance.

Flexible Working Arrangements
We aim to create and maintain secure and attractive jobs at all of our sites providing competitive working conditions while aligning interests of the company with those of our employees. Siegfried attaches great importance to maintaining a balance between work, family and leisure time allowing their employees to be and remain healthy, efficient, creative and successful. Important elements in achieving this goal are given by the possibility to designing worktime flexibly, working part-time and taking unpaid leave.

Diversity
As a global company, we serve customers around the world and are used to work and operate in a multicultural environment. We consider diversity to be enriching for our company and employees and regard it as source for innovation. Siegfried is committed to creating and nurturing a diverse and inclusive environment in which every individual employee feels valued and respected and can develop to their full potential.

Discrimination
We do not tolerate any form of discrimination based on sex, race, ethnic background, religion or ideology as well as physical or mental disabilities, and consider our corporate culture to be an important foundation. It is based on the values of respect, loyalty, credibility, sustainability and compliance, and our Code of Business Conduct. For all Siegfried employees, the values and the Code of Business Conduct bindingly and uniformly set out the expectations concerning our interactions with one another.

Communication
We put emphasis on regular, transparent and open communication allowing all employees to develop a good understanding of the strategy and the economic interrelations and the resulting acceptance of corporate goals and department objectives. Information events and workshops are carried out several times a year with the aim of promoting dialog and an exchange of information between employees and Executive Management. 

Social Partnership
Siegfried looks back on a long tradition of solution-oriented cooperation with employees in the spirit of social partnership. Siegfried respects the right of each employee to join an employee representation or a union. We cultivate direct, transparent and constructive dialog with all representatives of employees and unions. 

Adherence to International Labor Standards
At all sites we unconditionally respect the local statutory regulations concerning labor and the international standards of the International Labor Organization (ILO). Siegfried remunerates its employees above the legal minimum wage and does not employ minors.

Employer’s Expectations
Regardless of position, every Siegfried employee is expected to uphold the key values of the Siegfried culture, the Code of Conduct as well as all legal and regulatory regulations. Upon joining Siegfried all Siegfried employees are trained on the company policies and procedures as well as all aspects relevant for their position.

Equality of women and men
As an employer, Siegfried promotes equality of women and men. Analyses that were carried out at all Siegfried sites have not resulted in any statistically relevant discrimination based on gender-specific characteristics.

At our site in St. Vulbas (FR), the professional equality index was surveyed. Click here for the result.

In recent years, Siegfried experienced as a company a dynamic growth phase. The company grew from three sites to now nine sites in six countries on three continents. Each site contributes its own history and each employee his or her own values, attitudes, cultural imprint, working habits, needs and ambitions. 

Siegfried’s corporate values and leadership principles symbolize a foundation on which cooperation and a uniform and strong corporate culture can be shared and developed.

Our Leadership Principles
Our leadership model including the key corporate values illustrates, on the one hand, what we expect from our leaders and, on the other hand, what employees may expect from their leader. 

Driving results 

• Making decisions
  Make clear decisions, identify alternatives, take calculated risks and assume responsibility.
  
• Driving implementation
  Involve relevant stakeholders, use key performance indicators to monitor results, act pragmatically and follow up in a consistent and disciplined fashion. 

Managing change & innovation

• Fostering innovation
  Know your own discipline, think outside the box, break out of routines and change perspectives, challenge the status quo and allow unconventional ideas and ways of thinking.
• Leading change processes
  Promote, communicate and drive change, reduce barriers to change, create acceptance by involving employees in change processes at an early stage and accept that it takes time for processes and behavior to change.

Focusing on customers

• Ensuring quality
  Exchange customer-specific know-how, cultivate quality in your own sphere of responsibility and ensure that problems are dealt with promptly and sustainably.
• Delivering service and value.
  Promise only what can be delivered, listen to customers, constantly seek opportunities to improve customer satisfaction and demonstrate a professional service mindset towards internal and external clients.

Embodying and exemplifying values and business standards

• Acting reliably
  Assume responsibility for mistakes without blaming it on others or on circumstances, be predictable, stand by your decisions and adhere to laws and regulations.
• Being a role model
  Set an example through your own behavior, be visible and accessible, act transparently and walk the talk.

Leading and developing people

• Empowering people
  Delegate responsibility and avoid micro-management, invest in the development of employees, learn from mistakes and develop team spirit and foster cooperation within your own and other teams.  
• Managing performance

  Communicate clear expectations and targets, celebrate good performance, address low performance openly and respectfully, defining clear expectations and consequences and foster a feedback culture.

Leading and developing organization

• Excelling operationally
  Build a learning organization, foster effective communication and knowledge-sharing, think holistically and entrepreneurially, be cost-conscious and share experiences across functions and sites.
• Driving business growth
  Translate corporate strategy into action in your own department, innovate and increase organizational capacity, think global and act local and recognize the value of both short-term profitability and long-term success.

Our performance-based compensation model is intended to attract and motivate highly-qualified, target-oriented employees in competitive market conditions with a view to forging long-term ties with Siegfried.

The model is based on a total compensation package that comprises both fixed and performance-based components.

Base Salary
Every employee receives a base salary appropriate to the demands of the job, the employee’s experience and skills, the performance achieved and local market conditions. When it comes to determining the base salary, employees who meet the expected performance level and qualification parameters in full are positioned in the market average (median) of comparable positions in the chemicals industry.

Short-Term Incentive (STI)
Employees of all levels are entitled to participate in the Short Term Incentive Plan (STIP). The STI is paid in cash (retrospectively at the end of every financial year) and rewards an individual’s performance and contribution to enterprise value.

Long-Term Incentive (LTI)
The Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) is an additional performance-based remuneration element reserved for senior and middle management. The LTIP is aimed at ensuring a sustainable increase in enterprise value, an alignment of interests between plan participants and shareholders, and the retention of management with the company.

Employee Share Purchase Plan (ESPP)
The Employee Share Purchase Plan (ESPP) allows employees who are not eligible to participate in the Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) to purchase Siegfried shares at a discounted price and to participate in the company’s success as shareholders. Shares may be purchased once a year at a discount of 30% versus the defined purchase price. 

Additional Benefits
Siegfried offers in all markets additional benefits which typically include contributions to pension schemes and insurance solutions in-line with market practices, legislation and customs.

Safety, health and environmental protection are top priorities at Siegfried and firmly anchored in its corporate mission.

According to this principle, our employees and teams of specialists are committed every day to continuously improve safety and minimize negative impact on employee and environment. As a chemical-pharmaceutical company and a leading provider of controlled substances, occupational safety is a very important aspect at Siegfried, and the company works closely with professional service partners and industrial specialists to control and monitor the situation on the company’s premises.

For detailed information on SHE refer to here.