Virginia Rometty is new Chief Executive of IBM. Since 1st of January she took over her new responsibilities and therewith, is the first female CEO of one of the largest technology companies in the world. This example is a rarity – not just for Corporate America. Currently there are only 12 female CEOs/Presidents in the Fortune 500.
Posts Tagged ‘Kathrin Menges’
Women in Business
Kathrin Menges announced as one of the 25 Top female Managers in Germany
Monday, November 28th, 2011 by Astrid BostenRole models always help in the orientation of others. Their success is exemplary and provides a vision for all those who are still on the way to the top.
Now, for the fourth time, the Financial Times Deutschland honored the best 25 female Managers in Germany. Amongst them: Kathrin Menges, Henkel’s Executive Vice President Human Resources.
Women in Business
Zu mehr Frauen in Führungspositionen verpflichtet
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011 by Astrid Bosten
Am Montag, dem 17. Oktober 2011, haben die Personalvorstände der 30 Dax-Unternehmen bei einer gemeinsamen Konferenz in Berlin mit den Bundesministern Schröder (Familie), von der Leyen (Arbeit) und Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (Justiz) eine Selbstverpflichtung zur weiteren Erhöhung des Anteils von Frauen in Führungspositionen abgegeben und erläutert, welche konkreten Ziele sie sich dazu gesetzt haben. Auch Henkel war dabei mit Vorstandsmitglied Kathrin Menges vertreten. Sie erläutert in diesem Interview die konkreten Ziele und Maßnahmen von Henkel.
Frage: Frau Menges, heute haben die Personalvorstände der 30 DAX-Unternehmen in Berlin konkrete Ziele für mehr Frauen in Führungspositionen vorgestellt. Die Unternehmen verpflichten sich dazu, den Anteil von Frauen in Führungspositionen in den nächsten Jahren deutlich zu erhöhen und bekennen sich zur Chancengleichheit von Frauen und Männern. Henkel hat die Selbstverpflichtung auch unterzeichnet. Warum?
Kathrin Menges: Im Rahmen des Diversity Managements, also der Förderung der Vielfalt im Unternehmen, konzentrieren wir uns bei Henkel vor allem auf die Bereiche Geschlecht, Nationalität und Alter. Für uns hat die Erhöhung des Anteils von Frauen in Führungspositionen schon seit langem eine hohe Priorität. Hier haben wir in den vergangenen Jahren große Fortschritte gemacht. Den Anteil von Frauen in Führungspositionen – bei uns sind das alle Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter im außertariflichen Bereich – konnten wir seit 2005 jährlich um rund einen Prozentpunkt auf knapp 30 Prozent erhöhen. Insofern war es für uns nur konsequent, diese Initiative zu unterstützen. Gemeinsam setzen wir auf die freiwillige Selbstverpflichtung als den richtigen und nachhaltigen Weg. In Zukunft wollen wir unsere Anstrengungen bei der Förderung von Frauen in Führungspositionen sogar noch ausbauen. Unser Ziel ist es, auf Konzernebene die jährliche Zuwachsrate zu erhöhen: von einem Prozentpunkt auf durchschnittlich bis zu zwei Prozentpunkte.
Frage: Sie verpflichten sich dazu, den Anteil von Frauen in Führungspositionen zu erhöhen, vermeiden aber gleichzeitig die Festlegung auf eine feste Zielgröße. Wie passt das zusammen?
Kathrin Menges: Wir setzen uns seit langem dafür ein, den Anteil von Frauen in Führungspositionen zu erhöhen. Wir nehmen schon heute unter den DAX-Unternehmen eine führende Stellung ein und wollen uns von dieser Position aus weiter verbessern. Unsere Ziele sind ambitioniert und konkret, wie ich an dem folgenden Beispiel erläutern kann: Ausgehend von einem aktuellen Anteil von Frauen in Führungspositionen von 30 Prozent und einem jährlichen Zuwachs von durchschnittlich 1,5 Prozentpunkten würden wir in sieben Jahren, also im Jahr 2018, bei rund 40 Prozent liegen. Auch damit wären wir unter den DAX-Unternehmen in der Spitzengruppe. Uns geht es aber nicht um eine fixe Quote, sondern darum, den Weg zu eröffnen für mehr Frauen in Top-Positionen. Das kann und darf aber keine starre Quote sein. Henkel will bei jeder Stellenbesetzung den am besten geeigneten Kandidaten finden. Bei der Auswahlentscheidung zählen allein Kompetenz und Eignung – unabhängig von Geschlecht, Alter oder Nationalität.
Frage: Mit welchen konkreten Maßnahmen wollen Sie diese Ziele erreichen?
Kathrin Menges: Unsere Zielvorgaben sind für unterschiedliche Bereiche im Unternehmen differenziert und umfassen sowohl quantitative als auch qualitative Ziele. Wir haben gemeinsam mit unserem Diversity Management und allen Unternehmensbereichen und Funktionen drei wesentliche Handlungsfelder identifiziert. Es geht dabei erstens um den Anteil weiblicher Kandidaten bei Neueinstellungen und Beförderungen, zweitens um moderne Arbeitszeitmodelle, die Frauen und Familien eine höhere Flexibilität ermöglichen sollen, und drittens um besondere Karriereentwicklungspläne, die den Erfordernissen von Frauen Rechnung tragen.
Zum Beispiel achten wir bei Beförderungen oder der Besetzung von Führungspositionen darauf, dass unter den letzten drei Kandidaten mindestens eine Frau ist. Außerdem werden wir die Angebote zur besseren Vereinbarkeit von Familie und Karriere weiter ausbauen. Dazu gehört auch die Verbesserung der Betreuungssituation von Kindern, wenn dies durch die staatlichen Einrichtungen nicht oder nur unzureichend gewährleistet wird. Des Weiteren wollen wir weg von einer Präsenzkultur, die gerade Frauen und Familien vor Herausforderungen stellt.
Women in Business
The first woman on Henkel’s Management Board / Die erste Frau im Henkel-Vorstand
Tuesday, September 27th, 2011 by Astrid BostenYesterday, Henkel employees had two good reasons to be happy: On September 26, 1876, that means 135 years ago, Henkel was founded in Aachen, and since yesterday there is also the first woman in the Henkel Management Board since the company foundation: Kathrin Menges, previously Corporate Senior Vice President and Head of Human Resources will take over the Human Resource responsibility as a board member of Henkel, starting at October 1.
“We are pleased to announce the appointment of Kathrin to the Management Board. As with the previous changes in our Board, we have been able to develop the next generation of leaders from within the company. With her longstanding professional experience in human resources, her skills and her leadership qualities she will be a perfect fit for this challenging role”, said Henkel CEO Kasper Rorsted, who was responsible for HR in the Management Board to date.
Kathrin Menges started her professional career in human resources in 1990 at Bankgesellschaft Berlin AG. In 1999, she joined Henkel, initially at Schwarzkopf in Hamburg, and later on from 2005 at the corporate headquarters in Düsseldorf. In 2009, she was appointed Corporate Senior Vice President and Global Head of Human Resources.
“As a global company, Henkel competes for the best talents around the world. We enjoy an excellent reputation as an employer who develops talents within the company. I am looking forward to contributing with a strategic human resources management to the continued success of Henkel”, said Kathrin Menges.
Best Practices, Women in Business
What are we waiting for? / Worauf warten wir?
Thursday, June 16th, 2011 by Astrid BostenThe article „The Moment of Women – What are we waiting for?” published on June 15, 2011 in the German journal “Brigitte”, describes how the conditions have changed in some executive boards of German companies. Kathrin Menges, Henkel’s Head of Global Human Resources, and Eleonore Traenckner, Global Project Manager for Adhesives Technologies are part of the article and tell about their points of view.
The opportunities of women in the German labor market increase rapidly. Independent of legislative authority and politics, many companies included the promotion of women in their business objectives.
Companies like Microsoft, that have four women with children in top management positions, or the insurance group Allianz where one third of the leading positions are held by women, best practices and role models cover the way to female career progression. McDonalds has thirty female executive managers and at Henkel the proportion of female managers (nearly 30 %) is nearly equivalent to the proportion of the entire workforce.
One pioneer of this phenomenon is Deutsche Telekom that in March 2010 announced that thirty percent of the leadership positions have to be held by women until 2015. That meant to Telekom’s Diversity Manager Mechthilde Maier that she had to focus on the modification of the corporate culture. The acceptance of women in executive boards and the attractiveness as an employer of choice plays a mayor role in her daily business life.
At Henkel the proportion of women in leading positions is already about thirty percent, though we did not introduce or announce a women’s quota or specific affirmative action programs for women. “It is our intention to advance every person who works in this company at the best”, says Kathrin Menges. That this way of thinking is successful shows the example of Eleonore Traenckner. She has been working at Henkel for four years and she never felt disadvantaged because of her gender. Kathrin Menges and Eleonore Traenckner agree on one main point: Women really have to be self-motivated to proceed in their career tracks and they are self-responsible for it.
However, companies with affirmative action programs and special measures for women are rare. What we see is the improvement of flexible working opportunities, specific mentoring programs and a general change from a culture of presence to a culture of excellence. And this is beneficial for both – women and men. [DE]
Der Artikel „Die Stunde der Frauen – Worauf noch warten?“ der Zeitschrift Brigitte vom 15.6.2011 beschreibt, wie sich die Bedingungen in manchen Chefetagen verändert haben. Mit dabei: Kathrin Menges, die weltweite Personalchefin von Henkel und Eleonore Traenckner, Global Project Manager im Klebstoffbereich.
Die Chancen für Frauen auf dem deutschen Arbeitsmarkt verbessern sich rasant. Unabhängig von politischen Regelungen, haben viele Firmen die Förderung von Frauen bereits in ihre Unternehmensziele aufgenommen.
Zum Beispiel Microsoft, zu dessen Top-Management vier Frauen mit Kindern gehören. Oder der Versicherungskonzern Allianz, beim dem ein Drittel der Führungspositionen mit Frauen besetzt sind. Bei McDonalds gibt es 30 weibliche Top-Führungskräfte.
Vorreiter dieses Phänomens ist die Deutsche Telekom, die im März 2010 festlegte, dass bis 2015 dreißig Prozent der Führungspositionen von weiblichen Managern besetzt sein sollen. Die Diversity Managerin Mechthilde Maier sieht ihre Verantwortung vor allem in der Veränderung der Unternehmenskultur. Dabei spielen die Akzeptanz von Frauen in Chefetagen und die Attraktivität des Unternehmens eine wichtige Rolle.
Auch bei Henkel liegt der Anteil von Frauen in Führungspositionen bei knapp 30 Prozent. Allerdings haben wir keine festgelegte Frauenquote oder gezielte Fördermaßnamen. „Unser Ziel ist es, jeden Menschen in diesem Unternehmen bestmöglich zu fördern“, sagt Kathrin Menges. Dass dieses Denken erfolgreich ist, zeigt das Beispiel von Eleonore Traenckner. Seit vier Jahren arbeitet sie bei Henkel und hat sich niemals als Frau benachteiligt gefühlt. Und in einem Punkt sind sich die Henkel-Damen völlig einig: Frauen müssen ihre Karriere wirklich wollen und sie sind selbst dafür verantwortlich.
Unternehmen mit gezielten Förderprogrammen und Unterstützungsmaßnahmen sind derzeit noch selten zu finden. Allerdings ist ein Aufschwung vermehrter flexibler Arbeitszeitangebote, spezielle Mentorenprogrammen und eine allgemeine Entwicklung von einer Präsenz- hin zu einer Leistungskultur deutlich spürbar. Eine Entwicklung, von der letztendlich alle profitieren: Frauen und Männer.
Diversity & Inclusion
Girls’ Day: Girls and Technology / Girls’ Day: Mädchen und Technik
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011 by Astrid Bosten
Last Thursday at the plant grounds in Düsseldorf-Holthausen: A fire appliance and an ambulance were ready to blow out a fire – and indeed the fire was blown out. However, it was not blown out by the plant fire brigade this time, but by 13 year old girls! Even the plant fire brigade introduced its apprenticeship for becoming a firefighter on this year’s Girls’ Day – or rather becoming a female firefighter? Those are currently thin on the ground – currently…
A pupil of a local grammar school blows out a huge darting flame. “That’s really fun!” the girl says happily. Apart from the practical effort the girls were equipped with knowledge about the emergency vehicles by the experienced plant firefighters. Only few girls had the courage to climb the narrow fire ladder.
“We would like to encourage you”
In the morning the 120 girls, who attend the 7th or 8th form, not only were welcomed by the head of the training-department but also by Dr. Simone Bagel-Trah, Chairwoman of Henkel’s Supervisory Board and of the Shareholder’s Committee, and by the global head of the Human Resources Department, Kathrin Menges. For Simone Bagel-Trah, who had studied microbiology, promotion of natural sciences and technology is of high importance: “Technical professions play a crucial part within our daily work. I would like to encourage you, to be open-minded towards the fascinating world of technology and natural science.”
When Loert de Riese-Meyer asked the girls questions about Henkel it became apparent that the girls already have a huge knowledge of Henkel and know many Henkel brands: Persil, Pritt-stick, Vernel, Syoss and Fa – these brands were quickly like a shot mentioned by the girls. “The most important thing is to find a profession with which one feels comfortable” this was the advice Kathrin Menges gave the girls. “Today, I would like you to be open-minded and interested in our company and I would like you to ask many questions and try different things.”
Indeed, the pupils checked out many things: Apart from the factory fire department the production engineering-, the electrical engineering-, as well as the metal engineering-department introduced themselves. Production engineering has been very popular among girls in recent years. “If this can be referred to the Girls’ Day, I don’t know” Uwe Köhring says, who is a trainer. “But it is a matter of fact that we have been receiving more applications from girls.” Next to him, by the monitor of the MPR-system (Multiple Process Reactor), Saloua, Irma, and Soi remain in order to watch the temperature. “Before, we mixed salt and saline solution”, that is the statement of the girls, who attend the 7th form of the Joseph-Beuys-comprehensive school. “Now, this mixture shall be concentrated within the system.”
At every station the girls are attended by Henkel-apprentices and their trainers, even at the station for electrical engineering. “In this sector girls are very rare” trainer Michael Spelter says. “There is only one female apprentice in every second academic year.” Maybe this is going to change – because the girls are eagerly involved and enjoy brazing a flash-circuit on a little Henkel-logo. Meral Simsek who is a pupil in the 7th form at the Werner-Heisenberg-middle school is confident: “We are well instructed and therefore it is not that difficult – and it is more fun than learning those things at school!” The flash-circuit exemplifies the tasks one has to work on as an electronics engineer later on.
Friendship perpetuated within metal
One floor downstairs at the metal engineering department the pupils can produce bracelets made from metal which can also be engraved. “Sanding is pretty exhausting” Lucie Eggert says who is a 13-year old pupil of the Comenius-grammar school. “I’m looking forward to blowing out fire!” Before, she wants to varnish her bracelet and engrave “Best friends” – because she wants to give it to her best friend as a present. Her class mate Anna Pfeiffer has already known Henkel: “My brother has been here with his class before and he was really excited. Therefore I badly wanted to attend the Girls’ Day”.
Diversity & Inclusion, Women in Business
Third WoMen’s Networking Day at Henkel / Dritter WoMen’s Networking Day bei Henkel
Thursday, April 7th, 2011 by Astrid BostenOn April 5, 2011 Henkel’s female networking group “Women in Leadership” invited to their third WoMen’s Networking Day at Henkel’s headquarters in Düsseldorf. Special about this year’s event was that for the first time our male leaders were invited to attend the event too. Thus the motto for the invitation addressed to our female leaders was ”Ladies’ choice – Bring your boss”.
More than 220 participants attended the Networking Day, among them a good proportion of men. Colleagues at different Henkel locations around the world additionally had the opportunity to join the WoMen’s Networking Day via live stream.
Kathrin Menges, Global Head of Human Resources, gave the first introductory speech about Gender Diversity @ Henkel. This speech was followed by a “Walk around Womenomics” – a speech given by the bestseller author Avivah Wittenberg-Cox. Avivah already was our guest speaker at our last year’s event and left us with the homework to start the dialogue with men. Asking Avivah, what our school grade was for achieving to bring such a good share of men, she answered “definitely an A”… Good to hear!
A panel discussion on “I did it my way – Role Models are telling there individual success story” with seven Henkel leaders (men and women) followed next. The panel talked about individual success stories, milestones in their lives and decision making processes.
A premier highlight and innovation at the same time was our Henkel twitterwall – an offer that gave the audience the opportunity to actively participate in the panel discussions by tweeting their questions, comments and arguments to a public wall. Thereby the diversity of minds, thoughts and perspectives were actively included into the ongoing discussion.
The panel discussion was followed by a presentation of our new Global Diversity & Inclusion Director, Markus Dinslacken, who introduced the consultancy offer of our Global Diversity & Inclusion department that is meant to enhance Diversity within the different departments at Henkel.
After a short break the participants were invited to join diverse workshops in which topics such as “Recruitment & Assessment Processes”, “Networking & Support”, “Flexible Working Opportunities” or “Reconciling Career & Family” were discussed.
The final item on the agenda was a panel discussion on the subject of “Women’s Quota – Necessity or Constraint”. Claudia Nemat, Managing Partner and Director for the High Tech Sector of McKinsey gave the introductory by presenting the key findings of McKinsey’s “Women Matter” studies.
The panelist for the quota discussion were Henkel’s CEO Kasper Rorsted, our Global Head of Human Ressources, Kathrin Menges and Bruno Piacenza, Board Member at Henkel and responsible for the Laundry- and Homecare business unit. Additionally we were happy to welcome two external guests: Regine Stachelhaus, who is member of the board of eon and Claudia Nemat. Their unanimously belief was: No necessity for quota but a huge necessity for change!
For this discussion again the twitterwall served as third party moderation by and for the audience.
After a half day of information and interaction the third WoMen’s Networking Day ended with an informal get-together. All participants were satisfied with the agenda and – even more important – the gender mix. [DE] 
(more…)
Women in Business
Kathrin Menges: one of the 100 most influential women in Germany / Kathrin Menges: eine der 100 einflussreichsten Aufsteigerinnen
Monday, July 26th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten
Recently, the Handelsblatt introduced the 100 most influential women in Germany. Among them are three Henkel-women! We already introduced our head of the shareholder’s committee Simone Bagel-Trah and Tina Müller, the Corporate Senior Vice President. Today we devote our daily post to our third Top 100 woman: Kathrin Menges, Corporate Senior Vice President Global Human Resources.
Since November 2005 she manages more than 50.000 Henkel employees worldwide. Kathrin Menges has the reputation of being a calm and fair manager. Her background is exceptional what makes it particularly interesting. She has a master’s degree in education and worked as a teacher before she stepped in the Human Resources sector. First she worked as Human Resources Manager at the Bankgesellschaft Berlin. Later she was responsible for the Human Resources Region North at KMPG. She joined Henkel in 1999. Before her nomination as Corporate Senior Vice President Global Human Resources she was Corporate Key Account Manager responsible for employees who work for the management board and the IT department.
All good things come in threes but in this case we would not be sad to make a role-modeled exception. [DE]
Diversity & Inclusion
Barbeque with the top management / Grillfest mit Führungskräften
Friday, July 16th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten
At a barbeque for the apprentices at Henkel in Düsseldorf last week, Kathrin Menges, Corporate Senior Vice President Global Human Resources, took the chance to meet the young people and talk with them about their apprenticeship, career in general and, of course, soccer. Besides soccer, the internationality at Henkel was a big topic.
The apprentices in the different apprenticed occupations deal with many nationalities in their every day work-life. In her conversations with the apprentices, Kathrin Menges also found out, why they chose Henkel as their apprenticing company. It became evident, that Henkel has a very good reputation among young people. The apprentices agreed that the vocational trainers at Henkel are friendly, sincere, attentive and willing to help them with every problem that might occur.
One question was particularly interesting for the apprentices: How do you become Corporate Senior Vice President Global Human Resources? Many of them were surprised to hear that Kathrin Menges started her career as a teacher. The Head of Training, Loert de Riese-Meyer was thankful for the opportunity of bringing together apprentices and top management. This day was clearly one of the highlights in the first year of training, he explained. [DE]
