- Headcount to grow by approximately 7,000 this year to 185,000
- Employees to be added mainly in growth markets
- 200,000-employee mark looming on the horizon
Assuming the market develops accordingly, Continental looks to increase its employee count by around 7,000 in 2014. This would bring the number on its payroll to approximately 185,000 by the end of the year. In 2009, in the midst of the financial crisis, there were about 50,000 fewer jobs with the international automotive supplier. By the end of 2013, though, the number of employees had already climbed to roughly 178,000, with 50,000 of them in Germany.
“The larger workforce reflects our business success. In 2014 alone, we are expecting to increase sales by 5 percent to around 35 billion euros. Alongside the expansion of production capacities, it is new markets and new technologies that are driving our growth – and this applies to the workforce as well. We are thus well-advised to position ourselves as globally as possible to comply with our strategic dimension of better serving customers by working in the market for the market,” explains Elke Strathmann, Continental Executive Board member responsible for HR. “In the last few years, we have broadened our base both product wise and geographically. This has made talent management and cultural development all the more important and we are taking this into account.”
In 2013, Continental created jobs chiefly in China (approximately 1,800), Romania (approximately 1,500) and North America (approximately 1,500). There were also jobs added in Germany (close to 1,400). That put the workforce there near 50,000 at the close of 2013. “Our goal in 2014 is to further develop in the growth markets. By itself, the planned acquisition of Veyance Technologies Inc. would add another 9,000 or so staff to the 185,000 already envisioned,” noted Strathmann.
