Nurturing Emerging Employees
We strive to provide our emerging employees (i.e. apprentices, interns
and trainees) with the best possible start into our workforce. To this
end, we have set up clearly defined and targeted programs which allow
us to support them in their quest for knowledge and experience while
learning more about their strengths and potential for next possible
career opportunities within the adidas Group. Our business
administration and retail apprenticeship programs in Germany offer
young people who want to join our Group straight out of high school
with the opportunity to gain relevant business experience in a
three-year rotation program. The goal of our global internship program
is to provide university students with a challenging and interesting
four to six months work experience period within the adidas Group. With
our “Re-Bound” Program, we want to attract our former “best-of-class”
interns to remain in contact with the adidas Group after finishing the
original internship and to become future employees. In addition to our
apprenticeship and internship programs, we offer students with an
international background and excellent educational credentials the
opportunity to start their career with the adidas Group in our 12- to
18-month functional trainee program. On top of this functional program,
we have implemented an international cross-functional and cross-brand
“Business Management Program”, hiring 10 top talents and training and
developing them to take over management positions in the future.
adidas Group Personnel Development
Employee Development Based On Three Success Drivers
Just like athletes, our Group’s employees need a training plan to build
on their strengths, overcome their own challenges and improve their
technique to achieve their goals. In 2006, we further extended our
development program. This incorporates behavioral, managerial,
technical and language training for different target groups. We base
our efforts on three success drivers:
» Leadership Excellence: All members of senior and middle management are encouraged to instill a performance culture in our teams by acting as role models.
» Performance Management: Evaluation tools such as PEP (“Performance Evaluation and Planning”) which are part of our Global Salary Management System measure employees’ current performance based on job and competency requirements and link performance levels directly to compensation.
» Talent Management: With specifically designed talent management tools and processes, we identify employees at all levels who have the potential to become leaders in the business. In order to prepare them for new and more complex future roles, they participate in targeted development programs for various levels within the organization. In 2006, we rolled out a new Management Development Program and Executive Development Program to actively support the long-term employability and retention of our top talents.
