Considering that we’re active in about 190 countries, it’s no wonder that we boast one of the world’s most diverse workforces: men and women from different nations, age groups and social backgrounds who represent a rich variety of ethnic backgrounds. In the world’s ten largest countries alone, we employ people belonging to more than 140 nationalities. As well as reflecting our commitment to society, such diversity is good for business: providing an enormous reservoir of skills, experience and qualifications, it gives us tremendous competitive advantages in the global arena.

As one of Germany’s largest private providers of vocational education, we’re currently training some 10,000 secondary school graduates – including 3,400 for external business partners. Every year, we invest roughly €150 million in these activities. In 2008, we provided around 2,500 new training and student intern positions, of which 250 were allocated to assist disadvantaged young people in acquiring valuable basic skills. We also provided 150 positions for students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in technical fields. And our commitment to youth is not restricted to Germany: about 2,700 young people worldwide are currently enrolled in Siemens apprenticeship programs.

Only well-educated, highly motivated employees can create the innovations needed to answer the toughest questions of our time. In a globalized world marked by rapid technological change and steadily increasing flows of information, education is not only a key to personal success; it’s also the basis of our innovative strength. We’ve always been intensely committed to the training and education of our employees. In fiscal 2008, we invested €280 million in continuing education alone. In addition, we’re also supporting selected education projects for young people – from preschool to university level – through our worldwide Generation21 program.

In fiscal 2008, our global workforce grew a solid seven percent. Worldwide, we hired around 74,600 new employees. Some 60 percent are employed in important fields like supply chain management and development, and a quarter of these individuals are university graduates.