Education and personnel development

HHLA invested a total of € 5.1 million in educating and training staff at its locations in Hamburg in 2022 (previous year: € 5.0 million). As an integral part of HHLA’s HR strategy, the personnel development strategy plays a significant role in the action areas “Develop Further” and “Work Together”. This centres on four key action areas:

• Making employees fit for the future
• Identifying and further developing talent
• Promoting networking and cooperation
• Making a contribution to the organisation and corporate culture of the future

A key objective of HHLA’s personnel development is to ensure that employees have the skills they need in the short, medium and long term. To achieve this, it is necessary to create the right employee base through training, ensure suitable qualifications through education that is customised to target groups and specific needs, and establish a framework that promotes learning.

In 2022, HHLA’s personnel development further expanded its role as a strategic partner for all parts of the company and in particular intensified its activities in the area of manager development. At the same time, there was a greater focus on future-proof job profiles in the area of vocational training. With the launch of the collaborative project “PortSkill 4.0 – Training hub of German port operators – establishment of a digital testing and training centre (DTTC) for the companies and employees of the German port sector”, the foundations were laid for training programmes for future skill sets and job profiles in the technical commercial sector. In qualification management in particular, the implementation of a SAP-based learning management system for the HHLA Group was prepared in 2022. This will ensure that training programmes can be offered and evaluated on a Group-wide and target group-specific basis in the future. Together with the co-determination partners, the necessary framework conditions for its use and for ensuring high data protection standards are being developed. The integration of digital, multilingual and collaborative offers enables the creation of an HHLA-wide learning platform which makes it possible to manage offers flexibly and in line with what is needed, and which establishes a low-threshold range of qualifications – including with the involvement of international companies – as the “new normal”. The roll-out is planned for 2023.

Training and studying at HHLA

As of 31 December 2022, there were 54 apprentices in 11 different professions and 26 students in nine dual study programmes at facilities in Germany. 28.8 % of all 80 trainees and students were women. Among the students, the proportion of women was 46.2 % in 2022 (previous year: 39.3 %). In particular, the offer of apprenticeships and degree programmes in the technical and IT areas was increased and new apprenticeship programmes were established, such as the apprenticeship "Management Assistant for Digitalisation Management" and the dual study programme "Marketing and Digital Media".

Of the 20 apprentices who successfully completed their training during the year, 19 were taken on as employees. A total of 21 new apprenticeship contracts were signed at the Hamburg location in the 2022 training year, of which 42.9 % were female apprentices. In the commercial sector, the ratio of female apprentices for the start of training in 2022 was 66.7 %, in the industrial sector 16.7 % and in dual training 83.3 %.

In addition to the acquisition of professional qualifications, HHLA attaches great importance to the acquisition of social and interdisciplinary skills during training and enables its trainees and dual students to get involved in various projects.

Learning and further education at HHLA

The increasing intensity of change and continuing need for complexity management place demands on managers and employees alike. Specialist and leadership skills must be continuously expanded and adjusted as a result.

With regard to training programmes, more than 745 events lasting one or more days were held in the reporting period. These included more than 550 in-house vocational courses conducted by HHLA’s own trainers over 3,238 training days. In addition, 195 events lasting one or more days with over 1,600 participant days were organised as part of the company’s cross-segment seminar programme. Of the participants, 27.4 % were women.

In 2022, HHLA massively expanded its range of manager development programmes, thereby reaching more than 50 % of its managers with training programmes. At the same time, the content of its offers focuses on skill set clusters that are crucial to the success of overcoming current and future challenges as well as on basic skills. In addition to tried and trusted training programmes such as language courses, IT training and sector-specific knowledge, the portfolio of offers primarily comprises the issues of “Change, projects & strategy development”, “Learning and problem-solving expertise”, “Communication and cooperation”, “Digital expertise” and “Leadership”.

In general, HHLA’s heterogeneous employee groups require training programmes that are tailored to the specific needs of target groups. While training programmes for operational staff are designed and implemented via the HHLA Technical College for technical commercial further training including GHB (Gesamthafenbetriebs-Gesellschaft, personnel service provider for the Port of Hamburg) on a tried and trusted basis, strategic personnel development is dedicated primarily to development programmes for talented individuals and managers as well as the establishment of professional further training processes and structures. In addition, HHLA’s personnel development assists with all major transformation programmes and is responsible for the resulting personnel development programmes. In doing so, the company ensures that internal skills acquisition is in line with the common strategic objective.

In order to meet the needs of HHLA's growing internationalisation, an international leadership programme for young managers at HHLA’s international locations was developed in 2022. The participants were drawn from HHLA companies in Italy, Estonia, Georgia and Ukraine. Due to the very positive results, a similar programme will continue in 2023. To further promote international networking, HHLA has more than doubled its language courses at its German locations in the last three years.