Progressive and responsible

A progressive and responsible human resources policy

In challenging times, it is clearer than ever that employees are the backbone of our business. The hard work and exceptional commitment of staff across all of the bank’s business operations enabled KfW IPEX-Bank to successfully navigate 2021, maintaining its position as one of the market's leading project and export financiers. The full confidence of management in all employees and the high regard in which management holds them, as well as a progressive and responsible human resources policy, are deeply ingrained in the corporate culture of KfW IPEX-Bank.

KfW IPEX-Bank employed an average of 876 members of staff in 2021 (previous year: 837). The proportion of employees working part-time again increased slightly, from 27.4% in the previous year to 27.6% at year-end. Female staff made up 48.4% of the workforce (previous year: 48.2%). The proportion of women in management stands at 30.2% (previous year: 30.9%). The proportion of disabled employees was 2.8% at year-end (in accordance with the law on disabled persons, previous year: 2.6%), and this figure is set to rise continuously. The average age of the bank's employees was 42.6 years. The staff turnover rate adjusted for retirement was 4.8% in 2021 (previous year: 4.1%). This takes account of transfers within the Group.

Protective measures against SARS CoV-2

Ensuring a safe office environment and protecting the women and men on our staff is a top priority for KfW IPEX-Bank. The bank once again stepped up to its responsibilities during the second year of the coronavirus pandemic. During the reporting year, the bank continued to maintain a strict hygiene policy and proactively met its legal obligation to enable staff to work from home.

At the same time, the organisation has already started with post-pandemic preparations. Further to the significant progress made in 2020, KfW IPEX-Bank expanded and further developed opportunities for digital and hybrid collaboration during 2021. Going forward, mobile and hybrid working will play an important role in the daily working lives of KfW IPEX-Bank employees. A company agreement therefore allows staff to choose mobile working both now and in the future, enabling them to work away from the bank’s premises.

Committing to a culture of diversity

Equal treatment of all people is a key component of KfW Group's human resources policy and is firmly embedded in KfW IPEX-Bank's guidelines. In accordance with the German law on equal participation of women and men in management positions in the private and public sectors (Gesetz für die gleichberechtigte Teilhabe von Frauen und Männern an Führungspositionen in der Privatwirtschaft und im öffentlichen Dienst – FührposGleichberG), KfW IPEX-Bank continues to pursue its objective of increasing the proportion of women in management positions (see also information in the Management Report) and takes appropriate measures to promote women as future managers.

The bank is also an active member of the Diversity Charter, an employer initiative to promote diversity within a company that aims to foster a progressive, unbiased and open working environment. The member companies of this diversity network advocate an organisational culture characterised by mutual respect and esteem. Together with KfW, in 2021 KfW IPEX-Bank took part in the Diversity Charter’s nationwide Diversity Challenge competition in Germany. KfW IPEX-Bank also participated – again alongside its parent company – in the “Employers for Equality” programme launched in 2020 by PANDA GmbH. Participating in this programme should help, among other things, to promote and actively entrench all seven of the Diversity Charter’s ‘Diversity Dimensions’ at KfW IPEX-Bank.

KfW IPEX-Bank is also a member of the nationwide Fathers Network, which is committed to supporting men to fulfil their family responsibilities at different stages of their life and in harmony with their career goals.

Company pension scheme

A reliable, employer-funded pension scheme remains an important component of the remuneration package within KfW Group. In addition to a basic employer contribution from KfW IPEX-Bank, employees are given the option to increase their future company pension benefits through voluntary deferred compensation. KfW IPEX-Bank then tops up this personal employee contribution with a supplementary employer contribution.

This transparent pension system ensures a sufficient degree of planning certainty and, together with the state pension, offers employees an appropriate level of pension benefits once these become due.

Health management

As part of its responsible human resources policy, KfW IPEX-Bank is systematically developing its company health management programme. By helping its employees to stay in good health, the bank hopes to maintain and enhance their motivation, satisfaction and performance at work. The main focus of its programme in 2021 was management of the coronavirus pandemic. KfW IPEX-Bank’s offer of coronavirus vaccinations through the bank’s in-house medical service was very widely taken up by staff. The bank’s sports groups and health workshops were continued as far as possible, either online or outdoors. Webinars on coping with particular family-related challenges helped employees to deal with tense situations when working from home and supported parents in communicating with their children. Talks were also offered online on coping with stress caused by the pandemic and mobile working and on fostering greater resilience. Furthermore, a new process for assessing mental health was established in 2021.

Staff surveys conducted every two years offer insights into the level of health and wellbeing of employees and into the corporate culture. In 2021, a strong participation rate of 67% meant we could draw meaningful conclusions about areas where KfW IPEX-Bank needs to take action and what lessons can be learned. These findings were supplemented by the results of the survey on mental health. Here, for example, as well as addressing stress aspects, as required by law, the survey followed a salutogenic approach by also including questions about resources and the impact of stress in order to gain an overall view of the situation. The aim was to provide a sound basis for identifying preventive measures that promote health and wellbeing, taking into account the modern workplace.

Modern staff development

KfW IPEX-Bank's progressive staff development is focused on identifying and promoting talent, developing modern management tools and the early and ongoing updating of professional skills. In pursuit of the goal of maintaining and strengthening the performance of staff and management, the bank focused on the following topics in 2021:

Promoting young talent – trainee programmes

A central starting point of our human resources strategy is the training of graduates, who can take part in a 12-month trainee programme at KfW IPEX-Bank. Talented young graduates with an international outlook can select from five different trainee programmes and focus, according to their individual aptitudes and backgrounds, on the areas of structured finance markets, risk, collateral management, credit management or controlling units. In all five trainee programmes, the content of the different training modules has been specifically structured to prepare trainees for the roles they will go on to assume. The trainee programmes include a comprehensive onboarding process to provide new joiners with an insight into the bank’s positioning and the overall lending process, on-the-job training in various positions, professional and personal off-the-job training modules, individual mentoring provided by top-tier management and further communication formats. The intention is to fully integrate young professionals into the bank, to provide them with the best possible preparation for their future field of work, and to enable them to identify strongly with KfW IPEX-Bank as an employer.

Joint leadership as an established model

For many years now, KfW IPEX-Bank has offered managers the possibility of heading up a team under “joint leadership”. Under this arrangement, two people share the leadership of an organisational unit, with both performing their duties on a part-time basis. This model has proved successful in practice for both male and female managers and is living proof that career and family or other outside commitments are not mutually exclusive.

Corporate learning: KfW IPEX-Bank Academy

Continuous professional development of employees is one of the key pillars of modern staff development. The in-house training catalogue of KfW IPEX-Bank Academy – the bank’s in-house learning platform – therefore includes over 60 different training courses, some of which are taught in English. In line with the ongoing coronavirus restrictions on gatherings during the reporting year, KfW IPEX-Bank Academy continued to conduct all of its events virtually. This enabled employees, despite the protective measures, to participate in a broad spectrum of topics, ranging from training on credit processes and sales, to personal development and assuming management responsibility, through to virtual working in the pandemic. There are also separate units for managers. The entire offering of KfW IPEX-Bank Academy is aimed at maintaining on-the-job professionalism of employees at its already high level or increasing it still further, all the while ensuring a safe working environment.

Annual development meetings are held between managers and employees, who work together to identify areas for development and set these out in a training roadmap.

Scholarship programme

In the winter semester of 2020/2021, KfW IPEX-Bank launched its ‘WorkAndStudy’ scholarship programme, which funds the studies of selected employees alongside their work at the bank. The scholarship programme thus supplements the in-house continuing education catalogue with a range of courses offered by national and international universities.

More than rotation: FEET

KfW IPEX-Bank’s flexible deployment and development team (Flexibles Einsatz- und Entwicklungsteam – FEET) concept comprises an innovative rotation programme aimed at temporarily filling internal vacancies spread across the entire lending process. Participation in the programme therefore gives employees insights into different departments of the bank, strengthens their in-house network and broadens their professional and personal horizons.

Employer branding and personnel marketing

Career fairs

Since personal contact and communication with potential candidates is an essential part of its recruitment strategy, KfW IPEX-Bank took part in a number of career fairs during 2021, all of which were held virtually.

Fair Company, fair trainee programme and Top Employer

KfW IPEX-Bank participates in the Fair Company initiative along with a further 600 businesses. This is the largest employer initiative in Germany for students and young professionals, and aims to ensure that university graduates and interns are treated fairly and not used as substitutes for full-time positions. In 2021, KfW IPEX-Bank again won recognition for its commitment in this area under the Trendence Institut's charter of fair and career-enhancing trainee programmes (Charta karrierefördernder und fairer Traineeprogramme), while the Top Employers Institute repeated its independent evaluation of KfW IPEX-Bank and awarded it Top Arbeitgeber Deutschland 2021 (top employer in Germany in 2021) certification.

Works council and representation of disabled employees

Successful human resources policy is based on active inclusion that takes account of employees' interests. The works council, with its 11 members, plays a key role in achieving this, and a close, trusting working relationship exists with regard to all relevant topics. In collaboration with the representatives for disabled employees, the aim is to continuously increase the number of employees with disabilities.

At a glance: Personnel key figures (2021)

Legal notice:

The information contained in this online Annual Report 2021 is based on KfW IPEX-Bank’s Management Report 2021, which you can download here.(PDF, 4 MB, non-accessible) Should this online Annual Report 2021, despite the great care taken in preparation of its content, contain any contradictions or errors compared to the Management Report, KfW IPEX-Bank’s Management Report 2021 takes priority.