Dialogue with employee representatives

Worker co-determination at the HHLA Group

HHLA actively encourages worker co-determination. In addition to Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG, 13 other HHLA subsidiaries in Germany are managed on the basis of co-determination. These are represented by a total of eight works council committees and the Group works council. In addition, there is employee representation (including that of the senior staff) on the Supervisory Board and representation for disabled people at the company and Group level. Furthermore, HHLA and its subsidiaries, as companies bound by collective bargaining agreements, engage in regular dialogue and in collective bargaining with the trade union ver.di.

As a member company of the ZDS (Zentralverband der deutschen Seehafenbetriebe), the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining is a matter of course for HHLA. Collective bargaining has a long tradition at HHLA and is reflected in various sector and company wage agreements. As of 31 December 2022, 82.9 % (previous year: 84.5 %) of employees in Germany were covered by collective bargaining agreements. In the reporting period, there was intensive collective bargaining for the German seaports. After several rounds of negotiations, an agreement with a duration of 24 months was reached in September 2022.

At an international level, there are collective bargaining partnerships with various local trade unions at the Odessa and Trieste sites. At the company's location in Estonia, a representative was elected by the employees to negotiate all staff-related interests with the company.

Co-determination rights play a central role, particularly with regard to current transformation processes – as a result of changes in market requirements and necessary digitalisation processes. Together with the employee representatives and the trade union ver.di, HHLA aims to shape the future of the Group and create a working world for the employment of tomorrow. Strategic HR management

With the suspension of the collective bargaining agreement on the works constitution from 1970, HHLA has been aiming to create a contemporary social partnership since 2022 in which the structure of co-determination at work is actively promoted with regard to the ability to adapt to changing framework conditions, openness to new technologies, fair and transparent balance of interests and working models to suit different life phases.

The Group works council is generally involved in overarching topics such as the HHLA transformation projects.

Various options are available to employees as a foundation for a participation-based partnership. HHLA offers numerous information formats such as the social intranet, info screens in the canteens, FAQs or regular information events on the visions of the individual companies. 

The aim is to enable employees to understand the reasons for upcoming changes and to actively engage in shaping the transformation. To enable employees to share ideas more effectively among themselves and with the company's management team, a series of workshops, the HHLA future labs, was developed. Employees take part in this dialogue format in small groups and jointly discuss the various issues and topics. The Echo workshops as well as the many project teams and working groups are set up on a participation basis and enable managers and employees to develop specific topics together.