HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

At the end of 2008, the number of ANDRITZ GROUP employees amounted to 13,707, an increase of 14.1% over December 31, 2007 (12,016  employees). This growth was mainly driven by sales force increases in emerging markets, by recruitment of highly skilled workers and engineers in Europe, and by acquisitions of companies: Waplans, Sweden; Maerz, Germany; Kufferath, Germany; General Electric’s hydropower activities, Canada; and the majority interest in the joint venture GE Hydro Inepar, Brazil.

In 2008, the ANDRITZ GROUP was again able to successfully fill all vacant key positions; for some of these vacancies, managers with global experience were recruited externally. Internal development of management resources continued to be a focus of global ANDRITZ Human Resources activities in 2008. Special attention was given to high potentials and growth markets.

Due to the general economic weakness and its effects on the ANDRITZ GROUP, programs to reduce personnel capacities and costs were initiated in some areas of the company.

Major developments in 2008

Given the growth of the company over the past few years and the global presence of the ANDRITZ GROUP, Human Resources Management (HRM) was established as a Group function in 2008 to focus on and strengthen multi-site personnel management tasks. Planning succession to global top positions – for instance, management of business areas, divisions, or affiliates – and the targeted promotion of high potentials can, thus, be coordinated on a Group-wide basis and organized more effectively.

The global development programs for managers are planned to be made available to a larger group of key persons. This will ensure optimum preparation of internal candidates for succession to key posts, while also developing sufficient management resources for new business opportunities.

Target agreement and bonus systems will be further harmonized and a uniform evaluation plan introduced to render performances more transparent, thus supporting additional increases. Appraisal interviews will be further systematized to reveal employee potentials, enabling the HRM departments to better adapt training programs to requirements and targets.

A newly installed committee of Human Resources managers of major ANDRITZ companies will lead the implementation of the global HRM function ensuring Group-wide establishment of standards and best practices.

The practice of holding the Group-wide management trainings under the ANDRITZ GROUP Management Challenge program, which is carried out together with the St. Gallen Management Center of Switzerland, was successfully continued during the reporting year. To support the development of managers in growth markets, the program was successfully carried out with local management staff in Brazil for the first time. In Finland, the ANDRITZ Young Talents Development Program to promote future managers was held for the third time. The program aims to reveal the potential of junior staff for top management posts.

The number of employees delegated to affiliates to fulfill management tasks on a temporary basis considerably increased during 2008. The conditions for these deployments abroad have been systematized in cooperation with the local managements.

Employees by region 2008 (2007) in %