Frankfurt / Weinheim, 03 April 2019. Seven companies from the chemical and pharmaceutical industries have been awarded the "Best Employer in Chemistry" prize as part of the new industry initiative by Great Place to Work^® Award. The award recognizes special achievements in creating trusting and inspiring working conditions within the company. The industry awards were presented yesterday evening by the international research and consulting institute Great Place to Work^® together with the industry newspaper "CHEManager".

Previously, the award winners - as well as numerous other chemical companies - had voluntarily subjected themselves to an independent assessment of their quality and attractiveness as an employer and were subjected to assessment by their own employees.

Here they are: "Best Employers in Chemistry 2019".

The Great Place to Work^® Awards "Best Chemicals Employer 2019" were presented in four size categories: In the category of companies with more than 1,000 employees in Germany, three companies were honoured as particularly attractive employers: the German subsidiary of the US biopharmaceutical company AbbVie based in Wiesbaden, the contact lens and contact lens care product manufacturer Alcon / Ciba Vision from Großwallstadt and Roche Diagnostics in Germany with headquarters in Mannheim.

In the category chemical companies with 251 to 1,000 employees, DELO Industrie Klebstoffe based in Windach, Upper Bavaria, is top ranked, closely followed by the Black Forest paint specialist Frei Lacke.

Among the smaller companies, this year's Great Place to Work^® Awards went to the Giessen-based natural medicine manufacturer Pascoe (size class 50 to 250 employees) and the German subsidiary of the international oil producer Vermilion Energy Germany from Hanover (size class 10 to 49 employees).

"The award stands for a culture of cooperation within the company characterised by a high degree of trust, enthusiasm and team spirit and for great commitment in creating attractive working conditions," said Andreas Schubert, Managing Director of Great Place to Work^® Germany, at the award ceremony. "The award winners show how the retention of skilled workers can be promoted and that corporate culture is an important driver of performance and innovation.

Pictures of the award ceremony "Best Chemicals Employer 2019" on the 2^nd of April, 2019 at the Wiley-VCH publishing house in Weinheim an der Bergstrasse can be downloaded here: www.greatplacetowork.de/ausgezeichnet2019

This is what distinguishes the award winners

What all excellent chemical companies have in common is that they are able to create a high degree of trust, enthusiasm and cohesion in operational cooperation. The employees here feel valued, encouraged and supported in an above-average way and integrated into the company. For example, the following are rated significantly more positively than the industry average: the competent behaviour of managers (positive approval: 75% vs. 61%), the promotion of professional development (71% vs. 55%), an open and honest feedback culture in the company (74% vs. 51%), company support for the balance between work and private life (73% vs. 49%), health promotion (84% vs. 61%) and appropriate participation in company success (70% vs. 50%). It is also emphasized much more positively than usual that employees enjoy coming to work (77% vs. 60%), are involved in decisions (65% vs. 49%), that managers show a sincere interest in the person of the employees and not just their workforce (72% vs. 54%) and that everyone in the company pulls together (73% vs. 52%).

If one compares the results with cross-industry comparative values, the distances to "average" companies in Germany are even greater. All in all, 88 percent of the employees of the current award winners, rate their company as a very good workplace.

In ordinary companies, only 65 percent do this in this country. This also has an effect on their willingness to recommend their company to others: 85 percent of the employees of the "Best Chemicals Employers 2019" award winners are prepared to recommend their own company as an employer; in ordinary companies in Germany, this is only 57 percent.

Good workplace culture pays off

The winners of the "Best Chemicals Employer 2019" award have significantly lower fluctuation rates and absenteeism compared with ordinary companies; at the same time, they have significantly higher application rates. Last but not least, they also benefit from above-average sales growth (management approval: 71% vs. 38%) and higher innovative strength (88% vs. 58%) compared to the industry. In short: a trusting and inspiring corporate culture pays off for companies and employees alike.

Basis of assessment and background

As part of the premiere of the "Best Chemicals Employers" initiative, 24 large and small companies in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry voluntarily undertook an independent review of their workplace culture and an in-depth survey of their own employees by the Great Place to Work^® Institute. More than 25,000 employees were surveyed on a representative basis. The employee survey included more than 60 individual questions on important workplace topics such as: Quality of leadership, support for professional development, fairness, appreciation and team spirit in cooperation, opportunities for participation, social integration, work-life balance and health promotion. Company managers also provided information on personnel indicators and the use of supportive measures and instruments in personnel and management work (Culture Audit). Irrespective of their ranking among the best employers, all participating companies benefited from the differentiated assessment of their position, from the opportunities for comparison and from the impulses for further development as an attractive and future-oriented employer.

The goal of the Great Place to Work^® initiative "Best Employers in the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries", launched in 2018 together with the "CHEManager", is to support companies in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries in creating an attractive and future-oriented corporate culture, to recognize special achievements as a role model and to strengthen the entire industry and its companies by means of an independent and internationally disseminated quality seal for high workplace quality. In addition to benchmarking, the initiative also offers specialist lectures, exchange forums and best-practice workshops.

About Great Place to Work^®

Great Place to Work^® is an international research and consulting institute that supports companies in around 60 countries worldwide in developing their corporate and workplace culture.

A culture based on trust and performance not only increases employee motivation and retention, but also strengthens a company's economic performance.

It also makes a significant contribution to successfully managing change processes such as digital transformation or demographic change. Every year, Great Place to Work^® awards very good employers for their performance based on anonymous employee surveys and an analysis of the corporate culture; internationally, nationally, regionally and industry-specifically.

The German Great Place to Work^® Institute, based in Cologne, was founded in 2002 and currently employs around 90 people. Further information: www.greatplacetowork.de