Employees

The Bayer Group had 108,400 employees worldwide at the end of 2009. We thus managed to maintain our headcount almost unchanged despite the global economic crisis. This is thanks to the sustainable focus of our human resources policy, among whose aims is to retain qualified employees in the company even in economically challenging times. The constructive collaboration between the management and employee representatives is also very important for maintaining jobs and enables us to find creative solutions to safeguard employment in tough business conditions.

For example, we were able to counter the impact of the global economic crisis on staff at Bayer MaterialScience in Germany through the introduction of a solidarity pact that applied to all employees. A reduction in working hours and pay from February until the end of October 2009 helped compensate for the effects of the drop in orders and avoid the use of statutory short-time working arrangements for one employment group. In December 2009, the existing agreement under which Bayer Group companies in Germany refrain from dismissing employees for operational reasons was extended until the end of 2012.

A low staff fluctuation rate is regarded as a reliable indicator of the satisfaction of employees. Bayer’s Group-wide fluctuation rate was 7 percent in 2009, but it varies by region. In 2009, it was 6 percent in North America, Latin America and the Middle East and Africa, 10 percent in Asia/Pacific and 7 percent in Europe. Alongside employee and employer-driven terminations, the fluctuation rate includes retirements and deaths.

Bayer is an attractive employer. This was once again confirmed by a large number of accolades received by the company around the world in a variety of surveys and competitions. For example, we were voted “Employer of the Year” by the Employee Services Management Association (ESM) in the United States. This honored the company’s commitment to its employees and the wide range of programs and offerings that contribute to satisfaction in the workplace. In Canada, Mediacorp singled us out as one of the best employers for the third time in succession. Similarly, in Indonesia Bayer was again voted one of the best-regarded pharmaceutical companies in the country by more than 1,800 stakeholders. In Japan, the innovative workplace design and modern equipment at the new Bayer House in Osaka won the Nikkei New Office Award 2009 presented by the media corporation Nikkei Inc. and the New Office Promotion Association (NOPA).

The Bayer Group’s personnel expenses increased 3.8 percent in 2009 to around €7.8 billion. This was principally due to exchange rate effects and increased contributions to the pension assurance association.

Efficient personnel administration is another important aspect of human resources management. Through the Transforming Human Resources (THR) project, we have been rolling out an innovative HR operating model across the Group since 2006. The aim is to achieve a further improvement in the quality and efficiency of human resources processes and raise the contribution made by the human resources function to creating value for the operating business.

The project was successfully completed in Germany at the beginning of 2009 and the new structures were introduced in Spain, Belgium, Mexico and Brazil in the following months. From its base in Leverkusen alone, the Bayer Group’s HR service center, HR//direct, is now responsible for HR administration for around 38,000 employees in five European countries.

In addition, the country organizations in Pakistan and Poland set up new employee portals and online applications last year to enable their employees to utilize self-service features for personnel administration and call up important information.

In our Human Rights Position  we give a clear undertaking to respect employee rights around the world. The working conditions for about 55 percent of our global workforce are set forth in collective or company agreements. Employees have the opportunity to form representative bodies at all our sites. Where they do not do so, we make a special effort to ensure direct and open communication.

Bayer has a long tradition of collaboration with employee representatives from European countries. Since its establishment in 1991, the Bayer European Forum (BEF) has served as a platform for providing regular information on the development of the Group and for discussing current corporate social policy issues with representatives of the workforce. New bodies to represent employees’ interests are being formed in Bayer’s companies in other parts of the world as well. For example, union representation with eight elected employees was constituted at Bayer China in November 2009. Establishment of a further body to represent employees at another Group company in China is currently under discussion.

Our sustainable human resources policy also takes into account the social welfare of our employees. In 2009, 74 percent of Group employees had access to a company pension plan. Since the start of 2010, a further 2,800 employees at our country organizations in Finland, Russia and Turkey have been offered company pension plans following a regular review of pension systems. In July 2009, we introduced a company pension plan for employees of Bayer companies in Bulgaria. Our employees throughout the world either have statutory health insurance or access to health insurance through the company. In countries where there is no statutory health care system or the public system only provides rudimentary cover, we arrange additional offers and initiatives to supplement state provision.

The social data for 2009 were compiled for the first time using an electronic database. Slight differences in the results compared with previous years result from the increased accuracy of the data and a rise in the number of employees in countries where different standards of social security for employees are customary.

When processing personal data, protecting our employees and business partners has priority over third-party information requirements. A Group-wide directive on handling personal data supplements statutory provisions. Such data may only be collected for clearly defined and legally acceptable purposes and processing of such data must comply with the relevant data privacy regulations. Compliance with the directive is monitored by the data security officers at subsidiaries and by the Corporate Data Protection Officer.

Bayer provides employees with regular internal information on current developments within the Group and beyond together with background information. Full and timely information for employees is provided on significant operational changes in compliance with the relevant national and international obligations. Far-reaching changes are communicated to employees through a wide range of media that are closely coordinated. Special information meetings held by the local management are a key focus.

Employees can find up-to-date information on the latest developments in the company in the intranet. Alongside the Bayer News Channel (BNC), which is available Group-wide, the countries, subgroups and service companies have their own intranet sites in their local language. The information provided for our employees is supplemented by a wide range of regular printed publications.

Regular employee surveys are very important for Bayer. Their results offer a crucial insight into the attitudes of employees from all segments of the workforce and provide subjective assessments of the company’s situation. Employee surveys also give us a valuable insight into how our corporate strategy, our values and our leadership principles are taken on board and put into practice in our day-to-day activities. Within the Group, the “Pulse Check” developed by Bayer Business Services is used to survey a random sample of employees at all levels. The unfiltered results are published internally. To improve the use of employee surveys within the Group, the current surveys are to be replaced by a uniform Group-wide survey in the future. The new Bayer Employee Survey is designed to compile data annually and will be carried out worldwide for the first time in September 2010. Its modular structure means that the subgroups and service companies will still be able to include company-specific questions as well. The standardized questions in the new survey mean that the results can be compared with those of other companies, thus paving the way for further benchmark analyses.

Bayer regards recognizing and fostering the diverse talents, lifestyles, cultural and ethnic backgrounds of employees as an opportunity for the company and its business performance. Our diversity strategy has two main objectives: our employees should reflect the diversity in society, and they should be able to contribute and develop their skills in a discrimination-free environment. Equality of opportunity for all employees is therefore the prime factor in the selection of personnel. Our directives stipulate that the selection of personnel worldwide is exclusively based on specialist qualifications, development potential and individual performance – irrespective of gender, race, religion and sexual orientation.

Bayer is actively committed to an open and diverse corporate culture and supports associated initiatives. We are therefore a signatory to the Diversity Charter initiated by the German government. Within the Group, we run a variety of activities and campaigns to foster all aspects of diversity. Last year, Bayer HealthCare introduced “The Power of Diversity,” a global information campaign to raise employees’ awareness of the importance of diversity and inform them of the related initiatives. Bayer CropScience has initiated an extensive training program in the United States with a similar objective and has also set up national and site diversity councils. In France, it has adopted an action plan to foster diversity in the workforce, and trained around 300 managers in diversity.

For a global company, having employees from as many nations and cultures as possible is a key success factor. The top management level in the Bayer Group, the Group Leadership Circle, which comprises around 400 executives, was composed of 22 different nationalities at the end of 2009, compared with just 16 only two years ago. More than 70 percent of these executives are employed in their country of origin.

To facilitate collaboration with colleagues and business partners from different cultures, Bayer HealthCare (BHC) set up the GlobeSmart online database last year to inform employees of customs and etiquette in different countries. Employee networks such as the newly founded Bayer Asian Society in America (BASIA) at BHC’s Pharma Division in the United States also promote awareness and respect for other cultures and mentalities within the Group. For its extensive activities, Bayer was selected as one of the Top 10 Global Diversity Companies and Top 10 Companies for Asian Americans by the specialist journal DiversityInc. in 2009.

Male and female employees at Bayer receive equal compensation. Individual salaries are based on each employee’s personal and professional abilities and the level of responsibility assigned to them. Uniform job evaluation based on the internationally recognized Hay method is used for all managerial positions throughout the Group. Moreover, compensation paid by Bayer is based on general market conditions, which we monitor regularly through benchmarking.

The differences between the basic pay of male and female employees in middle and senior management positions is essentially due to the higher percentage of men in more senior positions. Within each contractual level, differences between the genders are low and actually extend in both directions.

For technical reasons, no comparative Group-wide data are available on specialists. In areas of the Group and in jobs in which compensation falls within the scope of binding collective bargaining agreements, there are no differences in pay based on gender. This also applies for the remuneration of trainees in the Bayer Group.

Fostering the employment of women is one of the central elements of our diversity strategy. At the end of 2009, the proportion of women in the workforce worldwide was around 35 percent. The percentage of female managers is rising steadily. In Germany, it is currently 24 percent across all managerial grades and nearly 30 percent at the junior management level, which is the entry level for future managers. Moreover, the proportion is rising. At the most senior management level, the Group Leadership Circle, the proportion of women Group-wide is 5.5 percent.

We are convinced that systematic advancement of talented employees and personnel development are the best way of raising the proportion of female managers. Bayer has therefore introduced a wide range of initiatives and empowerment programs worldwide to achieve this important human resources policy objective. For example, Bayer HealthCare introduced a Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) in the United States in January 2009 to achieve a significant increase in the proportion of female managers by 2015. Elements of the initiative include an internal mentoring program and coaching networks for female managers. In India, Bayer Business Services has succeeded in almost quadrupling the proportion of female employees through local initiatives.

Integrating disabled employees and those with health problems is another component in our efforts to foster diversity among our workforce. In Germany, severely disabled employees made up 4.3 percent of the workforce in 2009. To support the employment of severely disabled employees outside the Group as well, in 2009 Bayer placed orders worth nearly €275,000 with recognized workshops for the disabled in Germany alone.

A lack of practical experience often hampers the ability of disabled employees to find permanent employment. Bayer MaterialScience has therefore set up an initiative in the United States to enable disabled people to gain work experience, thereby greatly improving their chances of finding employment with the company or beyond. Our Brazilian company has defined integrating disabled people as the focus of its diversity program this year. The activities already undertaken and those still in the pipeline are geared to improving the proportion of severely disabled employees and raising Bayer’s public profile as a responsible employer.

Individual worktime models meet the varying needs of our employees. Through flextime, part-time employment and teleworking, we enable them to arrange their worktime to suit their individual needs. Nearly 15 percent of employees in Germany already benefit from these flexible worktime systems. Since 2008, employees have also had an opportunity to shape their lifetime working individually through the “BayZeit” long-term account, which enables them to build up credits from a variety of time and compensation components for use for an extensive training course or to take paid leave immediately before retirement. So far, more than 7,300 employees in Germany have used this innovative tool.

We also offer our employees various ways of combining work with personal commitments. In Germany, these include taking a break of up to seven years to bring up children, various childcare facilities and assistance in the search for carers. In the United States, “Working Mother” magazine once again included US in the 100 best employers for working mothers in recognition of our family-friendly policies.

A largely uniform compensation system for all employee groups and regular participation in corporate success are key elements in our human resources and compensation policy. In 2009, variable payments totaling more than €460 million were made to around 25,000 eligible employees under the Group-wide incentivization program. The level of individual payments was determined for the first time using a new method, which rewards personal performance more closely and more transparently than in the past. Moreover, in many countries and organizational units further payments are made to employees under local bonus programs. To link variable compensation to sustainability aspects, sustainability criteria are integrated into individual performance objectives wherever this makes sense in relation to the area of responsibility or activity of the employee in question.

Members of the senior management also participate in the “Aspire” long-term incentive program. Payments under this program are determined by the absolute increase in the price of Bayer shares over a three-year period (from 2010 a four-year period) and their relative performance compared with the EUROSTOXX 50 share index. In view of these demanding return targets, coupled with an appropriate personal investment in Bayer stock and the moderate level of the program, it has been regarded as a model example of a sustainability-oriented long-term incentive program since its inception in 2005.

Employees are able to purchase shares in Bayer at a discount under various employee stock programs. In many countries, they supplement our extensive additional benefits and offer nearly 60 percent of employees worldwide a further opportunity to participate in the company and its business performance.

In December 2009, the Supervisory Board adopted adjustments to the compensation system for the Board of Management to ensure full compliance in the future of the compensation of the Board of Management with the new German Act on the Appropriateness of Management Board Compensation (VorstAG) and the recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code. These adjustments are outlined below:

To further enhance the sustainability and long-term focus of the compensation structure, the previous short-term incentive (STI) for members of the Board of Management has been split into two parts. 50 percent will continue to be paid out in the following year in the same way as the sti awards for all eligible employees in the Bayer Group. The other 50 percent comprises a new stock-based long-term incentive component, comprising the granting of virtual Bayer shares, which are subject to a three-year retention period. The value of these virtual shares depends on the development of the Bayer share price during the retention period. By strengthening the long-term incentive, the weighting of the three compensation components is now around 30 percent fixed income, 30 percent STI and 40 percent LTI.

The performance period (retention period) under the current Aspire programs (Aspire I and II) is being extended from three to four years. At the same time, the performance hurdles are being raised. Established elements, such as payment caps, outperformance and average share price, are being retained.

Further, Bayer’s Board of Management has given a voluntary undertaking to meet the extended share ownership guidelines. These provide that in the future the Chairman of the Board of Management should hold shares equivalent to 150 percent (previously 40 percent) of his annual fixed salary; for the other members of the Board of Management the percentage is 100 percent (previously 40 percent).

The adjustments described, which were approved by a large majority at the Annual Stockholders’ Meeting 2010, have applied since January 1, 2010 to all the members of the Board of Management except those leaving during 2010.

There will be a significant change in the age structure of the population in many countries in the coming years. The declining birth rate, especially in industrialized countries, and increased life expectancy represent strategic challenges for Bayer that we have already been addressing intensively for a number of years.

One focus of our activities to counter demographic change is the project “Demographic Chance Management@Bayer” initiated in 2007. This has developed tools and methods to systematically analyze the demographic situation in the Bayer Group and make reliable predictions about future changes. The innovative forecasting software and related analytical method developed for this were successfully tested in selected areas of the company in 2008. In 2009, it was used to conduct a demographic test on a large proportion of the workforce in Germany, the first time such an extensive review took place.

The findings were compiled in a factbook which was submitted to corporate management. On the basis of these findings, the main areas of action for Germany have been identified and more detailed analyses have been initiated at the subgroups and service companies. Estimates made by the country organizations on the long-term development of their local labor markets are also included in our strategic considerations.

In its demographic project PROCURA, Currenta has identified six areas of action and drafted demographic guidelines. The initial measures defined in its action plan are to be introduced in 2010, along with a suitable communication program to raise employees’ awareness.

The average age of employees in the Bayer Group is currently 41. Since it is foreseeable that lifetime working hours will increase in the coming years, a focal element of our strategy is continually upgrading the skills of employees of all ages to maintain and adapt their professional ability. Another element is expansion of occupational health management. Worldwide, we already run a wide range of programs and initiatives in this area, and we intend to gradually extend them in consultation with employees. In Germany, this is supported by the chemical industry’s collective bargaining agreement on lifetime working and demographic change.

We regard offering young people a sound vocational training to give them a good start in working life as part of our social responsibility. In 2009, 930 young people enrolled for vocational training courses in one of more than 20 different qualifications at our German companies. Overall, Bayer currently has around 2,700 trainees. That is fewer than in 2008, principally because of a reduced number of trainees with the training provider in the service company Currenta.

In 2009, the European Union’s “Learn by S(t)imulation” project confirmed that this investment in the future pays off: the trainees from Currenta WHO took part in this competition secured first place. A study by the RheinMain University of Applied Sciences in Wiesbaden last year confirmed that our careers website is one of the three best online portals for young people in Germany looking for a vocational training place. That is an important factor in our endeavors to attract the best applicants for our company in spite of the declining number of school students.

Internationally as well, Bayer offers young people opportunities to gain a basic training. In cooperation with local branches of the German chambers of commerce and local educational institutes, we have for many years offered young people in numerous countries in South and Central America and Europe and in the People’s Republic of China a sound vocational training based on the standards and principles of the German system.

In addition, we actively endeavor to interest talented youngsters worldwide in our company. As well as offering more than 1,230 stimulating internships for students in a variety of disciplines, we have cooperations with renowned universities and international student organizations on all continents. For example, Bayer supports “Students in Free Enterprise” (SIFE), the world’s largest independent student initiative for sustainable enterprise and responsible business conduct. For the past four years, Bayer has provided the president of the German section of sife and it played a key role in organizing the sife World Cup in Berlin last year. The success of our wide-ranging activities was confirmed last year by the results of a joint survey by the German business magazine “Wirtschaftswoche” and the consultancy company Universum Communications. According to their analysis, Bayer is the second most popular employer for young scientists in Germany.

Our company’s student support activities helped us to recruit around 5,000 university graduates to Bayer companies as technical or managerial employees in 2009. China hired around 1,500 employees with an academic background in 2009, putting it at the head of the league, followed by the United States with 965 and India with 525.

Ongoing training of employees plays a key role in our human resources strategy. Technological change, progressive globalization and maintaining and upgrading knowledge over a longer working life are just some of the reasons that drive employees to upgrade their personal and professional skills. Our human resources strategy is geared to fostering and utilizing the individual potential of our employees. Acquiring, extending and maintaining professional knowledge is one aspect of this, while targeted human resources development is another.

Owing to the effects of the global economic crisis, our investment in the vocational and further training of our employees in 2009 did not quite reach the level for previous years. The consistently high standard of ongoing training is guaranteed by our quality management. In Germany this has been validated externally as complying with ISO 9001.

In 2009, we added a wide range of new programs and initiatives to extend our extensive development tools. The “Niev” management program introduced in India in September 2009 offers talented employees an opportunity to study management while they are working. In Australia, Bayer HealthCare has introduced the “Talent Management Transparency” project to enhance the transparency of internal personnel development and succession planning and encourage employees to make more effective use of opportunities for advancement. This objective is shared by Bayer CropScience’s information campaign “Your Career at Bayer,” which aims to raise the awareness of managers and employees of their responsibility for successful personnel development.

The IT Mentoring Program run by Bayer Business and Technology Services (BBTS) in the United States is another example of how we actively apply the obligation to develop oneself and others enshrined in our Values and Leadership Principles. Through this program, experienced managers share their knowledge with younger colleagues and thus support their professional advancement.

In addition to these new initiatives, Bayer’s employees still have access to the company’s established development programs. In 2009, more than 1,800 employees received feedback on their leadership behavior from employees, colleagues and business partners through the Bayer 360° Feedback system. A further 1,250 employees use the structured Development Dialogue to agree a development plan for the coming year with their managers to help them put their professional ambitions into practice. In addition, more than 40,000 employees across the Group regularly receive a performance appraisal from their supervisors through our global performance management system alone.

Fostering the health of our employees in the workplace is one of the most important goals of our health, safety, environment and quality (HSEQ) activities. Identifying and assessing potential dangers and managing the related risks are core elements of Bayer’s endeavors to protect health in the workplace. These aspects form an integral part of the HSEQ management systems at the subgroups and service companies, which include avoiding occupational health hazards, and protecting and promoting the health of employees. These processes are defined in the new Group directives on occupational health and safety which were introduced in 2009.

Worldwide, our subgroups and service groups are working to make Bayer’s workplaces even safer. The new occupational safety directive adopted in 2009 should also make a major contribution to this. It sets out actions and procedures to prevent accidents at work and investigate the causes of any accidents that nevertheless occur. The findings have to be translated into action to prevent a recurrence. At the same time, systematic and practically oriented contingency plans and precautions are designed to minimize the impact of accidents.

In 2009, we almost achieved our goal of reducing the lost time injury frequency rate to less than 2.0 injuries per million working hours (million working hour quota = MAQ) by 2010. The MAQ declined from 2.2 in 2008 to 2.0 in 2009. The ratio of reportable injuries based on Bayer’s definition also fell, namely from 3.6 to 3.1 year-on-year.

Unfortunately, Bayer employees died in four fatal accidents at our sites in Beijing, Valencia, Thailand and Leverkusen in 2009. Two of these were traffic accidents during worktime, one death resulted from an accident when a fork-lift truck overturned and a fourth involved a fall from a crane.

Bayer responds rapidly and comprehensively to accidents and identified shortcomings. Following the death of two employees as a result of an explosion at Bayer CropScience’s site in Institute, West Virginia in the United States in 2008, the company will invest US$25 million to improve safety standards at the site. One key measure comprises reducing the amount of methyl isocyanate stored at the site by 80 percent by August 2010. Improved emergency communications systems were installed in 2009.

All subgroups and service companies organize a wide range of programs to promote occupational health and safety as part of their HSEQ obligation. “Fit in Production” (FIP) is a program run by Bayer MaterialScience (BMS) to ensure that all employees worldwide receive uniform training in the correct conduct at work and in emergency situations. The occupational safety initiative run by Bayer MaterialScience at its facilities at CHEMPARK sites in Germany focuses on traffic safety, noise protection, mutual support in safety-related conduct and correct use of electrical appliances. In 2009, BMS introduced a CEO Safety Award to improve the safety of employees and working processes and raise general awareness of safety within the company. The CEO Safety Award builds on the core processes of the BMS Integrated Management System and uses the corresponding expert network as a global platform for sharing and evaluating safety programs.

Bayer HealthCare’s global accident prevention initiative “Managing Safety!” focuses on emergency response and accident prevention. As part of this program, local occupational safety initiatives have been developed and introduced at many sites. Moreover, to reduce accidents in sales organizations, a global Road Safety Initiative has been established to foster safety among members of the field force.

Bayer CropScience has set itself the goal of reducing the number of injuries resulting in days lost to no more than 1.0 per million hours worked. To achieve this, it is stepping up its occupational safety programs. The main elements are safe driving, updating workplace hazard assessments, new accident prevention campaigns and training in safe working practices. Workshops will be run at the sites to enhance awareness of the importance of occupational health.

In view of the increase in accidents at work, in 2009 Currenta introduced a long-term accident prevention program “Joining forces to improve safety.” Around 100 events, discussions, training sessions, training documents and short films are being used to achieve the three main goals of this initiative: a lasting reduction in the number of injuries, the fostering of a safety-conscious corporate culture and the implementation of a long-term health protection strategy.

Providing general preventive health care and medical advice for our employees is very important to us. This applies above all in less developed countries, where our company-financed offers are often able to make up for shortfalls in public health care provision. As a responsible modern employer, Bayer offers employees in many countries a range of programs and initiatives. Their scope and type depend on the specific needs of the local workforce.

For example, Bayer CropScience introduced a “heart program” at its site in Bangpoo, Thailand. Bayer is also conducting a program to vaccinate employees at the site against hepatitis B. Health education measures and regular medical check-ups for all employees round off the services.

Widespread obesity and the resulting health problems among members of the workforce at Bayer CropScience’s Canlubang site on the Philippines triggered an innovative sports program for employees in 2008 and 2009. This initiative proved so successful that a new round is to be organized in 2010. For its staff in the Philippines, Bayer CropScience also offers preventive medical check-ups for all employees, along with influenza vaccinations and an extensive sports program.

Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals established a Company Health Management working group in Berlin last year to develop site-specific health management and social policy. This will supplement the present offers of medical advice and assistance for employees. These include annual health management days and information campaigns to raise awareness of present health risks. A Work Ability Consulting (WAC) working group helps managers at Bayer HealthCare meet their duty to protect employees. Various medical advisory offerings are included in the wide range of seminars and health management activities organized by Bayer Business Services for Group companies in Germany.

Bayer CropScience offers similarly extensive occupational health management in Australia comprising different programs and seminars tailored specifically to the needs of various employee groups. The spectrum ranges from changing monthly health care offerings to training in the correct working posture and the right way to lift heavy loads.

Currenta assumes responsibility for health protection on behalf of the subgroups and service companies at the German sites in Leverkusen, Krefeld-Uerdingen, Wuppertal-Elberfeld and Dormagen. This comprises basic health care by company physicians and acute and preventive medicine. Currenta is particularly active in systematic occupational health management, also in view of the upcoming demographic trends. By amalgamating the results of employee surveys, analyzing absences, assessing dangers and carrying out preventive medical checks it aims to develop and introduce suitable activities. For many years, Currenta has offered employees psychosocial advice, help with addiction and dealing with conflicts and occupational health management, including reintegration of employees after prolonged periods of illness.

Promoting, maintaining or restoring a work-life balance is becoming another increasingly important aspect of occupational health management. In the United States, special WorkLife programs are designed to achieve this. In Pittsburgh, Bayer also offers employees and their families “Wellness Works,” a pilot program to identify health risks and promote a healthy lifestyle. The pilot project is to be rolled out nationwide, probably at the end of 2010.

Many offers enable our employees to take physical exercise during or after working hours, thus combining health management with their personal interests. In Canada, the “Fit at Work” program allows employees access to a gym during working hours, while fitness training for employees at some U.S. sites is encouraged by subsidizing sports centers.

Bayer is also prepared for global threats to health, a policy that proved its worth in the face of the H1N1 pandemic. The company’s pandemic crisis plans were implemented as necessary, and the employees were continuously informed of the latest developments and given suitable recommendations. Experience with the H1N1 pandemic has led to a thorough review of the crisis plans and the drafting of a Group directive on the issue of precautions in the event of a pandemic.