Report on Gender Equality and Equal Pay in Accordance with §§ 21, 22 Entgelttransparenzgesetz (Transparency in Wage Structures Act, EntgTranspG)^1,2

Measures to Promote Equality between Women and Men

For Beiersdorf AG, as a globally operating company, the diversity of our workforce represents an opportunity and the key to our success. Equal pay for women and men performing the same work or work of equal value was already part of our human resources policy before the legal disclosure requirement was created, and forms part of our corporate practice.

Alongside international and cultural diversity, gender – especially equal career opportunities for all genders – has been a particular focus area for us in recent years. Since the signing of our Diversity Charter in 2012, awareness of the gender balance has been improved among all employees, for example through regular events for the whole workforce and particularly our managers. In 2017, the targets for the proportion of women in management roles were updated. By June 30, 2022, the targets required the proportion of women at the first management level below the Executive Board to be at least 35%, and the proportion of women at the second management level to be at least 50%. As of December 31, 2021, the figures for Beiersdorf AG were as follows:

Executive Board: At least 30% women by June 30, 2022 (figure as of the end of December 2021: 14%)

First management level: At least 35% women by June 30, 2022 (figure as of the end of December 2021: 52%).

Second management level: At least 50% women by June 30, 2021 (figure as of the end of December 2021: 52%).

Beiersdorf formulated a global target for the proportion of female leaders in the top three management groups (MG 1–3) back in 2018. This was in addition to the statutory targets applicable to Beiersdorf AG. By June 30, 2022, a target of 35% women was to be achieved in management groups 1–3. As of December 31, 2021, the figure stood at 34%.

Since 2018, Beiersdorf AG has been supporting female employees and managers – for example through the “enCOURAGE” gender diversity initiative – in numerous ways. These have included the “move forward!” mentoring program aimed at talented women wanting to begin or develop a management career. This program was temporarily suspended in 2021 due to the coronavirus situation. “Peer Coaching Circles” have taken place as an extra program of “move forward!” with the aim of learning and growing together. Since 2017, another focus and highlight of the measures has been the annual Women in Leadership Convention, a networking event where successful role models from inside and outside Beiersdorf report on their experiences and inspire participants. Starting in 2020, the Women in Leadership Convention has been streamed digitally, making it accessible to all employees around the world. The event offers a wealth of opportunities for professional development. In 2019, the topic of diversity was integrated into the C.A.R.E.+ strategy and a Diversity Agenda developed for diversity and inclusion. The vision is to create an inclusive working environment in which all employees can realize their full potential. This focuses among other things on gender equality. The grassroots employee community #SisterhoodisPower, for example, which aims to help women empower each other in their careers, is contributing to this through its series of digital #PowerTalk events, in which inspiring women share their stories, thoughts about management, and personal tips. The employee initiative has also been concentrating on the #Grow2gether peer mentoring program it launched in 2021. In addition, a diverse range of options for flexible working arrangements and a better work-life balance are offered.

Alongside standard part-time working, we also encourage job sharing. This is an arrangement in which two employees take on the same position together in a job tandem. At Beiersdorf, the job-sharing model has long been part of our corporate practice – including the joint leadership model at management level and the “senior meets junior” model, where job sharing enables knowledge transfer between generations and/or a transition to partial retirement. At the end of 2021, there were 34 job-sharing tandems at Beiersdorf in Germany. Nineteen tandems enabled the participants to perform a management role, largely on a part-time basis. Long-existing models such as flexible working hours, individual control over working time, and long-term working hour accounts continue to provide the flexibility needed for staff to meet both their own career goals and the demands of their personal lives. Arrangements on flexible working, which enable employees to work from almost any location, also contribute to this. In addition to these options, we offer childcare for our employees in Hamburg through our company kindergarten “TroploKids”. With its 100 places and 0 teachers (as of December 31, 2021), this is one of the largest such kindergartens in Germany and dates back to 1937. Employees in Hamburg receive additional support in combining work and family through the offerings of “PME Familienservice”. There is also an online portal with information for all new parents and, since 2018, regular lunchtime events for Beiersdorf employees on parental leave to help mothers and fathers stay connected to the company and facilitate their return to work. We additionally began working with the VÄTERNETZWERK (fathers’ network) initiative in 2021. We discussed areas for fathers to work on with two core groups of participants and also encouraged dialogue between interested male parents. The three-week summer vacation program for our employees’ children was so well received in previous years that it was announced once again in 2021.

In 2020, to further strengthen diversity and inclusion at Beiersdorf, we created the position of “Global Director Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) immediately below the Executive Board and 2020 formulated a new D&I Strategy Roadmap. This aims to help us create a culture together based on diversity and inclusion, in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to succeed and give their best performance.

The roadmap is based on three strategic priorities:

• driving leadership diversity,
• fostering an inclusive culture, and
• championing consumer representation – and thus fostering the understanding of diversity in relation to products and their marketing.

We achieved initial milestones in each of these areas in 2021:

• The gender parity ambition, which aims for an equal proportion of women and men in leadership positions below the Executive Board by 2025. As of December 31, 2021, the proportion of women in the four highest management groups (MG 1-4) was 47.1%.
• To build people’s understanding of diversity and inclusion, we piloted our first training course in inclusive (and gender-neutral) language in the reporting year and developed expanded communication guides for a sensitive and nuanced use of language to avoid subtle discrimination. In 2022, we presented the global D&I Roadmap 2.0, reflecting the further development of our strategy. Our goal is to be 100% inclusive, 100% gender balanced, and 100% future-ready – embracing diversity far beyond the topic of gender equality.

Measures to Create Equal Pay for Women and Men

Equal pay at Beiersdorf AG is ensured through collective agreements as well as internal processes to evaluate positions not subject to collective pay agreements.

Beiersdorf AG is bound by the collective agreements agreed between BAVC (representing employers) and IGBCE (representing employees). This stipulates a pay structure comprising 13 pay groups. The principle of the Germany-wide collective agreement is that employees should be grouped solely according to the job they do (§ 3 Bundesentgelttarifvertrag). Gender or factors such as job title or qualifications not required for the current job do not influence pay.

Outside collective agreements, equal pay is ensured through, among other things, the employer/works council agreement on the salary system for employees not covered by collective agreements. The process for evaluating functions not covered by collective agreements involves assigning all positions in the company to defined salary bands with the input of the employee representatives. The bands reflect the market practice of the company’s peer group. The assignment of functions/positions to the salary bands depends solely on objective factors such as relevance to the organization as a whole, qualifications required, and complexity of the topics for which the function holder is responsible. The positions are evaluated without reference to the position holder, their gender, or individual performance. The evaluation results are also compared across divisions.

If the annual pay agreements for employees not covered by collective agreements overlap with parental leave or other periods of service for which no compensation is paid, the relevant employer/works council agreement ensures that the employees participate after their return in the budgets for pay agreements that have already expired.

Disclosures in accordance with § 21 (2) no. 1 and no. 2 EntgTranspG

The average numbers of employees at Beiersdorf AG for the year 2021 are as follows³:

¹ This section of the Combined Management Report is not subject to audit requirements.

² The reporting period covers the years 2017-2021.

³ In accordance with the definition of the German Pay Transparency Act (Entgelttransparenzgesetz): Number of employees (persons) as an annual average. Presentation differs from the other employee units used in the Annual Report.