WESEL, Germany - The “Initiative for Career-Promoting and Fair Trainee Programs” has recognized ALTANA for offering high-quality employee trainee programs.

As a focused specialty chemicals company, ALTANA provides its customers with highly specialized technical solutions in niche markets. By virtue of this business model, innovation is an essential element in the corporate strategy, ensuring that ALTANA continues to grow and remain a technology and market leader. To be able to satisfy these requirements, the company has developed a program that aims to promote and develop junior talent in the area of innovation. As part of the Cross Divisional Development Program Innovation (CDDPI), participants complete, within two years, a strategic project accompanied by a cross-divisional project in each of the company’s four divisions.

“This program allows us to promote talent specifically for collaboration between the divisions. Accordingly, we are very much improving the use of synergies in the area of innovation,” said Dr. Georg F. L. Wießmeier, Chief Technology Officer of ALTANA.

Against a background of demographic change and the anticipated shortage of skilled and managerial personnel, an optimum talent and succession management program is becoming increasingly important. Jörg Bauer, Vice President Human Resources at ALTANA, said, “We tailor our trainee programs according to the particular skills and needs of the participants. A trainee program at ALTANA thus provides the ideal opportunity to prepare for higher duties in the company and allows participants to familiarize themselves with different roles and, where applicable, divisions.” In addition, the trainee programs at ALTANA are characterized by a broad coverage of subjects and provide the opportunity to build up an extensive network in the company.

The initiative is the brainchild of Absolventa GmbH. Partners in its implementation are the Institute for Human Resources Management of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, chaired by Professor Dr. Ingo Weller, and 10 companies from the private sector. The award is based on the “Charter of Career-Promoting and Fair Trainee Programs.”

By recognizing the charter and implementing its contents in the company, ALTANA has pledged itself to uphold the following criteria:

Trainee programs are an elementary part of talent and professional management at ALTANA and are geared to long-term collaboration in an expert or management role;

• Trainees assume responsible duties from the outset and are supported in the process by experienced senior staff;
• Trainees pass through several divisions during the development programs, completing learning activities (e.g. placements abroad and professional and behavioral training courses) and playing an active part in the company’s network;
• Remuneration and length of time are in reasonable proportion to the learning content and development objectives of the company’s trainee programs; and
• ALTANA ensures the quality of its trainee programs by means of internal and external evaluation measures.