Germany: in a bid to boost its employer brand Deutsche Post reintegrates staff at its DHL low-cost packages delivery subsidiary into its ‘house agreements’

In March 2019 Deutsche Post announced a turnaround in its 2015 strategy of setting up subsidiaries that led to separate working conditions for Deutsche Post (DP) employees and those working for its low-cost subsidiaries. Under pressure from the services union Verdi, in March 2019 the German postal giant’s management board (BoM) agreed to do away with its 46 DHL Delivery low-cost packages delivery subsidiaries that were set up in 2015 and to reintegrate the relevant 13,000 workers into the DP ‘house agreements’. Since 01 July 2019 these workers are once again receiving the same salaries as their other DP colleagues. Verdi has called the turnaround a ‘brilliant trade union success’ and demonstrated the weakness of the DP’s original strategy. For its part, DP has emphasized the connection between this decision and its employer branding policy in what is a highly competitive environment.