Social standards

402-1

Minimum notice periods regarding operational changes

Diversity, equity & inclusion

Omission reason: Not applicable

Comment: The regulations on periods of notice vary worldwide. We apply the rules that are in force locally and do not track periods of notice at Group level.

GRI 403: Occupational Health and Safety 2018

GRI Standard and disclosure		Reference	Omission reason and Comment
403: 3-3	Management of material topics	Health & safety Plant, process & transport safety	Comment: The disclosures under GRI 403 pertain to our main employee groups, for example our own employees as well as supervised temporary staff. They do not include employees of contractors. Consequently, not all the employee groups specified by GRI are taken into consideration.
403-1	Occupational health and safety management system	Health & safety
403-2	Hazard identification, risk assessment, and incident investigation	Health & safety Plant, process & transport safety
403-3	Occupational health services	Health & safety
403-4	Worker participation, consultation, and communication on occupational health and safety	Health & safety	Comment: Occupational health and safety committees are required by law in Germany. All employees of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, are therefore represented by such committees, which operate at site level. They account for around 6% of our total workforce. The majority of sites outside Germany also have health and safety committees to represent their employees. The organization of these committees is the responsibility of our individual sites. Health and safety issues are governed Group-wide by our EHS Policy. The organizational implementation of this policy is the responsibility of our individual sites and is subject to local laws and regulations. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, has company agreements in place on occupational health and safety.
403-5	Worker training on occupational health and safety	Health & safety Plant, process & transport safety
403-6	Promotion of worker health	Health & safety
403-7	Prevention and mitigation of occupational health and safety impacts directly linked by business relationships	Health & safety Human rights Plant, process & transport safety
403-8	Workers covered by an occupational health and safety management system	Health & safety
403-9	Work-related injuries	Health & safety Plant, process & transport safety Indicators: employees	Comment: We have identified the lost time injury rate (LTIR) as a key indicator for our company.
403-10	Work-related ill health	Health & safety Plant, process & transport safety Indicators: employees	Omission reason: Information unavailable/incomplete Comment: At Group level, we do not collect data about the types of potential work-related illnesses or fatalities. Our sites may collect data on occupational illness as needed. We are reviewing consolidation at Group level for fiscal 2024.

GRI 404: Training and Education 2016

GRI Standard and disclosure		Reference	Omission reason and Comment
404: 3-3	Management of material topics	Career with us Diversity, equity & inclusion Corporate culture
404-1	Average hours of training per year per employee	Career with us	Omission reason: Not applicable Comment: We do not keep track of the average hours our employees spend on vocational training and continuing education because this indicator does not have any bearing on the quality or success of our efforts.
404-2	Programs for upgrading employee skills and transition assistance programs	Supply chain management Human rights Product-related crime Plant, process & transport safety Career with us Corporate culture Diversity, equity & inclusion Environmental protection
404-3	Percentage of employees receiving regular performance and career development reviews	Career with us Indicators: employees

GRI 405: Diversity and Equal Opportunity 2016

GRI Standard and disclosure		Reference	Omission reason and Comment
405: 3-3	Management of material topics	Diversity, equity & inclusion Career with us Objectives of the Supervisory Board
405-1	Diversity of governance bodies and employees	Diversity, equity & inclusion Indicators: employees The Executive Board The Supervisory Board Objectives of the Supervisory Board Diversity policy
405-2	Ratio of basic salary and remuneration of women to men	Career with us Diversity, equity & inclusion	Omission reason: Not applicable Comment: As a core principle, our compensation systems and processes do not distinguish between women and men. The salaries we offer are predicated on the respective job description and are based on our Global Job Catalog, which has fixed salary bands that are identical for men and women. Variable salary components that fall under performance-based compensation are paid based on whether mutually agreed targets have been achieved. A performance management system governs this process.

GRI 406: Non-discrimination 2016

GRI Standard and disclosure		Reference		Omission reason and Comment
406: 3-3		Management of material topics		Diversity, equity & inclusion Corporate culture
406-1		Incidents of discrimination and corrective actions taken		Diversity, equity & inclusion Indicators: business ethics		Omission reason: Confidentiality constraints Comment: Due to the sensitive nature of discrimination cases and to avoid conclusions about individual cases, we do not report on 406-1-b-iii.

GRI Standard and disclosure

Reference

Omission reason and Comment

406: 3-3

Management of material topics

Diversity, equity & inclusion

406-1

Incidents of discrimination and corrective actions taken

Indicators: business ethics

Omission reason: Confidentiality constraints

Comment: Due to the sensitive nature of discrimination cases and to avoid conclusions about individual cases, we do not report on 406-1-b-iii.

GRI 407: Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining 2016

GRI Standard and disclosure

Reference

Omission reason and Comment

407: 3-3

Management of material topics

407-1

Operations and suppliers in which the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining may be at risk

GRI 408: Child Labor 2016

GRI Standard and disclosure

Reference

Omission reason and Comment

408: 3-3

Management of material topics

408-1

Operations and suppliers at significant risk for incidents of child labor

GRI 409: Forced or Compulsory Labor 2016

GRI Standard and disclosure

Reference

Omission reason and Comment

409: 3-3

Management of material topics

409-1

Operations and suppliers at significant risk for incidents of forced or compulsory labor

GRI 410: Security Practices 2016

GRI Standard and disclosure		Reference		Omission reason and Comment
410: 3-3		Management of material topics		Human rights Supply chain management
410-1		Security personnel trained in human rights policies or procedures		Human rights		Omission reason: Information unavailable/incomplete Comment: As part of our Security Governance Framework, we plan to integrate human rights aspects even more strongly into security-relevant processes, for instance in training courses for security personnel. To this end, we plan to offer webinars on the topic of human rights on the established Security Academy platform in regular intervals, among other things.

GRI Standard and disclosure

Reference

Omission reason and Comment

410: 3-3

Management of material topics

410-1

Security personnel trained in human rights policies or procedures