The men and women on our staff in 2022

(incl. representative offices; as of: December 2022)

How and where people can and want to work today is an important component of New Work. After working more or fully remotely during the pandemic, we were able to experience cooperation in person again in 2022. At the same time, mobile and hybrid working has become an indispensable part of everyday working life. In addition to the major development steps that KfW has taken since 2020, the opportunities offered by digital and hybrid cooperation were expanded and further developed in 2022.

• In 2022, there were no losses in productivity at KfW due to the pandemic either. In 2022, the infrastructure for digital and hybrid cooperation was further improved.
• Virtual and hybrid training opportunities on topics such as remote leadership and self-organisation, design of hybrid meetings, psychological counselling services on dealing with the dissolution of boundaries between professional and private life, or also (virtual) sport services to strengthen neck and back muscles were offered further and the portfolio was expanded.
• In 2022, individual rules for successful mobile and digital cooperation were once again agreed at team level. For example, there are transparent and team-specific guidelines on how digital and hybrid cooperation should be structured.
• Technological improvements were made in 2022, such as upgrading and modernising meeting room equipment so that it can be used in ways that better fit the needs of hybrid and digital collaboration.
• Furthermore, at the end of 2022, the options for working remotely were made even more flexible with an amendment to the staff agreement in place since 2020.

As part of the “New Learning” project, KfW’s learning strategy has been and will be continuously adapted to the new framework conditions and requirements. The learning and training offering is more digital, needs-based, modular, self-directed and flexible in terms of time and location.

• In the further development of the learning strategy and new learning opportunities, the focus is on cross-departmental exchange and the promotion and demand for learning more from and with each other. In addition to the expansion of the content and virtualisation of the range of training on offer, other learning formats were also expanded in the past year. For example, self-learning materials, videos and virtual training courses. Topic-specific learning paths help to get an overview and follow the recommended order of offerings. Well-established feedback and exchange formats for employees and internal trainers identify needs and encourage dialogue.
• In spring 2022, the KfW video portal was rolled out for all KfW and IPEX employees. As a new central location for company-wide, digital knowledge transfer, it enables all employees to create and edit their own video content easily and intuitively and to make it available to all colleagues. At the same time, the knowledge content of others can be accessed at any time and as often as required – regardless of their individual availability. This makes learning within KfW more self-directed and flexible.

KfW is committed to an open and unbiased working environment. As part of the diversity dimension of “physical and mental skills”, internal and external communication activities were significantly strengthened in order to make people with disabilities aware of KfW as a barrier-free employer and to show them the options available at the bank. This contributed to achieving the inclusion rate of over 6%.

The environment in which KfW operates is dynamic and constantly changing. The speed and frequency of these changes is continuously increasing. This also influences the bank’s corporate culture. It forms the basis for successful further development into a digital transformation and promotional bank.

• At the heart of KfW’s corporate culture is the basic motto “Living responsibility”. In addition to this stable and unifying element, there are different strands of change: strengthening cooperation, establishing effective leadership, developing skills, continuously improving the way we deal with opportunities and risks, and promoting diversity. The five strands are backed by numerous projects and initiatives, which are constantly being further developed.
• As a vivid image, KfW’s corporate culture is represented by a rope. It provides guidance and shows where energy and commitment are released. If you look at the cross-section of a rope, it consists of a core and different strands. This is also true of KfW’s culture. Responsibility lies at the heart of the rope, and the five strands of culture are connected around this core and strengthen it.
• Using this rope as a starting point, employees can find a lot of information on the intranet about the five cultural strands and the concrete initiatives and projects that deal with them.
• The dynamic cultural processes support our strategy. We work together to achieve the KfWplus goals.

The expansion of recruiting channels is a first important step towards recruiting new employees. For KfW, this includes not only the employee recommendation programme and the candidate pool for sustainable talent management, but also active contact on the social networks Xing and LinkedIn. The use of these digitalisation potentials contributes to increasing the recruiting speed. In addition, the diagnostic selection procedures for suitability were further developed with the aim of improving the candidate experience.

In order to counteract demographic change, the expansion of the promotion of young talent is of great importance. For this reason, the number of junior staff is to be gradually increased between 2023 and 2032 – in addition to the existing study programmes, further sandwich study programmes at KfW were launched in 2022–2023. Since 2022, in addition to training as an IT specialist in data and process analysis or application development, we have also been offering the Bachelor of Science in system technology with a focus on software development at THM Bad Vilbel. In 2023, the Bachelor of Science in Business Informatics will be added in cooperation with RheinMain Wiesbaden University of Applied Sciences.

Based on the objectives of our KfWplus transformation agenda, the focus is on the further development of the employer brand and the implementation of employer branding.

A series of measures will support talented individuals at KfW, KfW IPEX-Bank, DEG and KfW Capital more intensively in the future.

• These include targeted mentoring, various learning and networking opportunities, scholarships for on-the-job studies for young employees and an overall stronger focus on job changes across departmental boundaries.
• In addition to the individual promotion of talent, two talent pools have been set up, which on the one hand promote “young organisers” with no more than five years of professional experience and on the other hand “experienced future drivers” with management experience. There is also a separate talent pool in the IT department.
• This clearly emphasises the development of young leaders. At the same time, the responsibility and commitment of outstanding experienced managers is strengthened. Particular attention is also paid to the development of women for management positions.

• The function and task of management is considered as part of the establishment of a virtual network organisation oriented towards the value stream (called “building blocks”). It clarifies which agile roles are required to achieve the best possible impact in this changed context. It also derives measures that prepare those holding the new roles for the new challenges.
• The Lead Transformation leadership development programme focuses on effective leadership.
• In conclusion, KfW sees the role of the manager as the key to being able to respond to the challenges of the rapidly changing environment.

All of the above aspects also contribute to employee loyalty and are complemented by market-oriented remuneration, numerous measures to reconcile family and career, and are embedded in the highly valued KfW culture and our “KfWplus” strategy process.