Development of Headcount

HHLA aligns headcount planning with the economic development of its companies. It aims to provide the majority of its services using in-house staff. Employees of Gesamthafenbetriebs-Gesellschaft (GHB) are used by the container handling firms in Hamburg to cover peaks in operating manpower requirements. The recruitment processes used by the individual companies of HHLA AG are monitored by the HHLA manpower planning team. Proposals to create additional jobs are examined for their consideration of economic planning and operational necessity, as well as other options for filling positions internally or taking alternative action. This ensures that recruitment does not exceed the HR planning for individual companies approved by the Executive Board and can be synchronised with headcount trends at the affiliated companies with the possibility of synergy effects.

HHLA had a total of 5,581 employees at the end of 2017. Compared with the previous year’s total, the number of employees increased by 53, or 1.0 %. In addition, HHLA used an annual average of 710 employees of Gesamthafenbetriebs-Gesellschaft (previous year: 558).

Employees by Segment

In the Container segment, the number of employees fell to 2,909 as of 31 December 2017. Total headcount was down by 36 year-on-year in the reporting period (previous year: 2,945). By contrast, total headcount in the Intermodal segment rose strongly again by 185 or 11.0 % to 1,872 employees (previous year: 1,687). This was due to the expansion of services and an increase in vertical integration. Headcount at the other segments decreased. The number of staff employed at the strategic management holding company declined by 2.3 % to 636 (previous year: 651). In the Real Estate segment, headcount remained virtually unchanged at 30 as of 31 December 2017 (previous year: 31). Employee numbers in the Logistics segment decreased to 134 in the reporting period (previous year: 214). This was mainly due to the discontinuation of operating activities in project and contract logistics.

Employees by Region

In geographical terms, the workforce was concentrated mainly in Germany, with 3,479 staff members (previous year: 3,625), the majority of whom worked in Hamburg. This corresponds to a share of 62.3 % (previous year: 65.6 %). The number of staff employed abroad rose by 10.5 % to 2,102 (previous year: 1,903). This was primarily due to increased staffing levels at the Intermodal companies in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia, where headcount grew by 14.3 % to 1,465 (previous year: 1,282). In Ukraine, the number of employees rose by 4.1 % to 458 (previous year: 440). The remaining 179 employees (previous year: 181) are spread across subsidiaries in Austria, Poland, Georgia and Turkey.

Development of Employees

HHLA Group as of 31.12.

Employees by Region

as of 31.12.2017

1 Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia

Recruitment

Women accounted for 31.4 % of the 86 new employees who had not previously worked for HHLA in Germany, for example via Gesamthafenbetriebs-Gesellschaft mbH Hamburg (GHB). More than 34 % of new hires were aged between 30 and 50.

Since 2013, HHLA has been employing a self-developed selection process (assessment centre) that not only considers the applicant’s personal and professional suitability, but also diversity aspects. These processes have been used for all blue-collar roles since the end of 2013 and at the holding company and all container terminals in Hamburg since 2014. Members of the company’s staff selection panels receive special training. In addition, the selection panel must include at least one woman for all selection processes in which the pool of applicants includes women.

At 4.7 %, the fluctuation rate (excluding internal transfers within the Group) in Germany was virtually unchanged year-on-year (previous year: 4.8 %). Of the 164 people who left the company, 40.2 % were retirees (previous year: 41.7 %).