Report to Society 2024

Governance

Employee attractiveness and corporate culture

Combating shortage of skilled labour by focussing on values

A value-orientated corporate culture is a competitive advantage. It is not only customers who are increasingly paying attention to whether companies represent sustainable values in their business model. Even the specialists being courted are interested in much more than just the number on the pay slip: development prospects or an appreciative environment are now important features of employers who want to increase their attractiveness compared to competitors.

This is exactly what the savings banks offer: It has always been part of our corporate philosophy to provide our employees with an optimal environment for their individual careers and at the same time the best possible freedom to organise their personal lives. In addition to collective wage agreements, which ensure fair and transparent remuneration, aspects such as team spirit, co-determination, work-life balance, diversity, inclusion and family-friendly working models are a matter of course at the savings banks and are organisationally anchored in numerous guidelines and standards.

Savings bank employees also benefit from excellent qualification and further training programmes. To this end, it has its own infrastructure with eleven regional savings banks academies and the University of Applied Sciences for Financial Management. In addition to financial topics, they also learn about the business philosophy and public mission of the savings banks.

+ 11.000
neue Mitarbeitende in 2024
+ 5.600
neue Auszubildende in 2024
+ 27 %
mehr Bewerbungen als im Vorjahr

Savings banks are becoming more attractive in all areas of work

This value-orientation of the savings banks, which has been consolidated over many years, has a radiance and appeal. Savings banks are among the most popular employers and training providers in Germany. This can be proven not only by relevant market surveys, in which savings banks regularly achieve good scores, but also by concrete figures: “Savings banks hired 11,000 new employees last year. That is a net increase of 2,500 jobs. And this at a time when others are cutting jobs – including competitors in the banking industry,” said DSGV President Prof Dr Ulrich Reuter.

There was also a significant increase in the number of trainees: 5,600 young people started their training at a savings bank last year, almost twelve per cent more than in the previous year. The prerequisite for this was a significant increase in applications to the savings banks, which rose by 27 per cent. The savings banks achieve this with dedication and a wealth of ideas.

Taunus savings bank, for example, successfully introduced a new training concept last year in order to become even more attractive to young professionals. At the centre of this is the company’s own young talent centre in Frankfurt-Höchst, where the trainees work together. This gives them practical experience of everyday banking life and teaches them early on how to work independently and on their own responsibility. One special feature is a shared flat for trainees. It also allows interested applicants from outside the region to join Taunus savings bank.

The career development prospects are also attractive for career changers. Many savings banks have developed special programmes to make it easier to get started in a new working environment. Förde savings bank and savings bank Essen, for example, offer practice-oriented training programmes and targeted training courses to efficiently introduce new employees to the areas of responsibility of the savings banks. The trend towards lateral entry is also increasing significantly at the Bavarian savings banks: in the last 10 years, the number of industry switchers trained at the Sparkassenakademie Bayern has increased more than tenfold from 20 to 248.