28 – Personnel Expenses and Employees

Personnel expenses

The BASF Group’s expenses for wages and salaries, social security contributions and pensions and assistance in 2020 totaled €10,576 million (2019: €10,924 million). This amount included proportional personnel expenses for 2020 from the disposal group for the construction chemicals business in the amount of €291 million. In 2019, personnel expenses from the disposal groups for the construction chemicals business and proportionally for the oil and gas business totaled €557 million. The decrease in personnel expenses was primarily due to lower bonus provisions and the lower average number of employees which resulted, in particular, from the divestiture of the construction chemicals business. A higher wage and salary level as well as higher pension expenses because of increased service costs had an offsetting effect.

Personnel expenses (Million €)

 

2020

2019

Wages and salaries

8,416

8,825

Social security contributions and assistance expenses

1,424

1,545

Pension expenses

736

554

Personnel expenses

10,576

10,924

Number of employees

As of December 31, 2020, the number of employees decreased to 110,302 employees compared with 117,628 employees as of December 31, 2019. The decrease was due primarily to the sale of the construction chemicals business, which affected around 7,500 employees. An offsetting factor was the acquisition of Solvay’s polyamide business due to which the BASF Group’s number of employees rose by around 1,200 people – including the employees of the Butachimie SNC and Alsachimie S.A.S. joint operations, both in Chalampé, France – which were counted on a pro rata basis.

As of December 31, 2020, a total of 1,137 employees (2019: 96 employees) worked at joint operations. The rise was mainly due to additions related to the aforementioned acquisition of Solvay’s polyamide business.

The development of the number of employees was distributed over the regions as follows:

Number of employees as of December 31

 

2020

2019

Europe

68,849

72,153

of which Germany

51,961

54,028

North America

16,948

19,355

Asia Pacific

17,753

18,634

South America, Africa, Middle East

6,752

7,486

BASF Group

110,302

117,628

of which apprentices and trainees

3,120

3,161

temporary staff

2,128

2,606

The average number of employees was distributed over the regions as follows:

Average number of employees

 

2020

2019

Europe

71,329

73,126

of which Germany

53,080

54,722

North America

18,599

19,624

Asia Pacific

18,719

18,843

South America, Africa, Middle East

7,326

7,607

BASF Group

115,973

119,200

of which apprentices and trainees

2,821

2,811

temporary staff

2,518

2,922

Employees from joint operations are included in the average number of employees relative to BASF’s share in the company. On average, these had a total of 1,055 employees (2019: 206 employees).

The BASF Group’s average number of employees for 2020 included 5,400 employees from the disposal group for the construction chemicals business (2019: 6,801 employees).