People

Progress 2025

Rieter closed its social target reporting cycle, achieving three of five objectives and demonstrating ongoing improvement. The targeted safety trainings in the year under review are clearly paying off. The absolute number of occupational accidents was reduced by around thirty percent to 21, which in turn led to an improvement in the accident rate per million hours worked to 2.7. Amid a challenging market environment, the absence rate for sick and accident leave reached 3.5 percent in 2025. With 20.1 percent women in leadership positions, Rieter exceeded the targeted level of 20.0 percent for the first time. This was enabled by systematically embedding a focus on diversity into all human resources processes and across the entire employee lifecycle. The labor turnover rate rose slightly to 6.1 percent, but still lies below the 10.0 percent target. Training days per employee dropped slightly to 1.4 in 2025. From 2026 onward, Rieter will work toward new social targets for 2030 as defined in its latest materiality assessment, with a particular emphasis on driving growth and a sense of belonging.

Social disclosures

Social topics, including diversity, equality, fair treatment and employee well-being, are crucial for fostering an inclusive, respectful and high-performing workplace. These issues drive organizational success by ensuring equal opportunity, promoting diversity, supporting employee growth and creating safe and healthy work environments that attract and retain talent.

Rieter’s Code of Conduct establishes ethical standards for equal treatment, non-discrimination and respect across the organization, promoting a culture where everyone has equal opportunities. The Supplier Code of Conduct extends these expectations to business partners, promoting respect for labor rights and fair treatment throughout the supply chain. Rieter’s Human Rights Policy further reinforces this commitment by highlighting the company’s commitment to upholding globally recognized labor standards defined by the United Nations and the International Labor Organization (ILO). They include the minimum working age, maximum working hours, freedom of association and safe working conditions, especially for vulnerable groups. The Health and Safety Policy prioritizes a safe and healthy work environment, complying with legal regulations and aiming to reduce accidents.

Working conditions and social engagement

Material impacts, risks and opportunities

Rieter’s employees are at the center of the company’s success. Attracting, developing and retaining a highly-skilled workforce is essential to Rieter’s business strategy. Working conditions are highly significant for an industrial company with worldwide operations, including sites in Germany, India, China, the Czech Republic and other countries, due to their direct impact on performance, legal compliance and reputation. Secure employment, adequate wages and working time regulation can reduce employee turnover, increase employee motivation and mitigate labor disputes, thereby lowering operational risks.

In recent years, Rieter has taken strategic steps to refine its global organizational structure to better support long-term competitiveness and customer proximity. This transformation involved the reallocation of selected functions from Europe to dynamic growth regions such as China and India, where market proximity offers strategic advantages. Additionally, streamlined operations and targeted efficiency initiatives led to a reduction in the overall workforce, impacting all locations.

To support its transformation, Rieter has invested in reskilling and strategically reshaping its workforce to align with forward-looking business objectives and tap into regional growth opportunities. Thanks to these changes, Rieter now has a more agile and competitive organizational structure and is optimally positioned for sustainable growth and innovation.

Due to the significant reorganization of the workforce and the ongoing performance program, the labor turnover rate rose to 6.1 percent in 2025, but still remained below the 10.0 percent target. This confirms the strength of Rieter’s corporate culture. Rieter measures the involuntary fluctuation of employees using the labor turnover rate.

In addition, the Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) is monitored annually. The eNPS is a key indicator that reflects how likely Rieter employees are to recommend Rieter as a place to work to their families and friends. By definition, the eNPS ranges between -100 and +100. The participation rate rose by 25 percentage points, reaching 73 percent. In October 2025, the actual eNPS score at Group-level improved by eight points to -2 (2024: -10), with more than 78 percent of all entities showing an improvement in scores. The global and local results were shared with the subsidiaries’ leaders and employees, and corresponding actions to improve the employee referral rate have been implemented.

Methodologies and assumptions

The number of employees (headcount and full-time equivalent, FTE) includes all employees working for Rieter excluding apprentices and non-employees. The respective data includes all Rieter subsidiaries in line with the operational control approach. Non-employees consist of staff hired through a third-party agency for a temporary period, as well as individual contractors.

In calculating the labor turnover rate, Rieter puts the focus on voluntary staff departures without taking redundancies into account. Voluntary staff departures include the number of Rieter employees who left Rieter on a voluntary basis because they found what they consider to be a better alternative. Retirements and early retirements are excluded. This allows Rieter to better measure employee satisfaction and the strength of its corporate culture. The labor turnover rate is calculated by dividing the number of voluntary staff departures through the yearly average headcount.

The Group human resources department distributes, collects and evaluates the eNPS questionnaire on an annual basis. The survey is translated into all local languages to drive participation, and includes all sites and all permanent employees of subsidiaries.

Following the survey, focus groups are now used to build detailed action plans. Group human resources also facilitates a global program of best practice exchange.

Culture of Belonging and Growth

Material impacts, risks and opportunities

Equal treatment and equal opportunity are critical for a global manufacturing company as they directly influence workforce diversity and employee morale across sites in different countries. Ensuring non-discriminatory practices in hiring, promotion and compensation, regardless of gender, race, age or background, helps the company to access a broader talent pool and foster creativity and resilience within its teams. Disparities in opportunity can lead to dissatisfaction, resulting in higher turnover. Rieter therefore aims to create an environment where employees feel valued and supported in their professional growth, thereby strengthening talent retention and enhancing overall organizational performance.

Offering equal treatment promotes an inclusive work environment where employees feel valued and are more motivated, resulting in higher performance and loyalty. Furthermore, companies that champion diversity and equal opportunity are often perceived more favorably by customers, investors and business partners, enhancing the brand reputation of the company globally. From a financial perspective, investing in equality reduces the risk of lawsuits, costly settlements and reputational damage, while attracting top talent and potentially improving company performance through a more diverse and engaged workforce.

The share of women in leadership and management positions rose to 20.1 percent, surpassing the targeted level of 20.0 percent for the first time. The diversity initiative “women@rieter”, launched in 2023, was continued successfully in 2025. As part of its broader talent development initiative, Rieter offers mentoring opportunities that connect emerging talents with senior leaders, fostering personal growth and strategic insight. Complementing this, the company hosts regular roundtable sessions as part of the “Empowering Voices” series. These sessions serve as a platform for open dialog on topics such as inclusive leadership, navigating change, cross-cultural collaboration and authentic communication.

Age distribution

The following table presents the percental distribution of the number of employees to age classes:

Methodologies and assumptions

Women in the workforce include women employed by Rieter, but excludes temporaries and apprentices. Management includes employees that are employed in the executive career band defined centrally by the human resources department. Data relating to women in the workforce, women in management positions and age distribution are collected in the BOFC, with the underlying data coming primarily from local human resource systems. The respective data includes all Rieter subsidiaries in line with the operational control approach.

Equal pay

The principle of equal pay is a key focus for Rieter, which is also set out in the company-wide Human Rights Policy. Rieter has carried out a comparative analysis of remuneration for men and women at all its sites except Germany per the end of 2025. No analysis was conducted in Germany, where over 90 percent of employees are covered by collective agreements that support fair and transparent pay structures by defining standardized wage levels and working conditions. In 2024, Rieter conducted an analysis of its sites in Switzerland and China, followed by assessments of the sites in India and the Czech Republic in 2025.

The equal pay analysis revealed no structural differences in pay between men and women. Individual, unexplainable differences are being monitored and reduced through measures, such as regular salary reviews, standardized performance evaluations, unconscious bias training for managers, implementing clear and transparent promotion criteria and providing mentorship programs to support career development for underrepresented groups.

The equal pay analysis was conducted using the self-assessment tool “Diagnosis of Equal Remuneration” created by UN Women, the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. During this analysis, job roles with similar qualifications and requirements were grouped together. To improve transparency across all sites, job roles were standardized in the second half of 2024. In 2025, a job grading was carried out on this basis to standardize the equal pay analysis process. In 2026, the overall compensation framework will be revised, and regular equal pay analyses will be conducted. The new harmonized framework is expected to further strengthen payment practices in line with equal pay standards.

Health and Safety

Material impacts, risks and opportunities

Poor health and safety standards can result in accidents and costly legal claims. Furthermore, maintaining a healthy work-life balance and promoting a safe working environment can improve employee well-being and productivity, reducing absenteeism, and increasing efficiency. Non-compliance with local labor laws or international standards could lead to fines, reputational damage and strained relations with stakeholders.

Local EHS managers are responsible for ensuring healthy and safe workplaces at each operating site and in each situation.

The absence rate for sick and accident leave decreased to 3.5 percent in 2025, which is still above the target of a maximum of 2.0 percent.

The absolute number of occupational accidents dropped by around thirty percent to 21. As a result, occupational accidents per million hours worked improved slightly to 2.7 in 2025. The improved accident rate is attributable to more intensive preventive measures and the implementation of targeted safety training at Rieter sites. Each incident is thoroughly examined to identify its root cause, and the findings are documented in a detailed case analysis that outlines corrective actions to prevent recurrence. The results are communicated to all locations for implementation and adaptation. Monthly online meetings with all personnel responsible for occupational health and safety ensure a continuous exchange of knowledge. Rieter’s goal is to prevent all accidents at work.

Methodologies and assumptions

Rieter continuously tracks the number of work-related accidents and incidents, as well as the absence rate, to identify risks in the workplace and ensure employee health, safety and well-being. Absences include lost working hours due to sickness and work-related accidents. Total recordable work-related accidents include lost time accidents (LTAs) and accidents that require medical treatment beyond first aid, result in restricted work or lead to a transfer to another job. The respective data includes all Rieter subsidiaries in line with the operational control approach.

Training and development

Material impacts, risks and opportunities

Continuing training and education are vital for the long-term success of Rieter. Well-trained employees are more efficient as they have the necessary skills and knowledge to complete their tasks faster and more accurately. Targeted training sessions enable employees to optimize their work processes, which leads directly to higher productivity. In addition, good development prospects may result in better job satisfaction for employees.

Group and local human resources departments are responsible for the implementation of the training and development approach within Rieter.

Training days per employee dropped slightly to 1.4 in 2025 and fell short of the target of at least 3.0 days. Rieter offers around 2 700 courses via its digital learning platform on diverse business-related topics, helping to improve the personal and professional development of its employees. In addition to digital training sessions, Rieter intends to collect the number of external and physical training and development sessions through this platform in future.

Methodologies and assumptions

Training days include the total number of training days of employees working for Rieter. This includes both internal and external training programs, either initiated by Rieter or financially supported by the company through full or partial coverage of the costs. The data is mainly from time recording systems or invoices from external training providers. Internal trainings, such as security or compliance training, are also included. In 2025, internal data collection processes were improved. The respective data includes all Rieter subsidiaries in line with the operational control approach.