PUMA Life Cycle

RECRUITING/ONBOARDING

People are our most valuable asset. We adopt a data-driven approach to talent acquisition to ensure that PUMA remains the employer of choice in the minds of external applicants. We analyse previous trends in recruitment, identify the primary source of talent inflow, and tailor our talent acquisition approach accordingly.

To complement our goal, we employ digital platforms, social media, and the PUMA career website to engage with talent around the world.

To ensure a continuous talent pipeline, we cultivate links with universities through career events, company lectures and master classes. We also regularly participate in external professional events, panel discussions, and seminars to build a solid talent network.

Over the past two years, we have fostered a deeper relationship with candidates by offering them the chance to participate in unique PUMA digital events. These events allowed candidates to speak with top officials at PUMA and offer suggestions on how to improve the brand.

Our onboarding process should not only provide the new starters with a great first day experience but also guarantee that they will work effectively and feel a member of the PUMA family as soon as possible. This effective onboarding serves as the foundation for a successful employee journey, aligning our new team members with our culture, values, and mission. It ensures compliance, clarifies roles, and provides essential support, enabling a seamless integration. This process not only fosters productivity and teamwork but also enhances our employees' sense of belonging and growth within PUMA.

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

Talent management

We believe that each employee is in charge of their own personal development. At PUMA, we foster a culture centred around feedback and results, coupled with a self-directed learning mindset through an integrated talent management approach. At least annually, we evaluate of all our employees, assessing their performance and potential. Personal development plans are crafted, and we identify the right individuals to prepare them for shaping the future of PUMA.

Global talent conferences are held to assess the entire PUMA workforce, including all levels of management. Criteria such as individual performance, competencies, potential, learning agility, ambition, and mobility are used for evaluation. A targeted analysis of our employees' profiles allows us to align internal talent with upcoming career opportunities. This helps us build a strong succession pipeline and address future competency needs.

Our unwavering focus on internal talent mobility provides our employees with opportunities for professional growth and cross-cultural experience, resulting in an enhanced learning curve on both professional and personal levels. Utilizing digital platforms, such as Workday's “Job Alert” and “Talent Marketplace” feature, our internal talents can easily find job opportunities.

For instance, in 2023, a substantial number of internal moves, including relocations abroad, were reported. Overall, we successfully filled three out of four vacant key positions worldwide through internal promotions or horizontal transfers, with 60% of open positions filled by internal candidates. This accomplishment confirms the effectiveness of our talent and development strategy.

Our overarching goal is to minimize voluntary turnover and maintain a permanent employment rate of over 80% for our workforce. In 2023, 92% of our employees worldwide held permanent employment contracts, and over 31% were governed by collective agreements. The turnover rate is intricately linked to the share of retail business in respective markets and regions, with the employee-induced turnover rate standing at 24% (7% for non-retail employees and 39% for retail employees). The overall turnover rate, including retail employees, was 32% shows a decrease of 3% compared to last year. At the end of 2023, 22% of our employees were working part-time.

Development

Our employees’ ongoing professional and personal development ensures they have the necessary skills to support internal growth and drive the company forward.

Strategic workforce planning and the use of Workday help us to identify skill gaps and determine the capabilities of our employees. We provide a wide choice of training and development options, including courses, workshops, and coaching – both online and offline, standardised or tailored to specific needs. We offer a cutting-edge learning environment for both internal and external training classes, built into the Workday Human Capital Management system. This is based on the idea of lifelong learning, which fosters a self-driven learning culture.

In 2023, 18,527 employees worldwide attended 160,481 hours of training and workshops. This averaged 9 hours and € 226 per FTE for training activities. Compared to 2023, the average number of training hours per FTE increased by 2 hours. We achieved this by a proactive learner engagement strategy, including fun activations on various topics, a gamified approach, and internal learning competitions. The most engaged learners worldwide were rewarded quarterly with the “Top Learner Award”. Based on this strategy, PUMA was nominated for an “eLearning Journal” Award 2024 in the “Learner Engagement” category.

LinkedIn Learning and GoodHabitz offer more than 23,000 online training courses in up to 13 languages for personal and professional growth. Additionally, PUMA employees actively generate product-specific learning content.

Employees around the globe can access the language learning platform on any device. Speaking a second language helps people understand each other, makes connections, and increases diversity. It also enhances our internal mobility. While the global focus is on English, people can acquire or perfect any other language for business or travel.

Our entire staff, including retail employees, can now learn a new language online, at their own pace and in a way that fits their needs. By offering weekly language training in an office classroom, PUMA helps employees integrate locally faster by eliminating the need to drive to external courses after work.

To support our global workforce during challenging times, we focused on mental health, resilience, mindfulness, and emotional stability in 2023. All our current classroom training is based on hybrid concepts to ensure that our employees can learn in the way that is best for them.

We continue to provide our digital agile coach programme to workers globally to establish an agile learning organisation and increase agile working practises. Since its launch, approximately 190 employees around the globe have completed the programme by 2023. We focus on need-based training at three levels – Agile Rookie, Agile Facilitator, and Agile Coach – to equip the right people with the right skills. Various business units are actively using agile ideas and frameworks such as Scrum, Kanban, Design Thinking, and OKRs, in their daily operations and strategic planning.

Leadership Training ILP/­ILP²/PLE

Our leaders are vital for PUMA becoming FOREVER.FASTER. We highly value their skills and leadership expertise in mastering complex challenges in a volatile world while achieving our goals of excellence.

Our International Leadership Programme (ILP & ILP²) provides staff with essential competencies and promotes a shared knowledge of our leadership culture. PUMA leaders receive comprehensive training and coaching, including interactive learning, roleplay, best-practice learning, and joint projects. Mindful leadership and agile work are emphasised. The programme's modular design allows managers to apply their newly acquired knowledge between seminars. 191 global leaders took part in this state of the art programme.

We continued to promote healthy and sustainable leadership in 2023 with the PUMA Leadership Expedition programme. It is designed to teach leaders how to lead well in a VUCA world marked by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Self-driven learning, nugget-learning, learning sprints, and peer- learning underpin this virtual, easily accessible course.

Our leaders can choose what, when, and how to learn from over 130 one-hour learning nuggets with a balanced mix of trainer-led virtual sessions and self-directed learning. To maximise learning and transfer success, the programme is centred on Learning Sprints, which include trainer-led sessions, self-driven nugget learning, retrospective sessions with coaches, and group assignments. 67 talents completed the programme successfully in 2023.

First-time managers get PUMA-tailored training “From employee to manager” to prepare them for their new role and ensure a common concept of leadership at PUMA. This programme includes training modules and individual coaching as well as online pre- and post-learning. Classroom trainings provide new executives with recruiting and appraisal skills.

Speed Up/Speed Up²

Retaining talent and speeding up their progress is important for the success of our business. Two selective development programmes, Speed Up and Speed Up², are designed to help us reach this goal by bringing out the best in our people.

An intensive curriculum of cross-functional projects and tasks, coaching, mentoring, and specialised training prepares employees for their next career steps. Participants also get to meet top management and build strong networks around the world.

Future Talent

We are always looking for future talent we can develop and equip with the relevant skills to take on demanding PUMA Group responsibilities. We participate in various career fairs and university initiatives both locally and abroad to approach potential employees and identify suitable candidates. Plenty of options in an international work environment make PUMA an excellent place for career starters.

Nine apprentices and six dual students joined the PUMA Headquarters in Herzogenaurach in 2023. Dual study programmes are available in International Business, Fashion Management, and Business Informatics. Students acquire theoretical grounding through partnerships with various universities and practical experience in different PUMA teams. Our apprentices either train as industrial clerks, IT specialists or retail sales manager. They work in various company departments to build personal and professional skills and increase their knowledge while attending vocational school. By the end of 2023, PUMA employed 41 trainees and dual students.

Internships and working student positions are another way to become familiar with PUMA. Students from around the world get six months of work experience as well as the opportunity to build their network and hone their talents. By the end of 2023, roughly 140 interns and working students were part of the PUMA family.

Feedback

We value internal and external feedback at PUMA, as it reveals whether we are on track and helps us grow. We compare ourselves to other organisations and gain valuable insights from our employees.

Our "listening strategy" includes surveys, pulse surveys, focus groups, interviews and sentiment analysis to gauge employee mood and understand their needs. For this, we use tools such as Amber, Leena AI, and Workday. Our Top Employer certification, Great Place to Work award, “berufundfamilie” audit, and other honours reflect regular industry benchmarking.

Since 2009, we have conducted global employee opinion surveys regularly to monitor employee engagement and collect feedback on various topics. Overall, 15,339 employees participated in our 2023 global survey to share their workplace and work life opinions. This equates to an 85% participation rate (2021: 86%). Despite geopolitical tensions in Europe and their far-reaching social and economic effects, from 13 categories two categories saw an increase in favourable scores, four categories stayed at their high levels, and seven categories saw a slight 1% decrease from the last survey. Our poll results beat or match market data, including high-performance data, in all but four categories. High-performance companies outperform the market financially and consistently score excellently in surveys. This positive feedback inspires us to continue and further strengthen the measures we have implemented. We shared the survey results globally, locally, and at departmental level, and follow-up actions were devised.

Engagement

Outstanding performance and ongoing growth demand our employees' commitment and dedication. We monitor employee engagement by regular global employee opinion surveys. The most recent one achieved again an extraordinarily high engagement score of 91%, compared to 92% for the previous survey. This implies our engagement score over the last three surveys has remained strong, something we are very proud of. We value our employees' high level of engagement and brand loyalty and intend to retain this in the future. We started already to implement the action plan resulting from this year's global employee survey.

REWARD, RECOGNITION & BENEFITS

Compensation & Benefits

The attractive performance-based compensation system at PUMA consists of fixed base salary, PUMA bonus schemes, profit-sharing programs and various social benefits and intangible benefits. We also offer long-term incentive programs to the senior management level that honours the sustainable development and performance of the business. The bonus system is transparent and globally standardised. Incentives are exclusively linked to company goals.

Ensuring fair and non-discriminatory compensation at PUMA is one of our strategic priorities. Our compensation framework is based on analytical job evaluations and a global grading system. Since the criteria to be evaluated relate exclusively to characteristics of the job – not to the job holder – the remuneration system as such is gender-neutral. This enables us to rule out any gender-specific discrimination emanating from the compensation system.

After becoming Universal Fair Pay Analyst in Germany in 2022, PUMA was certified as Universal Fair Pay Developer in Germany by FPI Fair Pay Innovation Lab as we successfully closed the adjusted pay gap in January 2023. We extended the gender pay analysis to our subsidiaries in Europe and EEMEA markets by using the consistent methodology. For Sweden and United Arabic Emirates we also closed the adjusted gap in 2023. Certain regression analysis results look optimistic, and we are confident to close the adjusted pay gap with the support of both local and global management in other European countries soon. For markets with highly diversified workforce, nationality does not have a significant impact in the analysis. In 2024, the gender pay gap analysis will be continuously conducted and introduced to our other regions to enhance internal fairness.

In addition, we have continued our cooperation with the Fair Wage Network and are able to access benchmarks for all of our subsidiaries and analyse them in terms of living wages as defined by the Fair Wage Network. For the year 2023 we can confirm, with regards to the Living Wage Adjusted Mean benchmark as defined by the Fair Wage Network, that all of our employees are earning a living wage or more.

Wellbeing

At PUMA, we care about the well-being of our people. Through a variety of services and benefits, we strive to improve the health and happiness of our employees. We started the wellbeing approach at our headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany. All PUMA companies around the world have adopted it and adapted it to their local needs and regulations. It is now an important part of all PUMA subsidiaries around the world.

There are four components to our wellbeing programme: Flex, Social, Financial and Athlete.

As a sports company, we offer regular in-house sports classes and training, sporting events and free access to the gym. We provide outdoor facilities for football, volleyball, basketball, tennis, and paddle tennis. Our exercise classes include meditation, yoga, Zumba, jumping fitness, and Pilates. We host bouldering, stand up paddling, trampolining, bowling, snowshoeing, and skiing events, among others.

Our "Be Well Weeks", which promote healthy lifestyles, offered free health checks and nutritional advice, as well as the opportunity for employees to explore the latest fitness and sports trends. We provide access to health and wellness resources, such as ergonomic assessments, mental health days, and health-related information. To foster camaraderie and a sense of community, we organise team-building and social events for our employees.

Flexible Working Conditions

The wellbeing of our people goes hand in hand with excellent working conditions based on a unique culture. We offer a range of models, such as flexible working, mobile office, part-time and sabbaticals, to help our employees balance their work and personal lives and manage stress. They can choose from these models at different points in their lives.

All our offices around the world have a hybrid working model, which is very flexible in terms of when and where people work. Employees in Germany can take advantage of free employee assistance services provided by one of our partners. Our headquarters in Herzogenaurach was awarded the German "audit berufundfamilie" certificate in 2015, which it has held ever since. The certificate recognises among other offers services such as a parent-child office, a nursing room, day care and summer camps for children during school holidays.

PROGRESSION & PERFORMANCE

Digitalised Infrastructure (Digitalisation)

A big part of PUMA's plan to streamline processes and improve the employee experience is investing in our digital infrastructure. Since 2017, Workday has been our main human capital management (HCM) system. It covers HR tasks at all stages of the recruitment process, from candidate to employee experience, simplifying tasks such as recruitment, talent management and employee engagement. As a result, the workforce is seamlessly integrated throughout the candidate and employee lifecycle.

Through this digital platform, our employees can access HR resources and data at any time, in a controlled and secure environment that protects data privacy and integrity. It gives both employees and managers the tools and processes they need to manage people effectively.

Workday's easy-to-use dashboards give managers clear, actionable insights for strategic planning and decision-making. And because all of our global data is stored in one place in Workday, it enables comprehensive analytics that help us make evidence-based decisions and drive tangible results.

By using such a digitalised infrastructure, we aim to maintain our focus on operational efficiency and improving our HR practices throughout the PUMA employee lifecycle. This supports PUMA's overall goal of improving workplace operations and the employee journey. It also helps us to prepare for the future to better deal with the dynamics of challenging labour markets.

DIVERSITY, EQUALITY & INCLUSION

At PUMA, equality and non-discrimination are an important part of our culture. We encourage and support people of all genders and believe that diversity drives success. The different nationalities and backgrounds of our employees is one of our key strengths. We employ people from 143 countries and at our home base in Germany, we have people with more than 81 different passports. BE YOU, the central tenet of the PUMA family, is essential to creating a respectful and supportive work environment where each employee can be their true self. We want to create a culture that fosters collaboration and fairness. That is why we are listening to our PUMA family to address systemic barriers and identify areas for improvement.

In 2023, we reviewed our diversity policy and included employee training on discrimination and injustice, intercultural communication, diversity, inclusion and belonging. We also hosted talks with internal and external speakers and published articles on our internal communication platforms to raise awareness.

Celebrating diversity!

We treat all our employees fairly and equally, regardless of their gender, nationality, ethnicity, religion, disability, age, or sexual orientation. These values are also part of our PUMA Code of Ethics (2005) and our 2010 Diversity Charter.

During Pride Month in June, for example, we celebrated our commitment to diversity and inclusion with a “Together Forever” summer party at our headquarters, complete with food trucks, a live band and a DJ set. Our partners from Christopher-Street-Day Nuremberg e.V. had their own stand with information about LGBTQ+ events in the area. We also put up rainbow flags at our headquarters and lit up the building in rainbow colours.

We share our beliefs with the rest of the world and support various NGOs and groups around the world.

For the fourth year running, PUMA worked with The Christopher-Street-Day Nürnberg e.V. to celebrate PRIDE month in the Nuremberg metropolitan area, support the local PRIDE parade and raise awareness. We were proud to organise our own information stand for the first time. This gave us the opportunity to connect with the PRIDE community and showcase PUMA’s diverse and inclusive workplace culture where employees can truly be themselves.

In 2023, PUMA North America’s (PNA) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) team designed strategies based on their five pillars: Environment, Talent, Learning, Advocacy, and Marketplace. PNA has four Employee Resource Groups: BBOLD for Black and Brown Employees + Allies, Puma Association of Women (PAW) for Women + Allies, PumALLiance for LGBTQ+ Employees + Allies, and ROAR for Asian-American and Pacific Islander Employees + Allies. Our efforts also included trainings for leaders to improve their resources and best-practices needed to act as an inclusive leader.

PNA’s DEI team hosted several cultural celebrations throughout the year including a conversation with Black Panther’ Oscar winning costume designer Ruth Carter for Black History Month, Peloton instructor and PUMA ambassador Aditi Shah for AAPI Heritage Month, and PUMA Ambassadors Dapper Dan and Alex Toussaint for Juneteenth.

“Culture Labs” quarterly conversations meant to build a culture of belonging for everyone and “Connect & Reflect” sessions which focus on providing safe space conversations were also offered by PNA.

PNA officially kicked off our strategic talent partnership with Clark Atlanta University, a historically black university (HBCU), to foster talents among underrepresented groups in the industry and has, in addition, partnerships with ALPFA, Ascend, Boston While Black, the Black Footwear Forum, National Black MBA, College of Creative Arts and Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design, amongst other collegiate partners. To date, this partnership has allowed PNA to impact more than 100 students and PUMA will provide over $ 1 million in scholarships over a 5-year period.

Our efforts over the past year have been recognised with independent awards that we are delighted to receive.

For the fourth year running, the Financial Times named us one of Leaders in Diversity, reflecting our commitment to creating a diverse, equal, and inclusive culture. In terms of diversity, we are proud to be included in the Pride Index and to be one of the top teams in the British Business Women Awards series. Integrating Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DE & I) into the fabric of our business will help us maintain and enhance our international competitiveness.

BEING INCLUSIVE

We prioritise creating an inclusive workplace where people with disabilities can work and grow. We adapt workplaces and training to meet their needs. In Germany, an elected works council member represents the interests of employees with disabilities. In some countries, legal issues prevent our companies from recording disability status and severity. Around 1% of our employees have told us that they have a severe disability, but the true number is probably higher.

Actions to promote gender equality

We promote equality and are pleased that the PUMA Group has a balanced gender mix, with approximately 50% women and 50% men working with us. 44% of our STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) employees are female. Women held 43% of global leadership positions in 2023. Thanks to PUMA's equal opportunities work, this figure has been on a high level over the last few years (2018: 40%, 2019: 41%, 2020: 43%, 2021: 44%, 2022: 44%, 2023: 43%). Due to the discontinuation of our Russian Operation this year’s figure decreased by 1%. However, in the rest of the world the share of female managers has increased by 0.2%. But there is still room for improvement. We are committed to increasing the number of women in leadership positions around the world in the coming years, especially at the highest levels of management.

In addition, the Supervisory Board of PUMA SE has set a target of at least two women (33%) for the proportion of women on the Supervisory Board. For the Management Board, the Supervisory Board has set the following targets for the proportion of women: (i) At least one woman (25%), on condition that PUMA SE has four Management Board members, (ii) at least one woman (20%), on condition that PUMA SE has five Management Board members, (iii) at least two women (33%), on condition that PUMA SE has six Management Board members. We set ourselves an implementation deadline by October 31, 2026.

We want to continuously support the development of women in management positions. For this reason, we offer special training and access to inspiring networks. The exchange with experienced female managers is intended to encourage and motivate female employees to take on leading roles within the company themselves.

We see the fact that PUMA has two women on the Management Board of four since January 1, 2023, with Anne-Laure Descours (CSO) and Maria Valdes (CPO), as a success of our efforts to achieve equal opportunities.

The average age of our employees worldwide is 32. Our employees represent all working age groups.

OFFBOARDING

Our aim is to ensure that the employee’s last day is as positive as their first day at PUMA, signifying an appreciative end to the employment relationship. We facilitate a respectful and insightful offboarding process, allowing both PUMA and the employee to reflect on their time together, ensure knowledge transfer, and maintain a positive relationship post-employment. Employees are asked to complete an anonymous exit questionnaire on Workday to provide feedback about their work experience. We will conduct an in-depth exit interview to understand the reasons behind the decision to leave and propose to reapply in the future. We also ask the leaving employees to remain a part of the PUMA family by joining our Alumni Network. This way we keep in touch fostering professional networking opportunities as well as using this platform as talent pool for future rehires.