"Systematic support of women's careers is no pipe dream"

What are the companies themselves doing to ensure that women have better career opportunities? What is the exact aim of the DAX companies' voluntary initiative?

Walter Scheurle: In the joint declaration "Women in Executive Positions," the DAX-30 companies pledged last March to further intensify their efforts to increase the percentage of women in executive positions. This voluntary commitment on their part - an action that, by the way, is unique in Europe - puts this pledge in writing: It explains how the promotion of career opportunities for women in companies is to be further expanded - tailored specifically and individually to meet the conditions and circumstances of each company. In addition, the DAX companies have committed themselves to a uniform approach and, above all, to annual reporting. This reporting can be done within the context of the sustainability or annual report.

In taking this approach, the DAX companies have only codified something that we have understood for a long time and that has played a major role in our own efforts in human-resources management for years: we can create sustainable success in our business only if we put both men and women on our management teams.

That may not be fast enough for some people. Don't we really need the pressure exerted by a legal regulation to force companies to introduce changes?

Walter Scheurle: You do not need a quota to promote career opportunities for women. Our approach is more sustainable and more efficient. We will address the issue of  women in executive positions from various angles. The guiding principle always consists of the triad of  "can-want to-may." That women are capable of taking over executive positions - "can" - is beyond all question. Today, the focus is and has to be placed on "want to" and "may" in order to produce a cultural change and new attitudes and behavior patterns.

And by the way: Today, many women oppose a quota because they feel that their qualification for an executive position would not be taken seriously should such a quota be implemented. And young men oppose a gender quota because they could no longer work with women as equal professional partners. This is exactly why performance will always be the most important selection criterion. Now it is all about recognizing and promoting the performance of women. And the numbers speak for themselves: much progress has been made in recent years without a quota, and we have created a good starting point with our status quo. We simply do not need such a quota. Rather, we need to develop new attitudes in society.

In what way?

Walter Scheurle: We must finally realize how dependent we Germans are on future generations of talented people: To ensure that we have a sufficient pool of young people, we need a family-friendly society and a social environment that not only enables employees to create a strong work-life balance, but also encourages it. We must all work together to bring about such sweeping change. And because of this, the discussion that is currently being held in the public is very positive! Even though we as a company must and will make a contribution, we cannot initiate the necessary change in society on our own. Political leaders are called on to act as well by taking such steps as improving tax credits for child care and stepping up government efforts to introduce all-day schooling on a broad scale. In both Germany and throughout Western Europe, we can simply no longer afford to ignore well-qualified women.

I am not just talking about women in executive positions. I am also talking about women working on all levels. About 37 percent of our workforce of approximately 470,000 people are women. In Germany, it is nearly half, at 47 percent. As a result, we are one of Germany's largest private-sector employers of women.

What are the companies themselves doing to ensure that women have better career opportunities? What is the exact aim of the DAX companies' voluntary initiative?

Walter Scheurle: In the joint declaration "Women in Executive Positions," the DAX-30 companies pledged last March to further intensify their efforts to increase the percentage of women in executive positions. This voluntary commitment on their part - an action that, by the way, is unique in Europe - puts this pledge in writing: It explains how the promotion of career opportunities for women in companies is to be further expanded - tailored specifically and individually to meet the conditions and circumstances of each company. In addition, the DAX companies have committed themselves to a uniform approach and, above all, to annual reporting. This reporting can be done within the context of the sustainability or annual report. In taking this approach, the DAX companies have only codified something that we have understood for a long time and that has played a major role in our own efforts in human-resources management for years: we can create sustainable success in our business only if we put both men and women on our management teams.

Is this voluntary program more than just a piece of paper? Exactly what is Deutsche Post DHL committing itself to?

Walter Scheurle: We are committing ourselves to immediately begin filling 25 percent to 30 percent of all executive positions in upper, middle and lower management that become vacant in Germany and around the world with women. The objective of this so-called "self-commitment for vacant executive positions" is to further increase the percentage of women in these positions. In this area, we - like other major German companies - still have need for action. I just mentioned that 17 percent of executive positions at our company are filled by women. This is a beginning. But it also demonstrates that we have not fully tapped our true potential.

At the same time, I do not think it makes much sense to set a specific date regarding when a certain number of executive positions should be held by women. Rather, we have determined - based on our current workforce and its expected development in the next few years - what is realistic and possible - that is, possible over the long term. I am confident that the approach we are taking will result in an increase in the percentage of women in executive positions and will put us in the forefront among German companies. And this also has to be the case if we intend to reach our strategic goal of being the employer of choice in our industry - among both women and men.

How can we get a good understanding of the voluntary program you have just described? Will you be creating new jobs for women? Where will the positions come from?

Walter Scheurle: To enable women to be assigned to executive positions, these positions must first become vacant. Here, we can take advantage of the natural turnover rate among managers in the Group: Each year, we fill about 17 percent of executive positions with new people around the world. In Germany, this figure is about 11 percent. Effective immediately, we will systematically fill 25 percent to 30 percent of these executive positions with qualified women.

How do you identify the women who will be given executive positions as part of this effort?

Walter Scheurle: We realized at a fairly early stage just how important the issue is for the long-range success of the company. For this reason, we have worked extremely hard in recent years - long before the current public debate began - to create the necessary conditions and processes that would enable us to identify and encourage high-potential women. Our recently launched project "Women in Executive Positions" is another initiative designed to analyze the root causes of the still too low percentage of women in these jobs at our company. The insights we will get from this effort will be used to devise steps to support women in the Group.

What does this involve?

Walter Scheurle: In the first phase of the project that runs through the end of this month, the project is focusing on identifying the root causes. As part of this effort, we ventured deeply into the area of personnel development to gain a broad understanding of the most important barriers that prevent women at our company from having successful careers as executives. A representative global survey conducted among around 12,500 female and male employees revalidated the findings. The end result of this work will be a package of measures that will enable us to provide tailored career support to women. And we will use specific performance indicators to measure the success of these efforts.

One thing is for sure: The entire issue has to be driven from the top of our Group. The executives within our company have to lead a cultural change within their own area of responsibilities, have to establish new processes in the hiring process and increasingly act as mentors for women.

That sounds like a pipe dream ...

Walter Scheurle: The opposite is actually the case: To us, this is another instrument in the entire orchestra of instruments that we have been employing for many years. Just take our programs to train apprentices and future managers. The percentage of women in our Group-wide trainee program GrOW, which is designed to prepare college graduates for executive positions, was 44 percent last year. This year, it has risen to two-thirds. Of the future managers participating in a dual university program that combines an academic education with work experience at our company, every other student is female. And in our Top Apprentice Program, which is aimed at the best 5 percent of a training class, the share of women is also high, at 44 percent. This shows that we are in an excellent position to recruit female executives of tomorrow from our own ranks.