Only bad managers want clones on their team

To what extent does Hornbach address the issue of diversity?

Erich Harsch: We deal with it on many levels. For many years now, we have been working in our committees to achieve a better balance in this respect, and we have done really well. Women make up two thirds of the Supervisory Board and one third of the Management Board. In terms of gender distribution within the company, our Supervisory Board is also striving to achieve this goal in connection with ESG. It's not just about the first management level, but also the second. We are not quite as well positioned there as we are on the Management Board and Supervisory Board.

But even that is actually a very, very good figure if you look at the gender distribution in a DIY store. We have always had a high proportion of male colleagues, especially at our DIY store, which focuses on construction projects and building materials. Of course, we have looked at this, but we still receive a disproportionately high number of male applications. This makes it even more difficult to develop a ratio that is already relatively male-dominated.

What do you attribute this to?

We can't control that. We just have to deal with the hard facts of construction. But of course we have a significantly higher proportion of women in our garden business, for example, which is a really big area for us. It's not a question of forcing the proportions in a certain direction. However, I am firmly convinced that a reasonable proportion of women is good for the team in every respect and I am therefore an advocate of promoting this. We have to take a differentiated and measured approach and ensure that we achieve a sensible organic development. We are on the right track.

Do you also relate this to other dimensions of diversity, for example in terms of origin or migration background, and also age?

At Hornbach, we tend to represent the normal average. We employ people from more than 95 nations. Many new employees come to our stores with a migration background. We experience a great deal of diversity. In my opinion, the question of what this means for training and further education as well as management depends heavily on communication skills. Nowadays, leadership has a…