Our employees

Embracing diversity

At Bekaert, we believe in working together to achieve better performance. As a truly global company, we embrace diversity across all levels in the organization, which is a major source of strength for our company. This applies to diversity in terms of nationality, cultural background, age or gender, but also in terms of capabilities, business experience, insights and views.

Nationality diversity

Bekaert employs people of 50 different nationalities in 44 countries around the world. This diversity is mirrored in all levels of the organization, as well as in the composition of the Board of Directors.

 

NATIONALITY DIVERSITY As Per 31 December 2019
	# People	#Nationalities	#Non-Native(1)	% Non-Native
BOARD OF DIRECTORS	13	6	5	38%
Bekaert Group Executive (BGE)	9	8	7	78%
Senior Vice Presidents	13	3	2	15%
Next leadership level (2)	93	17	41	44%
TOTAL LEADERSHIP TEAM	115	28	50	43%

⁽¹⁾ Non-native = nationality other than the one of the mother company’s social seat (i.e. Belgium)

⁽²) Next leadership level = B13 and above managers excluding BGE and Senior Vice Presidents (Hay classification reference)

Gender diversity

(GRI 405-1)

GENDER DIVERSITY as per 31 December 2019
	# People	Male	Female
Operators	21 285	94%	6%
White collars	5 489	69%	31%
Management	1 637	81%	19%
TOTAL BEKAERT EMPLOYEES	28 411	89%	11%

The manufacturing character of Bekaert’s operations explains the predominantly male population, particularly among operators.

Bekaert adopts a recruitment and promotion policy that aims to gradually generate more diversity, including gender diversity. Information about gender diversity in the Board of Directors can be found in the Annual Report 2019 (chapter Report of the Board: Corporate Governance).

Gender diversity in the Board of Directors and in the Top Leadership Team of Bekaert:

GENDER DIVERSITY as per 31 December 2019
	# People	Male	Female
BOARD OF DIRECTORS	13	62%	38%
Bekaert Group Executive (BGE)	9	89%	11%
Senior & next leadership level(1)	106	78%	22%
TOTAL LEADERSHIP TEAM	115	80%	20%

⁽¹⁾ Senior Vice Presidents and B13 and above managers (Hay classification reference) excluding BGE

By 2025, Bekaert aims to reach a gender diversity ratio of 33% at leadership level.

(GRI 405-1)

Age diversity in Bekaert’s highest governance bodies:

AGE DIVERSITY as per 31 December 2019
	# People	30-50 years old	Over 50 years old
BOARD OF DIRECTORS	13	31%	69%
Bekaert Group Executive (BGE)	9	44%	56%

(GRI 405-1)

Employment data:

	Segment
	EMEA	North America	Latin America	Asia Pacific	TOTAL
Blue collars	6 176	1 296	4 785	9 028	21 285
Male	5 402	1 235	4 667	8 724	20 028
Female	774	61	118	304	1 257
White collars	1 625	309	1 614	1 941	5 489
Male	1 077	197	1 036	1 501	3 811
Female	548	112	578	440	1 678
Management	654	139	259	585	1 637
Male	534	115	220	454	1 323
Female	120	24	39	131	314
Total male	7 013	1 547	5 923	10 679	25 162
Total female	1 442	197	735	875	3 249
GRAND TOTAL	8 455	1 744	6 658	11 554	28 411

Most people employed by Bekaert have a permanent contract. Employees with a temporary contract are usually on the payroll of external organizations and agencies (Special Economic Zones, employment agencies) and are hence not included in the Bekaert payroll numbers.  

96% of the Bekaert employees work full-time.

(GRI 102-8)

Respecting human rights

Bekaert is firmly committed to complying with national legislations and collective labor agreements. Bekaert adheres to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the treaties and recommendations of the International Labor Organization. 

We are committed to respecting the rights and dignity of each employee. We promote equal opportunity and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of age, race, nationality, social or ethnic descent, gender, physical disability, sexual preference, religion, political preference, or union membership. We recognize and appreciate the cultural identity of our teams in all the countries in which we operate and do business.

The recruitment, remuneration, application of employment conditions, training, promotion and career development of our employees are based on professional qualifications only.

(GRI 102-12)

Code of Conduct

Our hiring policy states that every new employee receives a copy of our Code of Conduct, which explains our conduct principles well as the behaviors we expect from all our employees.

Our Code of Conduct covers, among others, key areas regarding human rights, child labor and forced labor and anti-corruption policy & principles. It also contains the procedures to raise an integrity concern. In 2019, we launched an internal campaign worldwide to inform our employees about the Code of Conduct. 

Particular training programs on the Code of Conduct and on anti-corruption and anti-bribery policies are also provided to functional groups (eg. the purchasing function). In addition, the Group Internal Audit department regularly audits adherence to the respective policies and procedures, and recommends corrective actions where necessary. All policies are available to personnel on the Bekaert Intranet. 

In 2019, we repeated and further extended the annual process of commitment renewal to the Bekaert Code of Conduct. All managers worldwide and all white collar workers with access to the Bekaert online global learning platform are required to annually read the Bekaert Code of Conduct, to pass a test on business ethics cases, and to renew their commitment to the principles of the Code. White collars who do not (yet) have access to this online tool were required to express their commitment by signing a compliance form.

100% of the managers and 100% of the white collars renewed their commitment to the Code of Conduct in 2019.

It is our goal to maintain full annual commitment results from managers and white collars and to train all operators on the principles of the Code of Conduct worldwide by the end of 2020.

(GRI 102-16 + GRI 205-2 + GRI 408-1 + GRI 409-1)