Employees

HR strategy*

The KION Group continued to forge ahead with implementing its HR strategy in 2025 to ensure that it provides sustained support for the ‘Playing to Win’ strategy. Major milestones were reached that strengthen the strategic focus of HR.

Significant progress was made with the global implementation of the IT tool for operational workforce planning, which introduces standardized processes to be followed across the Group.

The KION Group also strengthened its employer brand with the global ‘Push it forward’ campaign, sending a clear signal for innovation, collaboration, and focus on the future. The campaign underlines the KION Group’s appeal as an employer and should help to recruit and retain highly talented employees.

Further strategic HR initiatives relating to the deployment of employees on assignment and to people development were continued, comprising a targeted blend of global and business unit-specific education and development programs aimed at ensuring the long-term implementation of the HR strategy. These initiatives help to embed the shared KION Group values – integrity, collaboration, courage, and excellence – in all processes. The continuous improvement of HR instruments and programs will remain a priority in the year ahead as they will help to maintain employees’ capabilities and keep them motivated, which is a key factor in successfully implementing the corporate strategy.

Competitive wages and salaries*

The KION Group pays remuneration that reflects performance, is in line with market levels and, as a rule, is oriented to the competitive situation in the relevant local market. Most of the employment contracts are based on the collective agreements that have been entered into with labor unions or other employee representative bodies and take account of country-specific aspects. In each country in which the KION Group operates, pay must, as a minimum, meet the statutory minimum wage requirements applicable in that country.

Headcount

The average number of employees (full-time equivalents (FTEs)), including trainees and apprentices, in the KION Group was 42,332 in 2025 (2024: 42,439).

ESRS 1.119 (a) As at December 31, 2025, the KION Group companies employed 42,175 FTEs, 544 fewer than a year earlier. ESRS S1.50 (f)

Personnel expenses rose by 6.0 percent year on year to €3,513.4 million due to general salary increases and the costs for the LEO (Lean Enterprise Organization) efficiency program.

Diversity and inclusion*

The KION Group, which has a direct presence in around 40 countries, sees itself as a global company.

In addition to equal opportunities and the fair treatment of all employees, the KION Group believes that diversity involves respect for different perspectives and different ways of thinking. It attaches particular importance to upholding its values and fostering constructive collaboration. At the end of 2025, employees of more than 110 nationalities were contributing their range of skills and expertise to the KION Group.

One of the KION Group’s priorities when assigning people to cross-regional projects and continuing professional development (CPD) programs is selecting a cross-section of nationalities. Examples of such programs are the finance function’s talent management program, the KION Management Trainee Program, the KION Leadership Horizons Program (KLHP; formerly the KION Transition to Management Program (KTMP)), and the KION Global Executive Program. Collaboration between employees in different countries is enhanced by international assignments and by the many multinational teams who work together on a daily basis across regions. The KION Group is taking various steps to tackle the challenges of demographic change that go beyond measures to recruit and develop talent. In addition, the company promotes health-oriented and ergonomic working conditions to sustainably support the workforce’s performance and expertise. As at December 31, 2025, 25.6 percent of employees were over the age of 50 (December 31, 2024: 25.3 percent).

The KION Group promotes a culture of diversity, inclusion, and equity that puts people and their mental health first. It is committed to treating all employees with equal respect, regardless of personal characteristics such as gender, color, ethnic or social origin, age, or religious beliefs. These principles are laid down in the KION Group’s minimum employment standards and apply worldwide at all Group sites. Further information can be found in the ‘Group sustainability report’.

The companies in the KION Group strive to offer employees with disabilities the best possible working conditions. They support reintegration into work and enable people with physical disabilities to remain in employment. The KION Group recruits, employs, and promotes people solely on the basis of the skills and qualifications required for the particular role. This approach helps to avoid discrimination when deciding on such matters. A Diversity & Inclusion Council (D&I Council) ensures that the Company is focused on the various aspects of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Its members are drawn from the ranks of international managers and representatives from all employee resource groups (ERGs) and allyships/networks, such as BOLD – Black Organization Leadership Development and the Parents@KION network. The D&I Council met several times in 2025, drew up action plans, oversaw their operational implementation, and monitored their success. In June, for example, the council again organized and held a groupwide diversity and inclusion awareness month. The aim was to boost awareness of diversity, equity, and inclusion and to ensure that mutual respect is embedded as a core aspect of this. Workshops, virtual training sessions, keynote talks, and other events addressed topics such as how awareness enables firm action to be taken, how bias can be converted into inclusion, and how genuine connections can be fostered in order to establish a deep-rooted sense of belonging. Separately from the diversity awareness month, employees also had the chance in 2025 to participate in interesting workshops, for example a workshop held to mark International Women’s Day entitled ‘Teamwork and collaboration: understanding the influence of bias’. In addition, training initiatives were offered through learning platforms, for example a diversity and inclusion learning month. There are also e-learning courses such as ‘Recognizing unconscious bias’ and training materials for the ‘Talent and performance’ process that are aimed at avoiding bias. Efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) also encompass the design of internal communications on internal platforms and in the employee magazine and the external communications strategy pursued on the corporate website. New initiatives were launched in the form of allyships/networks and ERGs. The Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) champions represent another initiative in which interested employees act as multipliers for D&I efforts within the organization. The proportion of the KION Group’s total workforce made up of women (calculated in accordance with ESRS) remained unchanged at 18.9 percent as at December 31, 2025 (December 31, 2024: 18.9 percent). To help to increase the proportion of management positions occupied by women, the Executive Board of KION GROUP AG has set targets – in accordance with statutory requirements – that are published in the ‘corporate governance statement’. Further information on the advancement of diversity in the KION Group can be found in the section ‘Action to increase diversity, especially the proportion of women’ in the ‘corporate governance statement’.

Development of specialist workers and executives*

People development measures are generally available to the entire KION Group workforce at all organizational levels. The KION Group is committed to introducing new programs targeted at specific groups on an ongoing basis and to offering its employees interesting career opportunities that are compatible with flexible and family-friendly working-time models. The Group companies also collaborate closely on areas such as talent management and training & development programs. This helps to systematically identify and support staff across the Group who have potential, who are high performers, or who are experts in key functions.

A key role is played by the KION Group’s well established, globally standardized, and comprehensive Organization Capability Talent Review (OCTR). The process involves identifying and providing targeted development to high-potential candidates as well as holding regular appraisal meetings between employees and their managers. These meetings promote a culture of ongoing feedback, enable a fair and clearly documented assessment of performance, and help to determine each employee’s individual development needs.

The KION Learning Academy, a strategic HR initiative, provides training opportunities for all KION Group employees worldwide. The current training portfolio was defined on the basis of a global analysis of learning requirements across the Group. The use of LinkedIn Learning allows the KION Group to offer all employees high-quality digital learning materials on a wide variety of technical, business, and creative topics that have been produced by industry experts. This has become an integral element of both subject-specific and interdisciplinary CPD. Another focus of the KION Learning Academy is the training available for both up-and-coming and experienced managers. A further example of a KION groupwide people development program is the KION China Exchange Program, which promotes dialogue on intercultural, business, and specialist subjects and is open to selected high-potential employees in a range of departments. The KION ITS EMEA and KION SCS Operating Units also have academies that run subject-specific and interdisciplinary training courses to add to and develop employees’ skills, particularly in sales and service. Other CPD and development programs are geared to regional and local requirements. The Workday learning platform is used to roll out strategically important training courses worldwide and enable employees to find out what training is available.

People development, an important topic for the KION Group, includes not only general training and development programs but also individual talent management. The Group’s programs are coordinated by the central HR function in order to maintain uniform quality standards and a consistent approach throughout the KION Group. The ‘winning behaviors’ set out in the ‘Playing to Win’ strategy form the basis for the content and diagnostic measures in the talent programs and, in particular, are incorporated as the key element of programs that focus on leadership capabilities. For example, the KION Global Executive Program (KGEP), which is run in cooperation with the renowned INSEAD business school, is aimed at jointly strengthening global leadership capabilities and coaching skills in order to improve performance. In the KION Leadership Horizons Program, selected employees whom the KION Group has identified as having significant potential for a position at executive level are systematically prepared for the role. Under the 18-month global KION Management Trainee Program, participants take part in a total of four modules in which they learn about target functions, key interfaces, and partners. Assignments at international KION Group sites are also part of the program.

Training and apprenticeships*

Training that incorporates on-the-job work placements is available to people interested in becoming a trainee or apprentice in a variety of professions in the Group companies. In Germany, KION Group companies currently offer apprenticeships for 25 professions. Besides providing dual vocational training schemes, KION Group companies partner with various universities to offer work placements for students combining vocational training with a degree course. The total number of trainees and apprentices worldwide was 822 as at December 31, 2025 (December 31, 2024: 851).

Employee commitment*

All KION companies aim to ensure a high level of employee commitment, and so a fifth global employee survey was conducted in 2025. This survey was designed to collect input from all employees worldwide, strengthen employees’ commitment and motivation, further embed the corporate culture, and thereby support the sustainable growth of the business. Further information on the employee survey can be found in the ‘Group sustainability report’.

Constructive labor relations should be a permanent feature of a corporate culture that promotes collaboration. KION GROUP AG has mechanisms in place – and not just those that are required by law – to allow employee representatives to directly address Group management and its representatives about matters that are of relevance for the workforce and that inform them of economic factors that are significant to the Company’s most fundamental decisions.

Further information on the workforce and on matters such as occupational health & safety and health programs can be found in the ‘Group sustainability report’.

^* The content of this chapter/section is disclosed voluntarily and is therefore unaudited