30.03.2020
The coronavirus pandemic shows that although there are hundreds of states and thousands of regions, there is just one single society. Which is why the President & CEO of the Wilo Group, Oliver Hermes, is calling for everyone within the Group to show great discipline, objectivity and humility when dealing with the coronavirus crisis, but above all to display helpfulness and warmth. In the spirit of solidarity, members of the WILO SE Executive Board have decided to forego 50 % of their variable salary this year.
The Executive Board will donate this money to a Wilo-Solidarity-Fund, which was set up specifically for this purpose. “This fund is intended in particular as a bonus for the professional groups in the Wilo workforce who are exposed to particular risks during the coronavirus pandemic”, Oliver Hermes explains.
Dr. Jochen Opländer, shareholder and honorary chairman of the WILO SE Supervisory Board and founder of the Wilo-Foundation, also welcomes this decision and agrees to make a generous donation to the Wilo Solidarity Fund together with his family.
Furthermore, WILO SE will make additional financial resources available for the global solidarity fund and give employees from management the opportunity to contribute.
At the same time, the shareholders of WILO SE, whose majority shareholder is Wilo-Foundation, have agreed to leave around 80 % of the dividend in the company this year and to distribute the remainder over a longer period of time.
“The shareholders of WILO SE are thus setting a strong signal at this difficult time, demonstrating their flexibility and solidarity in the midst of the coronavirus crisis”, says Wilo President Oliver Hermes, who has been chair of the Wilo-Foundation board of trustees since April 2019.