Vision & Values
When Fritz Henkel founded the Henkel company in 1876, he had little money, but he had a grand vision: to create products that make people's lives simpler and easier. He developed the world's very first self-acting detergent that put an end to wash-day drudgery. The success of his idea catapulted a 3-man business into a global company that is now known in more than 125 countries.
Our Vision:
Henkel is a leader with brands and technologies that make people’s lives easier, better and more beautiful.
Our Values
- We are customer driven
- We develop superior brands and technologies
- We aspire to excellence in quality
- We strive for innovation
- We embrace change
- We are successful because of our people
- We are committed to shareholder value
- We are dedicated to sustainability and corporate social responsibility
- We communicate openly and actively
- We preserve the tradition of an open family company
For detailed information about our values please select one of the icons above.
We are customer driven
- We provide brands and technologies that consistently meet or exceed our customers’ expectations.
- We listen to our customers, respond quickly to their needs, anticipate future needs and provide the highest value at a fair price.
- Our ability to understand and solve complex problems enables us to respond to the specific needs of our customers.
- The quality of our products and the dialog with our customers are the means by which we establish long-term partnerships based on reliability, credibility, and mutual trust.
We develop superior brands and technologies
- Our strong brands and innovative technologies help shape the future of the markets and the markets of the future.
- We achieve this through efficient management systems.
- We use our knowledge and experience to achieve leading market positions for our brands and technologies worldwide.
We aspire to excellence in quality
- We set consistently high quality standards.
- We achieve a leading position of our brands and technologies through stringent quality controls in product development, production and continuous process optimization.
- We cultivate and strengthen quality awareness among our employees through ongoing training, information and motivation.
- The first-class quality of our products means more than convenience and high product performance. It includes all-encompassing product safety and ecological compatibility.
We strive for innovation
- By providing an environment and a flexible structure in which innovative thinking can flourish, we safeguard our competitive advantage long-term.
- Our innovative strength and drive are based on research and development, extensive chemical and technical expertise, and a sound knowledge of customers, consumers, suppliers, and markets.
- We take into account the requirements of sustainable business practice right from the start of the innovation process.
We embrace change
- We anticipate changes well in advance.
- We are able to respond to changing circumstances by adapting our processes and structures rapidly and flexibly. This enables us to maintain the greatest possible efficiency at all times and in all parts of the company.
- We are a dynamic learning organization, driven by a worldwide system of active knowledge management.
We are successful because of our people
- We value and respect our people. Their talents and skills are our strength.
- Our success is founded on the knowledge, creativity, social competence, and high commitment of our personnel.
- We create an environment in which individual performance and teamwork can thrive.
- We expect our staff to apply the highest standards of honesty and integrity to all their conduct in daily business.
- We assist our employees in bringing their dedication to their job into harmony with their private lives.
- We expect outstanding performance and reward success.
We are committed to shareholder value
- We understand shareholder value in terms of a cooperative objective to increase the value of our company through value-oriented management, active portfolio management, and concentration on growth markets worldwide.
- We constantly benchmark our performance with the best in the market worldwide.
- We strive to earn a competitive return for our shareholders.
- We optimize shareholder value by responsibly managing the worldwide growth of our business operations.
We are dedicated to sustainability and corporate social responsibility
- We are responsible and committed members of society within every country in which we operate.
- We are convinced that effective environmental protection and social balance are the foundation of our economic success.
- Sustainable development is a challenge involving the whole of society, for which we seek viable and permanent solutions in dialog with all social groups.
- By pursuing our demanding goals and continuously improving our business processes, we boost our corporate success and contribute continuously to sustainable development.
We communicate openly and actively
- We live out a culture of trust, mutual respect and openness – both within the company and to the outside.
- We communicate openly and actively, even when we have made mistakes.
- We acknowledge our duty to keep our employees, shareholders, customers, suppliers and the general public informed, and see it as both a challenge and an opportunity to further the integration and acceptance of our company.
We preserve the tradition of an open family company
- The history and future of our company are established on entrepreneurial foresight and a long-term operational perspective. The relationship between the company and the shareholder family is one of continuity, openness and mutual trust. The same is true of the relationship to our public shareholders and our employees.