Background information: Bosch as an employer

Invented for life: working on solutions for a connected world

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. Some 390,000 associates in roughly 60 countries worldwide are working on creating technology that is “Invented for life” in the company’s four business sectors Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. For over 130 years, the company’s associates have been translating their tremendous creativity and unconventional ideas into products and services that improve quality of life around the world and help to conserve natural resources. Bosch’s strategic objective is to create solutions for the connected world. Thanks to its broad-based expertise, the company is already helping to connect cars over the internet, to enable home robots to communicate with their owners, and to incorporate suppliers into the online supply chain for connected manufacturing. Bosch is also connecting heating systems, electric ovens, and other household devices in smart homes. In the mobility segment, associates are using their skills and knowledge to drive forward automotive connectivity. They are making the search for parking a thing of the past and taking the stress out of driving. With automated driving and driver assistance systems, they are making an important contribution to increasing road safety and reducing the number of people injured in accidents. They are also advancing electrification in order to develop the eco-friendly and resource-conserving mobility of the future. Thanks to their efforts, Bosch is a leading provider in the areas of vehicle electrification and e-bike drives.

The internet of things: combining software and industry expertise

The development and manufacturing expertise of Bosch associates is evident in numerous high-end products, ranging from app-based parking assistants that make it easier to park safely and quickly, to robotic lawnmowers with wireless internet connections, to virtual power plants that manage renewable energies from various micro-generation facility owners. One of the main tasks for many associates is developing solutions for the internet of things – in other words, using software to connect objects over the internet. Bosch utilizes its software expertise and combines it with its divisions’ industry expertise. For example, the company is one of the leading suppliers of MEMS sensors, a key technology for the internet of things. These chips are used in automotive electronics, such as airbag control systems, as well as in consumer goods, such as fitness trackers and smartphones. Each year, Bosch makes significant up-front investments – in 2016, these totaled seven billion euros. Worldwide, Bosch employs some 59,000 researchers and developers.

A change of perspective: career opportunities abroad, in the corporate organization, and in start-ups

With its approximately 450 subsidiaries, regional companies, and sales partners, Bosch is represented in nearly every country. The company has used this broad footprint to create a development, manufacturing, and sales network that provides its associates around the world with development opportunities. Associates can gain international experience in a variety of ways – from short-term assignments for specific projects to positions lasting several years. Even if Bosch associates stay in their home countries, their work is often international in nature. Moreover, the company’s numerous subsidiaries and start-ups provide many associates with a working environment characterized by entrepreneurial spirit. The company encourages its associates to move between different industries, divisions, business sectors, and career paths (specialist, project, or leadership). Bosch takes a systematic approach to the development of its associates, regularly reviewing their potential. To do so, it uses standardized tools that ensure objectiveness thanks to the principle of multiple control (HR departments and managers). Life-long learning is of high importance. Last year, Bosch invested around 250 million euros worldwide into educating and training its associates.

A flexible working culture: promoting freedom, creativity, and balance

Work-life balance is very important at Bosch. The company has over 100 working models on offer for its associates, enabling them to better balance their private lives with their careers. Bosch is committed to creating a flexible and family-friendly working culture, with an emphasis on results rather than physical presence at the workplace. This provides its associates with freedom, which fosters satisfaction and creativity. Associates and executives should be able to work flexibly from home, on the go, or in a different location as long as the task allows it. In phases of family challenges, Bosch provides its associates with the best possible support. This allows associates to reach the next step on the career ladder by replacing one career stepping stone, such as an international assignment, with “family time.” Bosch considers this a valuable life experience that imparts social skills as well as the ability to deal with complexity. Executives can also work part time so that they have more time for things such as family commitments.

Responsibility: long-term business operations with financial independence

Since its founding in 1886, the company has always taken a long-term approach to leadership. There have only been seven chairmen of the board of management since Robert Bosch founded the company over 130 years ago. The Bosch Group’s special ownership structure is geared toward this long-term approach, with a charitable foundation, the Robert Bosch Stiftung, as the main shareholder. Unlike listed companies, this means that Bosch is not answerable to stakeholders who have invested capital. The Robert Bosch Stiftung holds 92 percent of the shares in Robert Bosch GmbH and finances around 700 charitable projects from the company’s dividends every year. This independence is the basis for the company’s strong and meaningful development, in line with the mission handed down by the company’s founder in his will.

Following in the footsteps of Robert Bosch, the company is committed to taking on social responsibility. This finds expression in a corporate culture where associates appreciate diverse elements such as different ways of thinking as well as different nationalities, lifestyles, and experiences. Equal opportunity for women in leadership positions is just as self-evident to the company as its program enabling retired associates to continue contributing their expertise. Diversity like this is firmly entrenched in Bosch’s corporate values, which are the basis of the “We are Bosch” mission statement. Straightforward and compact, this mission statement expresses how the company sees itself. The results of regular associate surveys show that associates identify very strongly with the company: more than 80 percent of the global workforce is proud to work for Bosch.