Employees

We offer staff an array of opportunities to enhance their professional and personal lives. There are talent management and succession planning programmes, while many of our business units run their own internal mobility initiatives. RTL Group also develops its employees by fostering internal mobility throughout the organisation, giving them the chance to apply their talents in a new business setting and to acquire new insights and skills in other business units, enabling them to grow both professionally and personally.

We offer a number of training programmes covering a wide range of subjects, from strategy to leadership and individual coaching. We also offer training in partnership with Bertelsmann University, while our international trainee programme places candidates on several work rotations, with on-the-job learning and exposure to leaders across the Group.

There are many ways we provide fair working conditions, including financial incentives such as attractive salaries, reward systems, profit sharing, and company pensions. We also offer training and development, desirable working environments, and wellbeing programmes. In addition, our local teams are free to implement their own initiatives to meet their business needs, in line with local laws.

The employee survey we conduct every three years is a Group-wide initiative. It aims to generate improvements throughout the Group – particularly at local level – and ensure employees have their say. By completing the questionnaire, available in 16 languages, each employee can express an opinion anonymously. A key area in this survey is working conditions.

The latest survey was in 2019; the participation rate remained very high once again, with 80.8 per cent of RTL Group employees taking part.

We ensure equal employment opportunities and treatment, and we do not tolerate any form of discrimination against employees or applicants based on their age, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic.

In 2016, RTL Group reinforced these commitments in a Diversity Statement, which we expect all RTL Group companies to comply with.

In 2017, RTL Group signed the Diversity Charter Lëtzebuerg. With more than 150 signatories, it extends our 2016 Diversity Statement in promoting diversity beyond our legal and regulatory obligations.

RTL Group places a special emphasis on gender diversity. Our long-term ambition is for women and men to be represented equally across all management positions. As an intermediate step we have set a quantitative target for 2021 to increase the ratio of women in top and senior management positions to at least one third.  

With healthy and fit staff, we can grow as a healthy and fit company. RTL Group recognises that lack of exercise, repetitive motion, prolonged sitting and frequent stress pose serious health risks.

Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland has responded with Moving Pause, a 15-minute series of low-intensity balancing exercises designed to relax muscles and reduce stress. Every 15 minutes between midday and 13:00 a new session begins in the in-house fitness centre at Cologne headquarters. Moving Pause is also webcast between 12:00 and 13:30 each day on the company’s intranet, so employees at 23 other locations can participate.

RTL Nederland offers several initiatives to promote wellbeing and health for its employees, including regular medical check-ups for those working in specific positions, and yearly wellness check-ups for all employees.

RTL-TVI presenter Jean-Michel Zecca during the ‘Télévie in Ventoux’ sporting challenge © Olivier Pirard

In addition to each local employee representation, in 1997, RTL Group established a European Works Council (EWC) based on a voluntary agreement. The EWC consists of representatives from RTL Group’s local works councils in the EU. It maintains an open dialogue with RTL Group management to address cross-border employment issues, and to represent employee interests at the top level of the company.

The EWC and the Senior Management team meet twice a year. According to the current voluntary agreement, these meetings provide a platform for social dialogue and for consultation with employees.

Kai Brettmann, Chairman of the EWC, says: “Our job is to remind employers of their responsibility towards employees. Certainly shareholders and the management aren't alone in their wish for a profitable company. The works councils want that as well: employees can only do well if the company is doing well.”

Image description: From left to right: Kai Brettmann, Chairman of the EWC, and Francesco Costadura, Executive Vice President Human Resources of RTL Group, signing the the fifth addendum of the Voluntary Agreement in September 2017