Integrity is the foundation of our company’s success – especially in challenging times. With various measures, we contribute to a permanent interaction with integrity and thus promote responsible behavior.
The automotive industry is undergoing radical change. New fields of business are developing, and they are requiring companies to reorient themselves. New technologies offer enormous opportunities, but at the same time are raising questions — for example, with regard to ethical and legal topics. In such times of change and uncertainty, attitude and value-based action matters more than ever. Integrity will therefore become even more important in the future.
We communicate our scale of values to our employees through the various measures we offer. This is how we actively help to protect our brands and our reputation and thus promote our company’s longterm success.
Pia Simon
Head of Integrity Management & Corporate Responsibility at Mercedes-Benz Group AG
Selected integrity measures
We conduct ongoing knowledge sharing and an open dialog with our employees to ensure that integrity will remain embedded in our company’s daily business over the long term. A major prerequisite for responsible conduct is a culture of open discussion that enables people to address sensitive topics. We also provide our employees with a variety of measures to support them living integrity in their daily work and taking conscious decisions.
We offer an extensive range of integrity and compliance training courses that are based on our Integrity Code - for example for employees in administrative areas, the compliance and legal departments, as well as for members of the Supervisory Board and senior management. The contents and topics of the training courses are tailored to the roles and functions of the respective target group. We regularly analyze the need for our range of training program, expand or adapt it, and conduct evaluations.
We place great value on face-to-face discussions. For this reason, we regularly conduct individually designed dialog events with employees at all levels of the hierarchy, as well as with external stakeholders. In the course of these events, we consider integrity from a range of different perspectives, and increase the participants’ awareness of the importance of making ethical decisions and work with case studies with relevance to daily business.
The Infopoint Integrity is the central contact for employees of Mercedes-Benz Group AG and the group companies for all integrity-related topics. The Infopoint works together with experts for legal and HR issues, data protection, compliance, as well as diversity or sustainability. It either provides direct support or connects employees with the appropriate contact partner. A global network of local contact persons for inquiries regarding integrity, compliance, and legal issues is also available to our employees. The network evaluates the inquiries that are made and, if necessary, initiates the appropriate measures.
With the "Integrity Toolbox," we provide our managers and employees with various formats to deal with integrity in their daily work on their own responsibility. It contains information, measures for self-reflection, case studies and other tools to make integrity a topic of discussion in pairs or groups.
The Whistleblower System BPO (Business & People Protection Office) is the point of contact in the event of misconduct within the company. This is where all employees, business partners and third parties worldwide can report violations posing a high risk for the company. The BPO is available around the clock to receive information, which can be sent by e-mail or normal mail or by filling out a special form. External toll-free hotlines are also available in Brazil, Japan, South Africa, and the United States. Reports can also be submitted anonymously if local laws permit this. In Germany, whistleblower reports can also be submitted to a neutral external intermediary in addition to the Whistleblower System BPO.
Integrity and compliance play an important role in our group-wide employee surveys. The results show us how these issues are perceived by our employees, provide an essential impetus for the further development of our integrity culture, and reveal possible action areas. They are also relevant for management remuneration, as they are included in the assessment of non-financial targets.
