Personnel numbers

The secret to our success as a company is the great dedication and expertise of our staff. Together with commissioning parties and partners, our employees are actively committed to realising joint objectives and sustainably improving the lives of people in around 120 countries – even in places where that is difficult.

And that drive is growing: in 2018, our staff numbers exceeded 20,000 for the first time. As at 31 December 2018, GIZ had 20,726 staff worldwide (2017: 19,506), a number that both confirms the growing demand for our services in the field of international cooperation and highlights our attractiveness as an employer. Overall, our staff numbers rose by six per cent, including a five per cent increase in national personnel.

Most of the workforce – over 80 per cent – work abroad. In addition to our staff in Germany, seconded personnel and national personnel, 1,412 people had positions through GIZ as seconded development workers, integrated experts and returning experts in 2018. Find out more about working for GIZ: www.giz.de/en/jobs

GREATER FLEXIBILITY AT WORK

GIZ is making it increasingly easy for staff to determine their working hours and locations flexibly, ensuring that commissions are implemented effectively while at the same time taking into account the personal circumstances of staff. Based on their individual situations, employees will have more say in how they divide up their working time and where they work in future. GIZ and the Central Staff Council signed an agreement to this effect in 2018. It gives staff the option, as a general rule, of mobile working for two days a week and the freedom to organise their working time between the hours of 06:00 and 22:00 – in consultation with their team and taking into account what is required to complete individual tasks. This calls for a great deal of responsibility, team spirit and collaboration on the part of everyone involved. The agreement reflects changes in working life. We firmly believe that greater flexibility for staff and managers boosts motivation, makes it easier to combine work and family, increases GIZ’s attractiveness as an employer and enables the company to deliver its services more effectively.

In 2018, significantly more employees joined GIZ than employees left the company. Especially since their number of 510 compared to 2017 has fallen further. At the time, 542 people left GIZ.

OVERVIEW: EMPLOYEES OF GIZ

GIZ benefits from the diversity of its workforce. It ensures that all age groups and genders are represented adequately in all business units and monitoring bodies.