Social

Our belief that ‘A company is only as good as its employees’ drives us to create an engaging work environment, which is vital to our success. Towards this, we introduced a spectrum of initiatives to motivate as well as engage our employees. Our strategy is built on developing effective human resource practices that are also closely inter-woven with our corporate goals.

2,922

Employees

277

New hires during the year

97%

Retention rate

Employee value proposition

Care and wellness

The physical and mental well-being of our employees has always been a priority for us. We introduced Wellness@ Schaeffler, which is an employee assistance programme (EAP) that seeks to promote mental well-being. Our other initiatives and programmes include workshops on ergonomics, education, family welfare and insurance policies along with women’s health, medical check-up camps and COVID-19 vaccination drives.

Digitalisation as a step towards agility

Digitalisation is not just a strategic imperative for us, but also the need of the hour. Our people processes underwent an upgrade in 2021. We adopted SAP Success Factors for performance management and talent development. Similarly, for travel and expense management, we introduced SAP Concur for a seamless, single-window process. While our learning management system offers virtual courses in an effort to inspire continuous development, we transitioned all our major learning platforms to a virtual mode to ensure learning journeys and people development initiatives are not impacted due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Upskilling and growth

To stay relevant in a dynamic environment, we must constantly upskill ourselves. We offer multiple learning opportunities to our employees, which help them grow professionally and allow us to maintain our co‑competitive advantage. We have taken functional excellence, cross -learning and technology training as priorities in this endeavour.

Approachable and inclusive leadership

There are several communication channels to ensure that we create an approachable environment. Leadership Soundboards is one such interactive platform where employees can discuss ideas, provide inputs, or exchange perspectives on upcoming business opportunities, challenges and trends. Our leadership dialogues, town halls and CEO meets for all new employees are some of the most effective contact points. These initiatives allow us to bridge any gaps, facilitate an open and inclusive culture, and instil a sense of trust and belonging in our employees.

Health and safety

We believe that as a responsible organisation, we owe it to each other to always choose the safest way. It is a business imperative, and we are determined to embed a safety-first culture across all our operations. We routinely assess our safety performance by benchmarking our practices with the best standards to build a best-in-class workplace for our employees and contract workers.

Diversity and inclusion

We believe that diversity and inclusion at the workplace makes all employees feel accepted and valued. They are also happier and choose to stay longer with a company. It is integral to our hiring schemes, culture building, campus schemes, social responsibility, family engagement, multiplier network, employee health and well-being. We remain committed to being and improving as an organisation that stands for gender diversity and equal opportunities.

2.9%

Female employees

8

Specially abled employees

39 years

Average age of employees

We have recently collaborated with CultureWizard, an interactive cross-culture and cross-functional learning platform. This tool helps us improve workplace inclusion by building mutual respect and increasing cultural sensitivity and intelligence.

Employee distribution

Case study

Improving gender diversity

Gender diversity improves workplace productivity and is crucial to foster creativity, innovation, and flexibility. However, being part of a traditional manufacturing facility can prove to be challenging for women. Our teams undertook several initiatives to increase the number of female hires and create a safe working environment for them. These initiatives include:

• Hiring of trained female security guards for all three shifts to ensure the comfort and safety of our women on shop floor along with 24/7 availability of lady supervisors across all shifts
• Organising a walkthrough for family members at the facility to create assurance and trust
• Providing transportation and safe accommodation
• Provision of additional changing rooms and washrooms
• Held refresher trainings from POSH Committees for all employees

551*

Women onboarded across plants in India

* Including trainees and temporary employees on the shop floor

Training and development

We focus on upskilling and reskilling to help our employees stay on top of industry dynamics. We are building technical and behavioural competence in all fields, including advanced manufacturing technologies or soft skill development. We offer learning opportunities through a consolidated platform called 'The Schaeffler Academy'. A synergy between learning platforms will help us ensure a healthy exchange of expertise and build a community of learners. We seamlessly transitioned to virtual modes and ensured that the pandemic does not hamper our training efforts.

14.5 hours

Of training

100%

Employees trained in ethical practices

Leadership development

The transition from an employee to a leader can be a tough task to accomplish. Schaeffler believes in continuous improvement and building a future-ready talent pool. The Talent Management team across India put in a synchronised effort towards enhancing skill levels and the performance. Our integrated talent management cycle propels careers.

Leadership Next (L. Next)
Leadership Next is a unique platform, which amalgamates learning and business excellence. This is a platform for exchange of ideas and strategy think tank for our CXOs, BU Heads and functional heads of Schaeffler India.

Accelerated Leadership Programme (A.L.P – a sustainable mechanism to build a robust talent pipeline )
The Accelerated Leadership Programme is a high-impact learning platform for functional heads and successors to critical roles. This programme caters to high-potential employees who are preparing for leadership and strategic positions across functions.

Young Leader’s Programme (Y.L.P - nurturing emerging leaders to excel in the VUCA world)
The Young Leader’s Programme is a highly engaging and vibrant learning platform that aims to address the development aspirations of our fast-track employees who are willing to learn, invest in self-development and take on multiple roles.

“The second wave of the pandemic was extremely challenging for us, as we were on a war footing—balancing our people safety and commitment to customers. We took multiple initiatives, including stringent and enhanced safety measures at our plants. Moreover, remote working options were introduced where feasible even after regulatory norms were relaxed. With the constant effort of multiple teams, all our employees, both permanent and contract, have been fully vaccinated. Fostered by familyowned values, Schaeffler India ensured that we took care of employees across organizational levels during these trying times without impacting roles and compensations.

I strongly believe that our culture of open communication aided by our ethos of transparency, teamwork and trust helped us navigate the myriad challenges. Our employees’ grit and determination in the face of adversity is reflected in our strong performance.

In terms of overall health and safety metrics, we reduced our LTIR across plants by 60%, with Savli and Hosur plants reporting zero incidents. We deeply regret the unfortunate demise of our colleagues who lost the battle to the pandemic. We remember them in our thoughts and stand strong by their families. We continue to emphasise on our stringent safety measures for all our 2,900+ diverse employee base and take corrective actions as appropriate.

In today’s dynamic environment to lead and stay ahead, convergence of ideas across hierarchies, cultures and gender is key. At Schaeffler, we strive to cut across these biases to provide a conducive and open working environment for our employees.”

Mr. Santanu Ghoshal
Vice President - Human Resources