2020
 SUSTAINABILITY  
REPORT

> 120
28.7 million 
~ 12,000
We have committed ourselves to 
being climate neutral1 by 2023.
charitable projects were supported  
by our employees worldwide.
was the sum invested in  
Hilti Foundation social projects
users worldwide were trained on 
health and safety in construction.
We have made circularity  
quantifiable.
1 The climate neutrality target relates to our Scope 1 and 2 emissions and business travel. 
25.5%
of Hilti’s workforce are 
­women –­ the female share 
has thus ­increased by more 
than ­one third since 2010.
CHF
2023
CO2 
 target

In a world full of challenges, the most powerful tool 
is the engagement of all of us. At Hilti, we want to 
­contribute to a more sustainable way of life – for a 
world that is less burdened by our impact, for ­better 
health and safety in construction, and for a more 
­equitable society. 
We understand sustainability to mean that long-term 
­corporate success can only be secured through a ­business 
strategy that values ecological, people and ­social aspects 
equally with economic factors.
In our first sustainability report, which we have prepared 
in ­accordance with the standards of the ­Global ­Reporting 
Initiative (GRI), we outline this strategy and ­illustrate our 
contribution to the United Nations ­Sustainable ­Development 
Goals.
Our Communication on Progress (CoP) 2020 for 
the ­UN Global Compact is fully integrated into this 
­sustainability report.
CONTENT
	 2	
LET’S TALK
	 6	
COMPANY PROFILE
	 8	
HILTI FOUNDATION
	10	
SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT
	14	
ENVIRONMENT
	32	
PEOPLE
	58	
SOCIETY
	76	
ABOUT THIS REPORT
	78	
GRI CONTENT INDEX
	85	
PUBLICATION DETAILS
BUILDING  
A BETTER  
FUTURE
	
Company Report
	
Page references
DISCOVER  
ONLINE
www.hilti-sustainabilityreport.com/en

Mr. Loos, everyone is talking about sustainability these 
days. And Hilti is now also publishing its first sustain-
ability report. Why at this particular time?
Christoph Loos: For decades, we have been dealing with 
issues that today would be considered typical sustain­ability 
topics. For example, health and safety have traditionally 
played a major role for us – with regard to our employees, 
but also with regard to the users of our products. Or think 
of the social commitment of the Hilti Foundation – we have 
also been active in this area for a long time. But in view of 
the challenges of climate change and the associated social 
problems, we need to increase our efforts. With our sustain-
ability strategy, we have laid the foundation for addressing 
our activities even more consistently and ­comprehensively. 
And we now intend to report annually on the progress 
made in implementing this strategy. This creates transpar-
ency both internally and externally.
Ms. Frey-Hilti, as a member of the owner family, you 
want the company to make a profit. Is Hilti able and 
willing to afford expensive measures, for example for 
environmental protection?
Michèle Frey-Hilti: Short-term profit maximization has 
never been the goal, but the long-term development of 
the company that serves all ­stakeholders. And of course, 
that is only possible if we generate the corresponding 
­financial resources. My grandfather, Martin Hilti, used to 
say, “Profit is not everything – but everything is nothing 
without profit.” I am convinced that only a ­sustainable 
approach to business can ensure our long-term success. 
And by that, we also mean ­assuming ­ecological and 
An interview with Christoph 
Loos, Michèle Frey-Hilti and 
Peter Rupp
LET̓S 
 TALK
With our sustain­
ability ­strategy, 
we have laid the 
foundation for 
­addressing our 
­activities even more 
consistently and 
comprehensively. 
Christoph Loos,  
CEO
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
2
Let̓s  talk

social responsibility. We have already ­reduced emissions 
and the use of resources in production as far as ­possible 
in the past. But as Christoph has said, we are now 
­tackling the issues surrounding sustainability in an even 
more structured and focused approach. 
Mr. Rupp, you head the corporate sustainability team 
at Hilti, which was newly established this year, and 
you are expected to drive change. Previously, you 
led a business unit at Hilti. How much resistance do 
you ­experience from your colleagues, who are now 
­expected to change many things?
Peter Rupp: None at all, actually. On the contrary: I have 
the impression that we currently find that these doors 
are already open. And we are not starting from scratch 
either. There is a great awareness and understanding of 
­sustainability at Hilti. That is why many colleagues I speak 
with also welcome the fact that we are now addressing 
these issues in a much more structured way. Because what 
we have learned at Hilti also applies here: When we focus 
on something, we achieve a high impact.
What changes should employees be prepared for?
Peter Rupp: We don’t want to do everything differently than 
before. Our mission statement remains unchanged: We 
want to build a better future. What will change is that in the 
future we will consciously incorporate ecological and social 
factors more strongly into our corporate decisions and 
actions.
3
Let̓s  talk

Mr. Loos, the coronavirus crisis drastically changed the 
lives of many people. At the same time, the economy 
also had to radically transform itself in a short period. 
Is this crisis a driver for sustainability?
Christoph Loos: I wouldn’t put it that way. If there is a 
relevant driver for sustainability, it is the identified environ-
mental problems, which no one can close their eyes to. 
But the coronavirus crisis has certainly accelerated certain 
developments.
Can you give us some examples?
Christoph Loos: Digital working, for example. This has 
proven successful in many areas of our work. Overall,  
of course, we have reduced our travel enormously during 
the coronavirus crisis, with corresponding improvements in 
our carbon footprint. We are encouraging our ­employees to 
increasingly consider using digital formats as an alternative 
to business travel, even after the crisis. However, with our 
business model of direct sales and our corporate culture, 
we remain a “people business”, which means that person-
al contact with our customers and our global teams will 
continue to play a major role in the future.
Michèle Frey-Hilti: What the crisis has also shown is the 
cohesion among team members. We may be more distant 
physically, but there is a great sense of solidarity. A strong 
example of this is the voluntary waiver of part of the 
salary and a reduction in working hours by employees 
from various divisions of our Group, an amount which has 
been matched by the company. This ­enabled us to pay 
CHF 13.6 million into an internal fund. The sum is being 
made available to those Hilti team ­members and their 
families in need as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic 
and who work in countries without state support and 
health systems.
In the future we will 
consciously incor-
porate ecological 
and social factors 
more strongly into 
our corporate deci-
sions and actions.
Peter Rupp, 
Head of Corporate  
Sustainability
I am convinced that only  
a sustainable approach  
to business can ensure our 
long-term success.
Michèle Frey-Hilti, 
Member of the  
Hilti Foundation Board

Mr. Rupp, this is the first time Hilti has published a 
sustainability report. Was it challenging to get it off the 
ground?
Peter Rupp: (laughs) Let’s put it this way: We’ve been busy 
shaking up the organization over the past few months. But 
the real work lies in driving our initiatives forward. It has 
been a pleasure to prepare this report, because for the 
first time we can show a comprehensive picture. We are 
happy to have established a baseline against which we can 
now compare our progress and challenges each year. This 
gives our ambitious goals credibility both internally and 
externally.
Christoph Loos: Credibility is a good keyword, ­Peter. 
I would like to add to that. We are aware that we still ­have 
a long way to go in many areas. That’s why we have 
­consciously set ourselves targets and chosen a ­reporting 
format that makes it very transparent where we are 
­currently behind where we want to be. We are not con-
cerned with sustainability because of the zeitgeist or 
­because we are thinking about our image. We want to 
run our business in a fundamentally more environmentally 
friendly way and with a more positive contribution to ­society. 
We also explicitly support the 10 principles of the UN Global 
Compact, which provide a clear framework for this.
Ms. Frey-Hilti, did the sustainability report hold any 
surprises for you?
Michèle Frey-Hilti: Fortunately, no surprises in terms of 
content (laughs). I am happy that we now have this report. 
It gives our customers and our entire community a good 
overview of everything we do and drive forward. Because 
that’s what matters: That we don’t pick up a fashionable 
term and talk about sustainability, but that we actually take 
action. I hope that we can inspire others on our journey, 
and also learn from each other.
Finally, a question for all three of you: Apart from Hilti, 
what personal goal do you set for more sustainability in 
your own life?
Peter Rupp: My goal is to travel by foot or bicycle wherever 
possible. And when it comes to purchasing habits, we as a 
family want to buy mainly local products, increasingly avoid 
packaging and use reusable materials more often.
Christoph Loos: I’m currently rethinking the way I used to 
travel a lot – both professionally and privately. I also want 
to offset my own footprint by personally supporting sus-
tainability projects in the social and environmental areas.
Michèle Frey-Hilti: I pay a lot of attention to eating as 
sustainably as possible with regional and seasonal ingre-
dients. I grow a lot of vegetables in our garden and have 
been a vegetarian for 24 years. That’s why I’m also involved 
in animal welfare. In the future, however, I would also like 
to pay more attention to my consumer behavior. In the 
case of clothing, for example, I want to make sure that it 
is not manufactured under inhumane conditions or using 
child labor. I think these small steps are important, because 
each of us can take responsibility and contribute to a better 
world.
Ms. Frey-Hilti, Mr. Loos, Mr. Rupp – thank you very 
much for the interesting discussion!
We want to run 
our business in a 
­fundamentally more 
environ­mentally-
friendly way and with 
a more positive con-
tribution to society. 
Christoph Loos, 
CEO
5
Let̓s  talk

Hilti stands for quality, innovation and direct customer relationships. Some 
30,000 employees around the world, in more than 120 countries, contribute 
to making work on construction sites simpler, faster and safer while inspir-
ing customers every single day. With products, system solutions, software and 
­services that provide clear added value. Having roughly 250,000 individual cus-
tomer contacts each day, ideas for improvement are often developed directly on 
construction sites while talking to customers. If there is a challenge for which no 
Hilti solution exists, one will be developed. This is why we invest ­approximately 
six percent of sales each year in research and development. From product 
­development to manufacturing, logistics, sales and services, we cover the entire 
value-added chain.
Our strategic objective is sustainable value creation through market leadership 
and differentiation. The company, based in Schaan, Liechtenstein, has also been 
planning with financial foresight since its founding in 1941 by brothers Eugen and 
Martin Hilti. All company shares are in the possession of the Martin Hilti Family 
Trust, which ensures the long-term continuity of the Hilti Group.
Our mission statement, “we passionately create enthusiastic customers and 
build a better future”, is the compass by which we align our entrepreneurial 
­activities and develop sustainable and innovative solutions. Hilti thereby takes 
equal responsibility for the health and safety of its employees and users of its 
­products, as well as for society and the environment. In addition to the charitable 
Hilti Foundation, our integrated partner in issues of sustainability, the values we 
live by ­every day in our dealings with team members, partners and customers – 
­integrity, courage, teamwork and commitment – also contribute to this.
Find out more about our  
business units and our  
corporate strategy in our  
Company Report 2020.
DISCOVER  
ONLINE
www.hilti-companyreport.com/en
COMPANY 
­PROFILE
Our strategic objective is sustainable 
­value creation through market  
­leadership and differentiation.
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
6
Company ­profilE

The Hilti Foundation was founded in 1996 
as a charitable Foundation of the Martin 
Hilti Family Trust. Since 2007, the Founda-
tion has been jointly financed by the Martin 
Hilti Family Trust and the Hilti Group. Both 
institutions pursue the shared mission of 
Helping people to help themselves 
is the main motivation behind our 
­actions. We are driven by the ­belief 
that sustainability can only be 
achieved through systemic change. 
Marco Meyrat, 
Chairman of  
the Hilti Foundation Board  
establishing a better future. By virtue of its 
global projects, the Foundation supports 
people regardless of the life circumstances 
into which they were born ‒ offering them 
opportunities to further develop their skills 
and talents which form the basis of an 
independent and self-determined life. 
 
Since its founding, the Hilti Foundation has 
continuously evolved. Efforts to enhance 
individual projects have been replaced 
by a strategic approach which focusses 
on ­systemic change. Based on a ­clearly 
­defined thematic approach, the Hilti 
Foundation develops networks together 
with competent partners. These partners 
share the same approach and are prepared 
to invest their knowledge and potential to 
make the local projects even more success-
ful. These partnerships are characterized by 
specifically tailored professional expertise, 
mutual trust and the shared values the 
Foundation bases all of its work upon.
THE HILTI 
FOUNDATION
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
8
THE HILTI FOUNDATION

Creating sustainability requires 
us to concentrate on what is 
­essential and consider long-term 
actions. Operating as a team and 
with ­external partners, the Hilti 
­Foundation is very well equipped  
to meet these requirements.  
Michael Hilti, 
Member of  
the Hilti Foundation Board 
Strategic Focus Areas
With its clearly focused activities, the Hilti 
Foundation addresses specific topics that 
are among today’s major global challenges. 
Mastering these challenges is of critical 
importance as they create opportunities for 
the most deprived parts of society.  
 
The focus area “Music for Social Change” 
offers young people opportunities to en-
hance their personal development. Playing 
music together in collective environments 
provides young students – regardless of 
their socio-economic origin – not only with 
the opportunity to discover their talents 
and to develop their self-confidence and 
self-esteem, but it also promotes their 
­social skills and their shared sense of 
­responsibility for one another.  
 
“Affordable Housing & Technology” 
searches for sustainable solutions for some 
1.6 billion people, who, owing to the fact 
they have no roof over their head – ­often 
live under inhumane conditions and are 
thereby deprived of any chance to improve 
their economic and social life circum­
stances. With the development of inno-
vative and sustainable technologies and 
building concepts, the Hilti Foundation 
contributes to the creation of safer and 
­affordable living spaces, which, in turn, 
foster local added value. 
 
Economic independence is central to 
“Economic Empowerment”. With the 
help of applied training programs, those 
who often live in extreme poverty, receive 
the resources they need to further develop 
their economic abilities. This also generates 
more income and provides an opportunity 
to secure a sustainable livelihood. 
 
In addition to these central topics, the 
Hilti Foundation is committed to providing 
emergency aid in the event of humani-
tarian crises. Moreover, since 1996, the 
­Foundation has supported the impressive 
research of the underwater archeologist 
Franck Goddio in Egypt. The results of 
his research have been shared in notable 
publications and exhibitions both with other 
professionals as well as the general public.
DISCOVER  
ONLINE
hiltifoundation.org
9
THE HILTI FOUNDATION

build a better future
“Building a better future” – this has been our  
guiding principle for almost two decades.
Sustainability 
Management
In view of the ecological and social 
challenges we face, we will live up to this 
mission statement more than ever before. 
We want to give equal weight to ecolo­gical, 
people-oriented and social aspects as 
well as economic factors in our decision-­
making. In 2020, we laid important foun-
dations for this: We have organizationally 
anchored the topic of sustainability and 
developed a holistic sustainability strategy.
Our sustainability strategy
To develop this strategy, we firstly identi-
fied which sustainability issues are mate-
rial for our Group. To this end, we carried 
out a materiality analysis in the reporting 
year. In a first step, we collected a large 
number of potentially relevant topics. 
These came from initiatives such as the 
UN Global Compact, the UN Sustainable 
Development Goals, various studies, and 
the survey and analysis of responses from 
both internal and external experts and 
stakeholders. We have evaluated these 
­relevant topics in terms of their relevance 
for business success and stakeholders as 
well as their impact on the environment 
and society. While the impact and rele-
vance for stakeholders were assessed by 
external experts, we conducted inter-
views and an internal survey regarding 
business relevance. The results form the 
basis for the topics that are material for 
our com­pany. As shown in the overview 
on page 11, we have grouped the topics 
according to their relevance into “Global 
Priorities” and “Global Topics”. As the 
engagement of our employees at local 
level continues to play a central role in 
the implementation of our ­sustainability 
­strategy, these are ­supplemented by 
­numerous local initiatives.  
We have assigned all material topics 
to one of the three strategic fields of 
­action – environment, people and 
society – and evaluated our impact on 
achieving the UN Sustainable Develop-
ment Goals (see box p. 13).
Our Group  
Strategy
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
10
Sustainability Management

Impact and relevance for the long-term success of Hilti
  
 Environment  
 People  
 Society
Relevance for Hilti’s Stakeholders
Very high
Very high
High
High
LOCAL INITIATIVES
 Plastic Consumption
 Employee Nutrition
 … and many more
 Engagement in Local Communities
GLOBAL TOPICS
 Waste
 Hazardous Substances
 Water Efficiency
 Contaminant Emissions
 Supplier Sustainability
 Learning & Development
 Work-Life-Balance
GLOBAL PRIORITIES
 CO2
 Circularity
 Building Safety
 User Health & Safety
 Employee Health & Safety
 Social Impact
 Business Ethics
 Employee Engagement
 Inclusion &    
            Diversity
Our Materiality Matrix
Securing long-term success 
through a business strategy 
that values ecological, people 
and social aspects equally with 
­economic factors.
Our Understanding of 
Sustainability
People
Society
Environment

The Key Goals of our Sustainability Strategy
We have defined targets for all globally 
relevant topics, which are illustrated above 
for our global priorities. We have been 
addressing the two topics “Employee 
Engagement” and “Inclusion & Diversity” 
from a strategic perspective for years, so 
that they take an overarching position.
 Sustainable Culture and Employee Engagement: p. 44  
Responsibilities for 
­accountable action
To anchor sustainability organizationally, 
we established a Corporate Sustainability 
Team in 2020 that reports directly to the 
CEO. It oversees overarching strategic, 
steering and communication topics, acts 
as an interface for all relevant parties and 
supports the implementation of measures. 
We have defined strategic and operational 
responsibilities within the organization for 
all 16 global priorities and topics. Fur-
thermore, we have started to establish re-
sponsibilities in the local organizations and 
corporate functions to promote stronger 
anchoring and exchange within the Group.
The advisory body for our activities is 
the Sustainability Council, which meets 
twice a year. It provides strategic advice 
and support on cross-functional issues 
We care  
for our  
 environment
Become  
CO2 neutral  
by 2023
Lead the industry in 
circularity
We care for people:  
customers, employees, 
and partners
Differentiate through  
user health & safety  
and building safety
Lead in employee  
health & safety
We contribute to a 
better society and high 
ethical standards
Create social impact  
at scale
Uphold ourselves and the 
industry to the highest 
­standards in business ethics
We want to create 
­transparency in the 
16 material topics 
of our ­sustainability 
­strategy – and be 
­measured by the 
­results of our ambi-
tious goals. We will 
embed sustain­ability 
in a fundamental way 
in all areas of our 
business.
Peter Rupp, 
Head of Corporate  
Sustainability
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
12
Sustainability Management

but does not act as a decision-making 
body. It is chaired by the CEO. The council 
includes the heads of the two largest 
regions and business units, as well as of 
the legal, human resources, logistics and 
communications departments.
In dialog with our 
stakeholders
We put great emphasis on a regular 
exchange with our internal and ­external 
stakeholders. It is important to us to 
maintain an open dialog and discuss the 
different perspectives constructively. 
This feedback helps us to continuously 
advance. In the reporting year, EcoVadis, 
an independent international rating ­agency, 
awarded us silver status. EcoVadis 
assesses the sustainability performance 
of companies in four categories: environ­
ment, labor practices, fair business 
practices and sustainable procurement. 
In the medium term, we aim to improve to 
gold status.
The needs of our stakeholders are 
­different, and so we also use various 
commu­nication channels to engage in 
dialog with them.
Direct and regular on-site contact with our 
customers has always been one of the 
unique selling propositions of our Group. 
In addition, we communicate with our cus-
tomers via our customer service by phone 
and e-mail, in the Hilti Stores or digitally 
via our website and social media. We ask 
for our customers’ opinions once a year as 
part of customer surveys.
In addition to customers, our employees, 
in particular, are an important stakeholder 
group. We promote regular exchanges 
within the workforce not only in the daily 
working environment, but also through 
various internal media and event formats. 
In order to bring all our employees along 
with us on the path to greater sustain­
ability, we launched a global internal 
communication campaign prior to the 
publication of our sustainability report in 
which we outlined our responsibilities, 
challenges and measures in the seven 
global priorities.
We work internationally with many 
­suppliers and business partners. It 
is important to us to build partnerships 
on equal terms. In particular, we rely on 
regular personal discussions. We are 
also active in associations and interest 
groups and work together with research 
­institutes and universities.
People
Society
Environment
UN Sustainable Development 
Goals: our prioritization
Strategic  
action field 
13
Sustainability Management

16 	
CO2
20 	
Circularity
27 	
Environmental Protection
30	
Supplier Sustainability
… our view goes beyond our own house. Our business is energy-­intensive ‒ 
and we are aware of this. The following pages highlight where we take 
­responsibility for the environment in order to actively manage the impact of 
our activities.
FOR OUR  
ENVIRON­ME

NT

At Hilti, we take responsibility for actively 
managing the environmental impact of our 
activities and addressing the challenges of 
climate change. For this reason, we have 
set ourselves the goal of being CO2 neutral 
by 2023.
At Hilti, CO2 emissions are generated by 
our business operations: the operation 
of our plants, administrative buildings, 
sales locations, repair centers and ware-
houses as well as our global vehicle fleet 
(Scopes 1 and 2)1. The far greater share of 
CO2 emissions occurs in our supply chain 
and is therefore not subject to our direct 
control (Scope 3)1. We are looking at and 
For a  
 Better  
Climate
1 Operational control approach according to 
Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
We take responsi-
bility. To counteract 
climate change, 
we will become 
CO2 neutral by 2023.
Martin Schäfer, 
Sustainability  
Program Manager
developing improvements in all areas. We 
want to reduce these emissions as much as 
possible. 
With our climate goal, we refer to emissions 
within our own sphere of influence: our  
own direct and indirect emissions as well 
as emissions from our business travel.
How do we want to achieve this goal? By 
reducing, replacing and offsetting (see box 
p. 17).
Organizational anchoring
The topic of CO2 is centrally managed by 
the Corporate Sustainability Team, which 
CO2
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
16
CO2

Repair centers
1% (1 kt) 
Logistics centers 
3% (3 kt)
Offices
4% (4 kt) 
Hilti Stores 
4% (3 kt)
Vehicles
72% (61 kt)
Direct and indirect CO2 
2 emissions  
incl. business travel in 2020
CO2 neutral by 2023
Scopes 1 and 2
Plants
5% (4 kt)
85 kt
1 Business travel is part of Scope 3 emissions, but is also considered 
in the climate neutrality target.
Business travel1
11% (9 kt; of which approx.  
7 kt flights)
Scope 3 
These include emissions from purchased 
products and services as well as transport 
and logistics by third parties.
Reduce 
In our plants and administrative 
buildings, we continuously reduce our 
CO2 emissions using new technical 
measures, more efficient equipment 
and behavior training. We are also 
increasing our ability to conduct 
meetings and appointments ­digitally 
instead of taking business trips. 
Even before the collapse of general 
business travel ­activities due to the 
COVID-19 pandemic, we promoted 
this approach.
Replace 
We rely on green electricity worldwide 
– in purchasing and in-house produc-
tion through photovoltaic systems. In 
addition, we are changing our energy 
supply to climate-friendly alterna-
tives where possible, such as district 
heating. Furthermore, due to our direct 
sales model with many cus­tomer 
visits, we have a relevant lever to 
reduce emissions in our global vehicle 
fleet, which we are modernizing with 
CO2-efficient drive systems.
Offset 
By saving energy and using alternative 
energy sources, we can ­significantly 
reduce CO2 emissions, but not 
completely avoid them. That is why 
we will compensate for the remaining 
CO2 emissions through CO2 savings 
of the same amount elsewhere. In 
cooperation with the Hilti Foundation 
and a renowned external partner, we 
are creating a portfolio of our own 
compensation projects. We are already 
heavily involved in project develop-
ment in these projects to ensure that 
the objectives pursued are in line 
with our values and that they provide 
significant social benefits to the local 
population. The projects are currently 
in the design phase and will be imple-
mented in the course of 2021.
reports directly to the CEO. To involve all 
areas of our Group in this relevant topic, 
we have centrally controlled, regular inter-
nal exchanges which we will expand in a 
structured manner in the future.
Management systems and policies
We have a Group-wide Environmental 
­Policy. The issue of CO2 emissions is 
also anchored in this policy to achieve a 
strategic approach to climate protection. 
Our plants in Kaufering and ­Nersingen 
(­Germany) as well as in Kecskemét 
(Hungary) also have a certified energy 
management system in accordance with 
ISO 50001.
  Environmental Protection: p. 27 
17
CO2

2020 Implementation 
Examples 
•	 We want to convert our global vehicle 
fleet from gasoline and diesel engines 
to electric drives, natural gas and full 
hybrid vehicles. We are already looking 
for such an alternative for more than 
50 percent of our global vehicle fleet 
– in ­excess of 7000 vehicles. We will 
­gradually change these in the context 
of expiring leasing contracts. In our lead 
market, we expect delivery of the first 
wave of more than 60 battery-powered 
vehicles in the second quarter of 2021. 
The delivery of further batches of bat-
tery-powered and full hybrid vehicles is 
expected in the second half of the year. 
Thanks to the increasing availability of 
new car models with alternative drive 
systems and the improving charging 
­infrastructure, we are confident that we 
will be able to implement this process 
more rapidly in other markets in the 
coming year.  
•	 We have converted our electricity 
demand to renewable energy sources 
worldwide and thus obtain green elec-
tricity at all locations. With more than 
40,000 tons, this has had the largest 
self-initiated effect on our 2020 carbon 
footprint. We are also promoting the 
further expansion of green power plants 
with the contractually agreed purchase 
of green electricity from newer power 
plants, which came on the grid less than 
ten years ago.  
•	 In the 2020 reporting year, we imple-
mented numerous energy efficiency 
measures and consequently reduced 
the energy required in our plants alone 
by more than 1 gigawatt-hour. Three 
­examples: At our plant in Thuringia 
(Austria), we were able to save approxi-
mately 300,000 kilowatt-­hours per year 
by using a combined energy supply from 
heat recovery and groundwater cooling. 
Cooling of the ­production process at 
our plant in Nersingen (Germany) saves 
approximately 80,000 kilowatt-hours per 
year compared to a regular refrigeration 
plant with the help of an adsorption 
cooling system. And in our warehouse in 
Car­piano (Italy), we are saving approxi-
mately 150,000 kilowatt-hours a year by 
­switching to LED lighting.
Dealing with Scope 3 
emissions 
We also focus on our supply chain and 
our global shipments. For example, we 
are increasingly shifting transports to 
 
In 2020, the demand 
for energy in our plants 
was reduced by 
>1 GWh
From road to rail: We already rely 
on rail travel in Shanghai, Vienna 
and Nendeln. 
At a Glance
•	 Modernization of our global vehicle fleet
•	 Exclusive purchase of green electricity at all Hilti operating sites
•	 Various efficiency measures of > 1 GWh per year
Successes and Actions

our ­warehouses from road to rail, which 
­reduces emissions by approximately 
90 percent. As part of a pilot project, we 
have already been able to successfully 
­convert the replenishment of our ware-
house in Shanghai from the Zhanjiang 
plant (both in China): Goods have been 
transported by train on the 1500-kilometer 
long transport route since October 2020. 
Since January 2021, we have completely 
switched the supply of our distribution 
­center in Vienna (Austria) from our ­central 
warehouse in Nendeln (Liechtenstein) 
to rail. Additional routes in Asia, Central 
­Europe and North America will follow during 
2021. We expect to be able to achieve 
total savings of more than 4000 tons of 
CO2 with these measures. In addition, 
we switched our long-distance transport 
between Asia and Europe from aircraft to 
rail at the beginning of the reporting year, 
which resulted in CO2 savings of more than 
4000 tons in the reporting year.
Data
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is 
­difficult to compare our CO2 emissions with 
the same period in the previous year. In 
the wake of this global crisis, our produc-
tion activities, but above all sales activities 
and business travel, have been signifi-
cantly reduced. As a direct consequence, 
our CO2 emissions have been reduced 
by approximately 65,000 tons, some of 
which are expected to be one-time effects. 
Business travel, especially the volume of 
flights, which came to a complete standstill 
starting from March 2020, are to be partially 
replaced by digital meetings even after the 
end of this crisis to reduce our emissions 
in a sustainable way. In the case of CO2 
savings from own projects, the conversion 
of our energy supply to green electricity 
has had the biggest effect, amounting to 
approximately 40,000 tons. 
Reassessment of 
>50%
of our global vehicle fleet  
Energy
in MWh
2018
2019
2020
Change
Electricity
143,006
144,482
137,970
-4.5%
thereof renewable electricity
8.7%
8.6%
100%
—
Combustibles and fuels
418,102
430,211
321,930
-25.2%
District heating
10,242
9,940
9,136
-8.1%
Sold energy (minus)
18
12
16
33.3%
Total energy consumption 
within the organization
571,332
584,621
469,020
-19.8%
CO2 emissions
in t
2018
2019
2020
Scope 1
100,380
104,314
75,439
Scope 2 (market-based approach)1
46,399
47,819
204
Business travel
—
41,915
9,130
1 
1 2018 and 2019 according to location-based approach
19
CO2

Raw Materials
Principles of the  
Circular Economy
We understand circularity as generating maximum added 
­value with a minimum use of virgin raw materials. The concept 
­includes much more than just recycling. A circular company:
  Already thinks about the use of recycled 
materials during product design and strives 
to ­ensure these materials and all installed 
­individual parts will remain reusable in 
the ­future 
  Minimizes the use of water and energy as 
well as the amount of production waste 
  Relies on quality and repairability as well as 
the idea of access to rather than ownership of 
a product, so that products remain in use for 
as long as possible 
  Establishes business models that require 
­products to be returned at the end of their 
useful life
CIRCULARITY
The construction industry, which is a very 
resource-intensive industry, accounts for 
about 50 percent of the raw materials 
used worldwide per year. Most of these 
­resources are used for buildings and infra-
structure with a very long life, where reuse 
and recycling are usually complex.  
The circular economy aims to detach 
­economic success from linear resource 
consumption and to use resources carefully 
so that no valuable materials are lost. This 
kind of business management promises 
us not only ecological benefits, but also 
provides new impulses for our business 
activities. 
Making a 
New Turn
The principles of the circular economy are 
well in line with the Hilti values that the 
company has always practiced. We already 
laid the foundations for a functioning ­circular 
economy in the past. For example, we have 
always relied on innovative products and 
services with high quality and long service 
life. We have established a supply chain 
for the return of used products and have a 
global system of repair centers where more 
than 800 employees enhance our knowl-
edge of the wear and tear, durability and 
recyclability of our products every day. We 
focus our business on the entire life cycle 
of our products and innovate along the 
entire value chain. 
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
20
CIRCULARITY

We see another important prerequisite for 
the circular economy in the form of our 
fleet management. With this compre-
hensive business model for a long-term 
usage agreement for our tools, we extend 
control over our products beyond the end 
of the life cycle. Already at the start of the 
­contract, we optimize our customers' tool 
park to ensure that they have the right 
number of tools to meet their needs. For 
any short-term usage needs, fleet custo­
mers can use rental tools from our pool for 
rental and hire tools or that of one of our 
partner companies from the rental ­industry. 
If the fleet tool park is dimensioned 
­correctly, the tools should have reached 
their maximum service life at the end of the 
fleet agreement. If the tools have remaining 
usage potential at the end of the contract, 
we offer ­contract ­extensions beyond the 
standard terms in some markets. Our high 
tool collection rate allows us to assess if 
it is ­possible to remove high-quality spare 
parts for repair in accordance with the re-
spective local regulations or to donate tools 
for a charitable purpose where they contin-
ue to generate value, albeit in less intensive 
situations than when used by construction 
professionals. If no reuse option is possible, 
we give the tools to our authorized recy-
cling partners to ensure that the materials 
enter recycling channels. 
Production
Business Model  
and Usage
Product
Design
Input
End of Life
Our goal is to lead the 
­industry in circularity. 
CIRCULAR  
ECONOMY
21
CIRCULARITY

Organizational anchoring 
The topic of circularity is anchored in our 
business units, production and logistics, all 
of which contribute initiatives for improve-
ment. At the beginning of the reporting 
year, we created a project team in our Tool 
Services business unit to consolidate, 
challenge and advise the activities of the 
operating units. Regular steering commit-
tees inform the Executive Board directly 
about the progress made in this program 
and can set steering priorities. 
This is how we measure 
circularity 
There has not been any standardized 
internationally recognized framework for 
the measurability of circular economies 
until now. To advance this measurability, we 
were the first company worldwide to use 
and develop the new CIRCelligence ­method 
with Boston Consulting Group (BCG). 
CIRCelligence, co-developed by BCG and 
the Dutch non-profit organization Circle 
Economy, makes circular ­economy and 
progress in it measurable. Based on this, 
we evaluated our entire ­product ­portfolio 
in terms of both quality and ­quantity in the 
circular economy. 
The qualitative assessment provides 
­information about the current efforts and 
the maturity of the control system with re-
gard to the latest findings in the field of cir-
cular economy. A company achieves grade 
“A” if it has implemented the latest findings 
in the field of circularity in all its business 
areas. With a grade “F”, the ­activities and 
instruments for the implementation of 
circularity are not yet fully developed. The 
qualitative evaluation accordingly helps 
to evaluate how structured the circular 
­economy is implemented in a company.
The quantitative assessment provides 
­information on the actual status of circu-
larity, mainly measurable by the mass of 
resources used. A value of zero percent 
means that materials and products are 
handled in a linear way at all stages of the 
value chain. A value of 100 percent signifies 
full implementation of ­circularity. Whether 
this state can be achieved ­depends prima­
rily on the available technologies; it is often 
not yet fully feasible today. The methodol-
ogy divides the value chain into five areas, 
from input to end of life (see box p. 23). A 
variety of aspects, including energy con-
sumption, collection rates and the inherent 
recyclability of the products, are taken into 
account in the calculation. In the calcula­
tion, we distinguish between tools and 
consumables (i.e., fasteners and inserts), 
because the two areas differ funda­mentally: 
For example, although we can and do take 
back tools at the end of their productive life, 
taking back fasteners is currently very diffi-
cult given their relatively small mass as well 
as the significantly longer life of buildings 
and their change of ownership.
In our global system of 
repair centers, more than 
800 employees enhance 
our knowledge of the 
wear and tear, durability 
and ­recyclability of our 
­products every day.
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
22
CIRCULARITY

Quantitative Score  
  Input: The use of recycled materials in our 
products is well above the global average 
of eight percent. The metals we use play a 
key role, which already contain a significant 
recycling share today.
  Product design: Our products are to a 
large extent made of materials with a high 
recyclability. We aim to make greater use 
of this potential in the future, by making 
more conscious design decisions on 
material choice.
  Production: Our production is already 
on a good level with regard to waste 
­prevention and resource efficiency. We have 
continued to expand this by ­fully converting 
our global ­production facilities to renewable 
electrical energy in 2020, for example. 
  Environmental Protection: p. 27; CO2: p. 16
  Business model and usage: The biggest 
differences between tools and consum-
ables are in our business model. In our 
tools business, our fleet management lays 
the foundation for the concept “product as 
a service”, a basic principle of circularity 
that helps our customers to achieve more 
with less. 
   End of life: We also see a positive effect 
of our fleet business at the end of the 
product life cycle: With free and conve-
nient pickups from our global network of 
reverse logistics, we were able to collect 
more than 1.3 million tools, batteries and 
chargers from our customers worldwide in 
2020, which were either reused or recycled. 
Our tools have a high proportion of steel, 
copper and ­aluminum, meaning that more 
than 70 percent of the tool's mass can be 
recycled virtually indefinitely for a variety 
of applications.
Circularity – How we measure  
it and where we stand
Qualitative Score
Our traditional optimization of effi-
ciency represents a good starting 
position, particularly in our production 
­processes as well as in the selection 
of input materials. We will intensify the 
anchoring of circular economy principles 
in our business practices and in the 
­internal organization of the topic. We 
still see extensive structuring potential 
in product design and the handling and 
transparency of products at the end of 
their life cycle. 
The rating is based on the British school grading system (A = very good / F = insufficient)
Input
Product design
Production
Business model and usage
End of life
Business implementation
Collaboration & ecosystems
79%
3%
61%
23%
11%
74%
59%
61%
28%
37%
CONSUMABLES
Ø 35%
TOOLS
Ø 52%
A       B       C       D       E       F
A       B       C       D       E       F
A       B       C       D       E       F
A       B       C       D       E       F
A       B       C       D       E       F
A       B       C       D       E       F
A       B       C       D       E       F

2020 – The starting point  
of our roadmap
This initial analysis has shown that our 
­activities to date are above the ­global 
­average in the circular economy, and 
that we can realize further potential by 
institutionalizing our efforts. Based on 
our ­methodology, we have defined clear 
­priorities to focus even more on circular-
ity in the future. For example, we want 
to continue to drive the growth of our 
fleet management and at the same time 
optimize it with regard to circular principles. 
In addition, cooperation with our global 
recycling partners will play a greater role 
in the future.
We already implemented the first initiatives 
on our roadmap in the year under review:
•	 This year, we determined a calculated 
evaluation of our circular economy with 
a methodology used for the first time in 
the world. As one of the first companies in 
the industry, we are making this evaluation 
­transparent. We will monitor our quanti-
tative and qualitative progress every year 
and based on it prioritize our initiatives.
•	 We will raise the bar for the ­development 
of our key figures and integrate the 
institutionalization of principles of 
the circular economy more into our 
business processes and decisions. 
Our focus will thereby be on product 
design and procurement. We are already 
consistently integrating the findings 
from our ­global repair centers into the 
development to make products easier 
to repair. For example, we have begun to 
disconnect the electronics from plastic 
switches. Since the switch is damaged 
more often than the electronics, we can 
replace the much smaller switch instead 
of the entire electronics, saving valuable 
materials and transport costs.
Materials used in 2020
By weight (in t)
Percentage of 
­recycled raw materials
Renewable materials  
(paper, cardboard, wood)
32,177
Non-renewable materials
224,126
of which steel
135,700
32%
of which plastics
14,923
9%
of which chemicals
53,424
0%
Products not yet analyzed
13,810
Total materials used 
(products and packaging)
270,113
23%

•	 We will reduce packaging of products 
and in the supply chain. For example, 
through recyclable packaging systems 
in logistics or the intensified use of 
­recycled materials. As a first success, we 
­decided in 2020 to change our Hilti soft 
bag by using 100 percent recycled fabric 
material, which will save up to 600 tons 
of virgin plastic per year – the equiva-
lent of about 50 million PET bottles. We 
have also started testing to increase the 
amount of recycling in our tool cases 
without compromising the quality and 
typical Hilti recognition value. 
•	 We have meaningfully reused returned 
Hilti fleet tools after their first service 
life. Our team in France has pioneered 
the use of selected spare parts for reuse 
after ­repairs of Hilti fleet tools. In com-
pliance with our high-­quality standards, 
almost 30,000 spare parts have been 
recovered, which would otherwise have 
been recycled. This corresponds to 
more than five tons of valuable mate-
rials. Due to good ­customer feedback, 
we will continue to increase the number 
of approved spare parts for Hilti fleet 
tools in accordance with the respective 
local regulations. In addition, we have 
donated still functional and refurbished 
fleet management tools worth more than 
CHF 1 million in the USA to Habitat for 
Humanity and other charitable organ­
izations in 2019 and 2020. In our market 
organization in the Czech Republic, we 
donated used, but for less demanding 
use still functional tools to four schools 
as part of the “Tools for Schools” pro-
gram, thus supporting future electricians, 
engineers or business owners. 
We give returned fleet tools a second life. 
We donate some of the used tools to the 
“Tools for Schools” program in the Czech 
Republic, shown here.
At a Glance
•	 Industry-wide first calculated assessment of circularity 
•	 Decision made to change soft bag to 100% recycled  
fabric material
•	 Reusing spare parts or donating returned Hilti fleet tools
Successes and Actions
25
CIRCULARITY

Buildings and the  
circular economy
The circular economy plays a major role 
not only for our tools. We provide ­numerous 
products that remain permanently in a 
building and can also make a contribution 
to sustainable construction in this context. 
Finally, buildings are also sources of raw 
materials at the end of their life cycle:  
For example, installed installation ­systems 
for pipes and cables can already be com­
pletely reused today.
In order for buildings to become an 
integral part of a circular economy, the 
correct use of materials is essential 
during ­construction. A change in the way 
­people consider things is currently ­taking 
place here: The construction industry has 
recognized that there is a growing need 
for more ­sustainable buildings. These 
“green ­buildings” are characterized by 
low ­emission values and a high energy-­
efficiency as well as the use of renewable 
and ­uncontaminated raw materials, for 
example.
With our products, we support our 
­customers in obtaining certificates to 
achieve such “green building” standards. 
To provide our customers with more 
transparency about our product port-
folio for green buildings, we have many 
products certified externally with regard 
to environmental and health aspects. 
For example, our Environmental ­Product 
­Declarations (EPD) are issued by the 
­Institut Bauen und Umwelt e.V. (IBU) and 
our Material Health Certificates (MHC) are 
issued by the Cradle to Cradle ­Products 
Innovation Institute.
We took further steps in this direction in  
the year under review. We obtained certi-
fications for two new and three ­optimized 
products. In addition, we optimized our 
portfolio of fire protection products with 
a view to the Living Building Challenge 
certification program, thereby eliminating 
the hazardous substances from the LBC 
Red List. We also introduced construction 
foams on the market without additives from 
the risk material group isocyanate (MDI). 
In the future, we are going to present 
our product range and the associated 
certificates for sustainable construction 
even more transparently. In addition, 
we assigned responsibilities for “green 
­buildings” and sustainable construction. 
In this way, it will be possible to integrate 
­customer-specific requirements even more 
into our development processes.
The international quality standards applicable to sustainable 
construction (Green Building) are also of great relevance to our 
product portfolio. These include among others Leadership in 
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), the WELL Building 
Standard, the ­Building Research Establishment Environmental 
Assessment ­Methodology (BREEAM) and the certificates of the 
German ­Sustainable Building Council (DGNB).
INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS 
FOR GREEN BUILDINGS

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Environmental protection and resource effi-
ciency play a major role for us as a manu­
facturing company. Within our plants, but 
also in logistics, repair and product testing, 
we aim to minimize our impact on the 
­environment and to continuously improve 
by increasing efficiency or, for example, 
trouble-­free production. That is why we 
­focus on waste, water efficiency and con-
taminant emissions just as much as our CO2 
emissions and the potential of the circular 
economy.
  CO2: p. 16; Circularity: p. 20
Waste is mainly generated in the production 
of our products in our plants. A large part of 
this waste is disposed of by external service 
providers who have the appropriate certi­
fications for the disposal of the respective 
type of waste. Waste of different material 
groups, especially concrete and metallic 
fractions, is generated in production and 
For a  
Greener 
World
We commit ourselves to  
disposing of zero waste in 
­landfills in the ­future.
product testing. As part of our sustainability 
strategy, we strive to increase our recycling 
quota as far as possible in the future and 
avoid waste to landfills.
We mainly use water for specific pro-
duction steps, for example in the surface 
­treatment of our consumables, such as 
nails or ­anchors. Almost two-thirds of our 
­Group-wide water consumption is attrib-
27
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

2018
184,554
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
160,476
2019
2020
134,736
Water consumption in our plants
in m3
utable to four plants, on which we are 
­focusing our activities in a first step to 
achieve further improvements. 
The production process also produces 
contaminant emissions that enter the air 
and water in the factory environment. We 
measure the essential substances pro-
duced at all locations and comply with local 
statutory emission requirements. We plan 
to carry out a structured identification of all 
existing pollutants and to regularly measure 
relevant substances that were possibly not 
taken into account previously.
Organizational anchoring
The topic of environmental protection 
is handled in our Health & Safety (HSE) 
department under the direction of the 
Chief Compliance Officer. In addition, 
approximately 200 HSE representatives are 
appointed at our plants, logistics and repair 
centers throughout the company. 
Implementation
•	 In addition to complying with local 
environ­mental protection laws, we want 
to further standardize and optimize 
environ­mental management at our sites. 
To this end, we have released a Group-
wide internal environmental policy, 
which was ratified by all legal entities in 
our Group in 2020. The guideline is based 
on the industry standard ISO 14001:2015. 
It defines our fundamental ambitions with 
regard to environmental protection and 
regulates the measures and processes 
with which we want to reduce our eco-
logical footprint. 
•	 We encourage all employees to measure 
their daily actions against the standards 
described in the policy and to demon-
strate potential for improvement. We 
have introduced an internal ticket system 
at several locations that can be used to 
report any incidents in the field of envi-
ronmental protection to the responsible 
managers. We also raise our employees' 
awareness for environmental protection 
at Hilti and their individual responsibility 
with internal training, both face-to-
face and e-learnings, and information 
offers. For example, we provide training 
sessions on hazardous substances at 
regular intervals for employees handling 
these substances, on topics like proper 
storage or behavior in an emergency.
Furthermore, we have already taken sig­
nificant steps in recent years with regard  
to waste prevention and water efficiency.  
A few examples are shown below: 
•	 We implemented environmentally sound 
recycling for our concrete waste, 
for example, at our site in Schaan 
(­Liechten­stein) long ago: It is recycled in 
the immediate vicinity of the plant and 
used in the construction industry and 
road construction.
•	 The food and kitchen waste generated 
in our staff restaurant at Group head-
quarters is collected and transferred 
by a local waste disposal agency to a 
sewage treatment plant on site. The gas 
produced from the biomass along with 
sewage sludge is purified of carbon 
dioxide and then fed into the Liechten-
stein gas supply network as high-quality 
biogas.
•	 At our Navsari (India) plant, we have 
been able to apply lean methods to 
Breakdown of total waste by category 1, 2
1, 2
in t
2018
2019
2020
Change
Total waste 
23,758
25,020
23,571
-6%
Concrete
7,633
8,201
7,271
-11%
Metal
5,449
5,830
5,058
-13%
Chemical waste
1,509
1,078
1,313
22%
Paper
2,296
2,253
2,891
28%
Plastic
357
350
905
159%
Wood
845
1,023
1,232
20%
Electronic waste
2,612
2,546
2,459
-3%
Other
3,058
3,739
2,442
-35%
1 incl. returned fleet tools
2 
2 Due to increasing transparency of waste listed in the “Other” category, additional amounts 
have been added to the remaining categories. 
HSE ­representatives 
in our plants, ­logistics 
and repair centers 
 
Approx.
200
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
28
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

significantly reduce the consumption of 
graphite, which we use as an assistive in 
the production process. The possibility of 
reusing the generated graphite and the 
targeted control of the process parame-
ters in the hot press area has enabled us 
to reduce the generated waste by more 
than 50 percent.
•	 By switching from disposable to ­reusable 
transport containers at our plant in 
Thuringia (Austria), we were able to 
­reduce the need for cardboard boxes 
for small load carriers of 25,000 boxes 
per year by more than 70 percent. 
•	 We have already implemented possibil-
ities to save water in individual pro-
duction steps. For example, we partially 
reprocess the water used for finishing 
processes in several plants and can use 
it in a closed loop instead of supplying 
fresh water.
•	 Our wastewater is treated in in-house 
wastewater treatment plants and 
then fed to the municipal wastewater 
systems.
•	 At our Zhanjiang (China) plant, which 
accounts for about one third of water 
demand in our plants, we have been 
able to reduce water consumption by 
more than 10 percent over the past three 
years thanks to process optimization in 
surface treatment.
less water consump-
tion at our Zhanjiang 
plant in the last three 
years
10%
At a Glance
•	 Adoption of a Group-wide environmental policy
•	 Comprehensive training in environmental protection
•	 Various activities to reduce waste and improve 
water efficiency
Successes and Actions
We raise awareness of  
environmental protection 
with ­training courses  
and by providing a range  
of information.
29
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

SUPPLIER SUSTAINABILITY
Our global supplier network makes an 
important contribution to the added value, 
quality and innovative strength of our com-
pany. Consequently, our suppliers have a 
significant influence on the achievement of 
our sustainability goals and are at the same 
time strong partners to make a positive im-
pact on the ecological and social aspects 
of our business activities. 
We work with around 800 core ­suppliers to 
purchase the material that goes ­directly into 
our products. Approximately 65 ­percent 
of these suppliers are based in Europe, 
30 ­percent in the Asia-Pacific region and 
5 percent in the western hemisphere 
outside Europe. We procure more than 
85 ­percent of this purchasing volume 
­locally in the respective sales regions. 
We regulate the principles of collaboration 
with our direct suppliers in our Code of 
Conduct for Suppliers. These include the 
basic principles of the fight against corrup-
tion, human rights including not using child 
or forced labor, working conditions and 
minimum wages, handling of hazardous 
substances and environmental protection. 
Responsible 
Partner
The basic principles of our corporate 
culture – integrity, courage, teamwork and 
commitment – describe the inseparable 
connection between business success and 
corporate responsibility toward employees, 
business partners, society and the envi-
ronment. We also require our suppliers to 
practice these values and act accordingly 
corresponding to our Code of Conduct. 
For this reason, each direct supplier with 
whom we work is contractually committed 
to implementing and complying with these 
basic standards.  
Promoting improvements  
with audits
All our direct suppliers have signed the 
Code of Conduct for Suppliers or have their 
own codes that meet our requirements. 
Within the context of regular, standardized 
and announced on-site audits, we verify 
compliance with and implementation of 
these agreements, inter alia. This is done 
by our internal experts or the external audi-
tors of Bureau Veritas. 
Potential direct suppliers undergo an 
­evaluation audit before we enter into a 
business relationship with them, which also 
includes ecological and social criteria. If 
we enter into a business relationship with 
a supplier, a process audit with a focus 
on product quality takes place before the 
start of series delivery. These audits are 
repeated every three to five years. Working 
conditions and safety standards are also 
assessed. If a business partner repeatedly 
violates the agreed standards and there is 
no sufficient improvement in this situation, 
we terminate the business relationship. A 
total of 80 audits were carried out at our 
suppliers in 2020.
of our direct 
­purchase volume is 
procured locally in 
the respective sales 
regions.
85%

Five steps toward greater 
sustainability
To make our supplier relationships system­
atically more sustainable, we have devel-
oped a strategy that gradually raises our 
activities to a higher level. As a first step, 
we focused on creating a high degree of 
transparency with respect to our business 
partners. The goal is to transparently track 
and manage all product-related compli-
ance certificates and declarations (for 
example, RoHS & REACH), all company-­
related environmental certificates, the 
signed Supplier Code of Conduct, the 
results of our supplier audits as well as 
external ratings and vali­dated supplier 
data from, for example, Dun & ­Bradstreet, 
EcoVadis or Integrity Next on one ­platform. 
The use of the SAP Ariba purchasing 
soft­ware solution is ­closely related to 
this concern. We are already in contact 
with approximately 750 suppliers via this 
system, who handle more than 80 percent 
of our total purchasing volume of compo-
nents and raw materials. Our goal is to be 
in contact with all suppliers via SAP Ariba 
in the future, including those from whom 
we purchase office supplies and services, 
for example. This enables us to document 
standards, agreements and audit results 
and supports us in cultivating our supplier 
relationships systematically. 
In a second step, we want to ensure the 
sustainability assessments and key 
figures of our suppliers in all procurement 
processes. For this purpose, sustainability 
assessments such as those of EcoVadis 
or Integrity Next are consulted, which 
are entered into a bonus malus system 
in SAP Ariba. After evaluating our entire 
supplier portfolio, we plan to focus more 
on ­sustainability initiatives for individu-
al material groups in a third step. In this 
phase, we also want to confer a Best Prac-
tice Award for outstanding ­sustainability 
initiatives by suppliers. In a fourth step, 
we intend to expand our subcontractor 
management systematically to include 
sustainability aspects and involve them in 
our sustainability management. Finally, in a 
fifth step, we want to promote the inte-
gration of “EcoSourcing” and the circular 
economy further in our product develop-
ment process.
  Circularity: p. 20 
Responsible handling of 
­conflict minerals
We currently process tungsten and cobalt 
in our products, as well as tantalum and 
gold in certain electronics. At present, 
there is no equivalent substitute for these 
minerals, the extraction of which is help-
ing to finance conflicts in some regions of 
the world. We ask our suppliers about the 
origins of these materials in order to ensure 
that this is not the case. Our long-term 
objective is to replace conflict materials 
with less proble­matic materials as far as 
possible. For example, we are currently 
conducting an internal ­research project to 
replace cobalt in diamond segments with 
nickel or iron in the medium term.
Reduction of our carbon 
footprint in cooperative 
partnership  
Together with our suppliers, we are also 
working on the impact of our business on 
the environment. For example, together with 
our most important supplier of installation 
systems in Europe, we were able to reduce 
our CO2 emissions by optimizing transport 
routes to our plants and ­selected major 
customers. The conversion, which began in 
2019, was completed in 2020 and resulted 
in a reduction of 300,000 km per year – a 
reduction of more than 200 tons in CO2 
emissions.
of annually saved 
CO2 emissions 
thanks to just one 
transport route 
optimization.
200 t 
At a Glance
•	 80 audits were conducted at our suppliers in 2020
•	 Introduction of SAP Ariba purchasing software for greater 
­transparency on sustainability in the supply chain
Successes and Actions
Together with our 
partners we want 
to make our supply 
chains systemati-
cally more sustain-
able.
Brian Sieben,  
Head of Sourcing  
Excellence
31
SUPPLIER SUSTAINABILITY

FOR THE  
PEOPLE
34 	
User Health and Safety
38 	
Building Safety
44 	
Sustainable Culture and  
Employee Engagement
52 	
Employee Health and Safety
... health and safety have been high on our agenda for decades. 
Turn the page to learn more about how we fulfill this responsibility 
to our customers and our employees.

There are still too many accidents on 
­construction sites despite the ­numerous 
safety regulations that apply in the ­markets 
and the measures and ­strategies already 
taken by companies helping to ­prevent 
accidents. According to Eurostat, the 
­construction sector has the highest ­number 
of occupational accidents among all 
sectors. 
Thousands of injuries and nearly 20 per-
cent of all annual deaths suffered by 
construction workers are caused by 
­inadequate protective equipment or lack 
of user skills. We have been working for 
more than 75 years with our products and 
services to make work on construction 
sites safer. With technological ­innovations, 
we support the protection of users 
against dust, mechanical recoil, excessive 
­machine vibrations and cutting injuries. 
This begins in the development process 
of our products and goes all the way to 
consulting and training to raise awareness 
in the area of user health and safety. 
In the product development process, 
which incorporates standards such as the 
USER HEALTH 
AND SAFETY
Safety at Con­
struction Sites
We have been 
working for more 
than 75 years to 
make work on 
construction sites 
safer.
Jahangir (Jan) Doongaji, 
Member of the  
Executive Board
EXO-O1 may reduce the strain 
on the user, is easy to put on and 
maintains the natural range of 
­motion in the upper body.
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
34
USER HEALTH AND SAFETY

European Machinery Directive, we assess 
the ecological and health properties of 
a future product at an early stage. This 
assessment includes a variety of criteria, 
including vibration and dust generation. In 
addition, dedicated, internal consultation 
with the development team takes place in 
this phase, so that safety-relevant findings 
can also be incorporated from other areas 
of the Group. Product development only 
enters the next phase if all safety-relevant 
points have been satisfactorily clarified. 
This structured development approach 
enables products that go far beyond the 
legal safety requirements. 
Organizational anchoring
The topic of user health and safety is on 
the agenda of all our business areas and 
is incorporated into their annual ­strategy 
processes. Using our application and 
ergonomics ­experience, we evaluate where 
we can improve ­existing products in the 
­interests of users with regard to safety, 
whether we can extend existing ­safety 
solutions to new product groups and 
which new solutions are conceivable for 
greater health and safety in construction. 
In addition to the business areas, our cen-
tral research area “Corporate ­Research & 
Technology” in Schaan (Liechtenstein) 
and our “Competence Center for Health & 
Safety Technologies” in Kaufering (­Germany) 
are driving user safety. For 25 years, we 
have been ­continuously examining how 
innovations can be ­implemented in this 
context as part of exploratory technology 
development.
In addition to the product monitoring 
obligation, our sales structure, with ­direct 
customer contact and feedback from our 
worldwide repair centers, enables us to 
collect user experiences in the handling of 
our products quickly, comprehensively and 
in a structured manner. We take this direct 
feedback from the market very seriously. 
If a complaint indicates that an injury has 
occurred or could ­potentially occur during 
the use of our products, the Executive 
Board is informed of these ­findings. If a 
product defect is ­detected, we communi-
cate this to the relevant ­contact persons 
within our Group and take all necessary 
steps to remedy the defect. 
Our goal is to meet the 
­highest demands of users  
in terms of health and  
safety.
Even in such cases, the advantages of 
our quality standards and sales approach 
are evident: Since each Hilti product has 
its own serial number and is linked to the 
corresponding customer number, we can 
track almost completely which device is in 
use at which customer and possibly needs 
to be repaired or replaced.
35
USER HEALTH AND SAFETY

How we specifically promote 
user safety
•	 Our “Active Torque Control (ATC)” 
is an electronic solution based on the 
airbag system. We originally developed 
this for our combihammers and inte-
grated it into a product for the first time 
in 2000. State-of-the-art sensors and 
a motor brake reduce the recoil risk by 
helping to prevent a device from rotat-
ing uncontrollably when jammed. With 
ATC, we go significantly beyond the 
requirements of the Machinery Directive, 
which only provides for a mechanical 
slip clutch.  
•	 Where there is construction, dust is 
­omnipresent. Dust particles may stay in 
the air for a long time due to their small 
size and penetrate deep into the lungs. 
Our focus in developing solutions is 
to minimize user dust exposure while 
enabling maximum productivity. 
 
As early as 1995, we launched the first 
tool on the market with an ­integrated 
“dust extraction system”. Today, 
95 percent of our power tools can be 
used ­virtually dust-free. We design 
­power tools, accessories and inserts, 
for example, drills, grinding wheels, cut-
ting discs and chisels, as sophisticated 
systems with dust extraction, so-called 
Our ­construction 
­robot helps to 
­automate physically 
demanding tasks.
Jaibot
Dust ­Removal Systems (DRS), helping 
to remove dust at the source and effi-
ciently collect it with the help of power-
ful vacuum cleaners. 
•	 We continue to consider the effects of 
typical working postures and move-
ments when using our tools, for ­example, 
overhead or above shoulder work. Pre-
ventive relief can help reduce work-re-
lated musculoskeletal disorders in the 
shoulder area, one of the most common 
reasons for disability in the construction 
industry. We presented two possible 
solutions to this problem in 2020. Our 
Exoskeleton EXO-O1 may reduce the 
strain on the user, is easy to put on and 
maintains the natural range of motion in 
the upper body. The reduced fatigue of 
the muscles may enable an increase in 
safety, productivity and quality of work. 
In addition, our Jaibot semi-­autonomous 
construction robot supports ceiling in-
stallations in particular and consequently 
helps to auto­mate repetitive and physi-
cally ­demanding tasks. 
 Company Report: p. 18, p. 20  
•	 In addition to the various health and 
safety technologies, we have dedica­ted 
ourselves to raising awareness at con-
struction sites since 2014. To this end, 
we have developed interactive training 
sessions specifically for users. The 
Dust management  
made by Hilti
With our system, dust is extracted 
directly from where it is generated: 
at the drilled hole. Subsequent 
cleaning is not necessary.
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
36
USER HEALTH AND SAFETY

EXO-O1
Face-2-Face Group Sessions
E-Learnings
Solutions for greater health and safety for users  
on the construction site 
Human Enhancement 
Systems
Dust Management  
Systems
Dust Exposure Reduction
Product Safety 
Technologies
Fatigue Reduction
Hazard Reduction
Health and Safety Trainings
­focus of all our training modules is on 
risk and accident reduction according 
to the STOP method. This means risk 
­reduction through substitution as well as 
technical, organizational and perso­nal 
protection measures. We currently offer 
more than ten ­different training mod-
ules, for example in the field of dust, 
working with angle ­grin­ders or ­flying 
sparks, and are constantly developing 
our portfolio further. Our wide range of 
training courses ­includes ­on-site train-
ing at a customer’s ­premises and virtual 
formats with our experts. Approximately 
12,000 users were trained in 2020.  
 
In addition, we launched our first 
e-learning courses in 2020. These 
­flexible and fully digital formats are 
available in a wide variety of languages. 
New courses will be rolled out succes-
sively in our markets starting from 2021.
At a Glance
•	 Exoskeleton EXO-O1 and Jaibot make work on  
construction sites easier 
•	 E-learning courses launched in different languages
Successes and Actions
E-Learnings offer new 
opportunities for digital 
learning.
37
USER HEALTH AND SAFETY

Build More 
Safely
Sustainability has become an essential 
element of construction. New construction 
projects aim to reduce negative effects on 
the environment and at the same time cre-
ate a positive situation for the people who 
live and work in these buildings. At Hilti we 
have been offering products to make build-
ings safer for more than 40 years – and we 
have helped to establish high standards in 
this area. Our cooperation with universities, 
research institutes and approval bodies 
have made a significant contribution to 
raising the safety in buildings to a higher 
level. 
 Circularity: p. 26
BUILDING SAFETY
Our target is to meet  
the highest standards in 
building safety with our  
products.
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
38
Building Safety

Our strategy for the better protection of 
people and their property rests on two 
strong pillars – better protection against 
critical events, such as fire or earthquakes, 
and lifetime performance, ensuring the 
long-term durability of our solutions.
Better protection against 
­critical events ­
Within the first pillar, we focus on mitigat-
ing the two main impacts to building and 
occupant safety: earthquakes or seismic 
events and fires.  
In the field of earthquake protection, we 
offer a wide range of solutions helping 
to ensure fasteners, rebar connections, 
fire ­protected penetrations and joints can 
withstand the impact of an earthquake. An 
example of this is the extensive effort we 
do within the field of our anchor fasteners: 
We carry out comprehensive testing that 
simulates the magnitude and frequency of 
an actual earthquake to enable our prod-
ucts and solutions can still perform during 
and after a seismic event in all dimensions 
of performance.
In the area of fire protection, we are 
offering industry leading passive firestop 
solutions that enable fire containment and 
thereby reducing impact on both occu-
pants and building structure. In addition to 
fire protection devices and chemicals, we 
Solutions helping to save lives and protect assets
Lifetime performance
Quality Installation  
and ­Documentation
High-Performing  
Hardware
Better protection against  
critical events
Fire  
Protection
Earthquake 
Protection
Safer building designs
Training & Consulting
Building Information 
Modeling Design
Design  
Software
The intelligent adaptive torque module helps 
to ensure that anchor systems are fastened 
with the correct installation torque. The cor-
rect anchor setting is simultaneously docu-
mented and can be transferred seamlessly to 
a PC after the work is done.
39
Building Safety

also research how our fasteners and rebar 
connections can withstand and outper-
form during critical temperature conditions 
occurring during building fires.
We partner closely with standardi­zation 
organizations helping to ensure compli-
ance with regulations and the ­effective 
safety performance of our solutions. As an 
active member of stand­ardization organi-
zations, such as the ­European Committee 
for Standardization (CEN), the European 
­Organization of Technical Assessment 
(EOTA) and the International Code Council 
(ICC), we always strive to help develop 
standards and regulations that create a 
foundation for both safer and more prac-
tical solution design. We promote these 
standards and regulations in the markets 
in which we operate, and we participate 
in public consultations of the respective 
national committees. 
Lifetime performance
Within our second pillar we develop solu-
tions that aim at providing these innovative 
products support an extended lifetime of a 
building. 
The foundation of long-lasting buildings 
is durable hardware elements in those 
buildings. We strive to offer hardware that 
outlasts the life of a structure. We help to 
ensure the performance of our fasteners 
by running long-term testing in corrosive 
environments across the globe, for exam-
ple, in locations in the immediate vicinity 
of the sea with fluctuating temperatures 
and high humidity.
Leading product features and lifetime per-
formance can, however, only be realized if 
products are installed correctly. Therefore, 
we have developed systems and services 
We strive to 
­design our 
solutions to 
outlast the life 
of a structure.
Edward-Louis Przybylowicz, 
Head of Business  
Unit Anchor Systems
Our passive fire protection solutions are integrated into the 
structure of a building helping to seal off pipes, cables or even 
building joints from fire and toxic smoke in the event of a fire. 
This helps prevent the fire from spreading further into the 
­building and minimizes its devastating effects.
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
40
Building Safety

that enable the high quality of installation. 
To help construction workers make best 
use of our products, we offer professionally 
delivered trainings: We consult the installers 
on the construction site through a combi-
nation of technical knowledge and hands-
on modules. 
In addition, we support long-lasting con-
struction with systems that prevent errors 
during the installation of our products 
and that provide reports on the proper 
installation.  
•	 An example of this is our Adaptive 
Torque Module which helps to ensure 
all anchors and installation systems are 
set with the proper torque or our digital 
On-Site Testing systems that validate 
anchor performance. 
•	 In order to validate lifetime-enhanced 
performance of our solutions we offer 
documentation solutions like the Hilti 
Documentation Manager. This supports 
contractors in extensively and ­effectively 
documenting their work, while also 
aiding facility managers in monitoring the 
critical areas of their facility – like firestop 
seals or critical anchors – with the help 
of cloud-based software. 
•	 Another example for an innovative 
documentation feature is the Hilti 
Tracefast, a unique QR code imprinted 
on our high-performance anchors that 
represents a new concept for fasteners. 
This data matrix code (DMC) makes 
each fastener uniquely identifiable and 
thus traceable throughout its entire life 
cycle – from manufacturing to the end of 
the building’s use. The DMC contains a 
unique ID that includes all relevant infor-
mation: instructions for use, approvals, 
technical data and even the batch and 
article number. 
 Company Report: p. 14  
Safety begins with design
The foundation in the field of building safety 
is a safe building design. We partner 
closely with specifiers and architects to 
enable the consideration of building and 
occupant safety at an early stage in the 
planning. This is the prerequisite for being 
able to provide the resilience of a building 
in the long run. 
Our field-based engineering force 
­consults with regard to critical safety 
­problems, provides technical assessments 
and on-site testing during the design 
phase. This support function is further 
enabled by providing software solutions 
like PROFIS Engineering and the recently 
launched Firestop Selector. In this way, 
we help various construction communities 
to find and design safer and more cost-­
effective solutions. Furthermore, we sup-
port general contractors in planning their 
projects more effectively, modeling and 
calculating their safety-critical ­solutions 
directly within the Building Information 
Modeling (BIM) methodology.
 Company Report: p. 40 
Hilti Tracefast is a unique 
QR code that is printed 
on our high-performance 
anchors as a new concept 
for fasteners.
At a Glance
•	 Training and consulting to support high-quality installations
•	 Hilti Tracefast as an innovation for the unique identification of 
anchors throughout their entire life cycle
•	 Software solutions for support in the design process and for 
seamless documentation
Successes and Actions
41
Building Safety

Innovations through research 
and feedback
In order to further develop and innovate 
our current portfolio of products and 
solutions, we also research and develop 
through partnerships. A key contributor for 
continuing to advance our understanding of 
the impact of critical events on the perfor-
mance of building structures is our collabo-
ration with universities and research groups 
having specific expertise in these fields. 
For example, the partnership with the 
University of Canterbury helps us to con-
tinuously improve fire protection solutions, 
which are enabled to effectively perform 
their sealing role even after a significant 
earthquake. While traditional firestop 
solutions have shown their limitations in fa-
cilities hit by earthquakes, by failing to keep 
fire contained, more innovative pre-formed 
firestop devices have proven much more 
resilient to vibrations and movements, better 
stopping the spread of fire and smoke after 
seismic events.
Together with the University of San Diego 
we are developing testing requirements 
for safer seismic fastening solutions with 
a strong focus on the capacity to recover 
quickly after a seismic event. 
Within our own value chain, the topic of 
building safety is on the agenda of the 
individual business units: We follow a 
structured development process to inte-
grate security features into our products 
at a very early stage. In addition to the 
tests anchored in the guidelines, we check 
for a wide variety of contingencies, such 
as incorrect product storage or deviating 
installation conditions. We only launch a 
product on the market when all these risk 
assessments have been completed. After 
product launch, in addition to the product 
monitoring obligation, the feedback from 
our customers plays a very relevant role in 
the continuous improvement of our offering. 
Experts in our development teams carry out 
structured reviews of customer complaints, 
including additional tests and site visits, if 
necessary. 
Responsible handling of 
­hazardous substances
Health and safety play a central role in 
our business. Accordingly, we strive to 
­better protect the users of our products, 
the building occupants and our employees 
from potentially dangerous substances in 
our products. As part of our sustainability 
strategy, we are therefore intensifying our 
focus on avoiding the use of hazardous 
University of Canterbury
Development of a methodology to assess the residual perfor-
mance of penetration firestopping systems exposed to seismic 
conditions
University of California San Diego
Development of new product qualification and design guidelines  
for seismic resistance, safety, and resilience of structural and  
nonstructural fastening applications 
Research with 
the support  
of students
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
42
Building Safety

substances. We want to reduce their share 
in our products across our entire portfolio, 
for example in chemical anchors, fire pro-
tection products and tools, insofar as this 
is technically possible. Our commitment to 
optimum performance and quality contin-
ues to be our top priority.
We want to avoid hazardous substances 
as much as possible, on the one hand 
to minimize the environmental impact as 
much as possible, and on the other to 
minimize adverse health effects. We always 
act in accordance with applicable safe-
ty regulations and rules that apply in our 
markets, including Registration, Evaluation, 
Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals 
(REACH) and Restriction of Hazardous 
Substances (RoHS). We monitor regulatory 
developments and adapt to new regula-
tions at an early stage. In fact, we already 
go beyond the legal requirements for the 
use of hazardous substances in many of 
our products. We also require our suppliers 
to disclose their handling of critical chemi-
cals and to comply with our standards.
In our product development process, we 
are focusing even more intensively than 
before on the prevention of hazardous sub-
stances. At an early stage in the process, 
we will increasingly and systematically 
examine alternatives for such substances 
concerning their suitability in the product. 
We will also place greater emphasis on 
preformed products in fire protection, for 
example, so that the risk of user contact 
with reactive chemicals contained therein is 
reduced.
 
We are taking an important step toward 
avoiding hazardous substances in produc-
tion. For example, we already rely on “High 
Pressure Coining” technology (HPC) in 
manufacturing our diamond products. This 
new technology enables us to eliminate 
toxic metals from conflict regions in pro-
duction. Completely recycled iron is used 
instead. This benefits our employees, our 
customers on construction sites and the 
environment.
In the area of fire 
­protection we are 
focusing increasingly 
on preformed products, 
reducing user contact 
with liquid chemicals.

Our goal is to enable  
the engagement of our  
employees.
SUSTAINABLE CULTURE AND 
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
Employee engagement as 
­focus of our strategy  
Our company founder Martin Hilti was 
already convinced of the importance of 
an employee-oriented corporate culture 
as the foundation for a successful busi-
ness model. Even today – 80 years later 
– ­engagement is at the heart of our efforts. 
Because enthusiasm and professionalism 
are transferred to our customers with highly 
motivated employees, which ultimately 
produces increasingly better results.
Care and 
Perform
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
44
SUSTAINABLE CULTURE AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

Employees by region 2020 
Number
Americas 5,043
Asia 5,514
Europe 17,580
Middle East and Africa 1,409
29,546
New employees by region 
Number 
Asia 494
Americas 599
Europe 1,678
 
2,911
Middle East and Africa 140
Our culture is decisive for establishing a 
spirit of collaboration at Hilti: We support 
and challenge each other, and we measure 
ourselves against the results of our work. 
As part of our “Care & Perform” culture, 
which is constantly evolving and based on 
our core values of commitment, courage, 
teamwork and integrity, we also support 
sustainability in all employee-related topics: 
inclusion and diversity, employee develop-
ment, mental and physical health as well as 
work-life-balance.
A high-performing global team is one of the 
cornerstones of our corporate strategy. In 
recent years, our team has grown strongly, 
become more global and diverse. We have 
increased the number of our employees 
by approximately 50 percent since 2010. 
About 30,000 people around the world 
currently work for Hilti. With their dedica-
tion and engagement, they decide every 
day whether and how we get better as a 
group. At this point in time, approximately 
60 percent of our team members belong to 
the generation of the “millennials”. We want 
to meet the different expectations of both 
our younger and older employees ­equally 
as well as those from different cultural 
backgrounds.
The Group-wide people strategy is 
based on our caring and performance-­
oriented corporate culture. Overarching 
goal is to enable the engagement of our 
employees. To measure progress on 
engagement, we have been surveying our 
team about their engagement with Hilti 
I consider it management’s most important 
task and an entrepreneur’s ethical respon-
sibility to create a company climate in which 
every single person develops the will to 
­succeed and commit, while still having fun 
at work.
Martin Hilti, 
Company Founder
in the annual Global Employee Opinion 
Survey (GEOS) for more than 20 years. We 
gather specific feedback on the content 
areas of leadership, team, organization, 
strategy, development, inclusion and more.
45
SUSTAINABLE CULTURE AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

2016
50
60
70
80
2017
2018
2019
2020
GEOS Employee Engagement Score
in %
70
70
71.5
74
72
73
76
77
62
63
71.9
75
64
65
66
top quartile
(global)
norm
(global)
Employees by age structure 2020
Number
Above 50 
4,125
30 – 50
18,832
Below 30
6,589
 
29,546
We use the following categories to assess 
engagement:  
•	 Say: “I recommend Hilti to others as  
a great place to work.”
•	 Stay: “It would take a lot to get me  
to leave this organization.”
•	 Strive: “Hilti inspires me to do my  
best every day.”
The percentages of positive responses to 
these three questions result in an over-
all score, the “Employee Engagement 
Score”. We have set ourselves the goal 
of being in the top quartile of all partici-
pating organizations. In 2020, 91 percent 
of our team members participated in the 
GEOS survey and took the time to write 
19,000 comments. The proportion of 
employee engagement has increased from 
71.5 to 74 percent. With top quartile results 
in six regions, our headquarters and most 
global functions, we reduced the gap to 
the global top quartile to three percentage 
points. Now it is a question of closing the 
remaining gap with a unified effort and the 
consistent implementation of our personnel 
strategy.
Another focus of our people strategy is 
to attract and further develop talents and 
consequently create a strong succession 
pipeline. An important component in 
achieving these goals is the creation of an 
inclusive environment. By this we mean a 
working environment in which people can 
contribute their strengths, feel comfortable 
and have the courage to go new ways and 
try things out. At the same time, we have 
high expectations on the behavior of our 
employees. Inclusion is not a project for us, 
but instead an attitude that we maintain in 
the entire Group. We understand diversity 
as the sum of the diverse attitudes, ideas, 
experiences and strengths of our work-
force. This diversity and the use of these 
potentials promotes imagination and creates 
the necessary friction for ­progress. We 
focus on three concrete aspects – the 3Gs:
•	 Gender
•	 Global
•	 Generation
Employees by gender 2020
Female
Male
Non-binary
Total
Executive Board
0
6
0
6
Executive Management 
Team 
28
149
0
177
2nd Management Level
1,147
4,156
0
5,303
Employees
6,403
17,656
1
24,060
Total
7,578
21,967
1
29,546
A Great Place to Work 
We are proud to have received the 2019 “Best place to work ©” award by 
Glassdoor in the U.S. and to be on the list of Fortune 100 Best Companies 
to Work® in 2020 in the UK. We were also recognized by the Great Place 
to Work For ® Institute among the best places to work in 2020 on several 
occasions: We were ranked 14th best employer in Europe and were among 
the top 10 in Sweden, Poland, Spain and the Netherlands. These awards are 
a testament to our investment in our team members and our culture.
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
46
SUSTAINABLE CULTURE AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

M
OM
EN
T
Employee 
Engagement
Inclusive 
organization
Caring and
 performance-oriented 
corporate culture
Fo
cu
s 
on
 s
tr
en
gt
hs
O
wn
er
sh
ip
Fr
eq
ue
nt
 c
on
ve
rs
ati
on
s
Ta
ki
ng
 a
cti
on
 N
ow
We deliberately set target ambitions for 
these indicators instead of rigid quotas: 
We aim to ensure that our workforce is as 
diverse as possible with regard to the 3Gs. 
For example, the proportion of women in 
the workforce has increased from 18.6 to 
25.5 percent since 2010.
Our new “MOMENT” people approach, 
which reinforces our long-­standing priority 
on personal and professional growth, 
focuses on further driving ­employee en­
gagement, creating an environment where 
all team members can be engaged.  
The concept is based on four principles:
•	 Frequent conversations 
•	 Taking action Now
•	 Ownership
•	 Focus on strengths 
Frequent conversations and direct feed-
back to reflect on the progress of goals 
and one’s own further development are 
central elements of this concept. More 
than 100,000 goals have already been 
documented on our new Workday digital 
platform. At the end of the reporting year, 
82 percent of employees had documented 
their development discussion in the system.
Our team leaders play a central role in 
implementing this people approach and an 
inclusive work environment. In addition to 
the team members themselves, they are 
responsible for an inclusive approach to the 
team, for the personal and content-related 
development of their team members and, 
as a result, for achieving excellent results.
We use learning to sensitize our ­team 
­leaders to the topics of inclusion and 
­diversity. Since 2015, we have trained 
80 percent of our 2500 team leaders on 
the issue of unconscious bias with our 
“Beyond Bias” workshop. This training 
continues to be part of familiarizing all new 
team leaders with our corporate culture. In 
Our People 
Strategy
 
share of women in 
Hilti’s workforce
25.5%

Promoting an inclusive 
organization: This is 
a leadership task that 
cannot be delegated.  
Christoph Loos, 
CEO
Number/proportion of employees with development discussions 2020
Female
Male
Non-binary
Total
Total
5,629
17,194
1
22,824
Share in %
74.3
78.3
100.0
77.2
the 2020 ­reporting year, we expanded our 
Group-wide learning offer with the format 
“Leading inclusively”: We collected real 
cases where people felt they have not been 
treated in an inclusive way and turned 
these into video scenarios where our team 
leaders can practice, reflect and learn how 
to create a more inclusive environment. 
In addition, team members can also net-
work independently to promote inclusion 
and diversity. In “Employee Resource 
Groups” (ERG), employees meet with 
regard to topics relevant to them such 
as environmental protection or diversity. 
They can inform, support and advise each 
other in a safe environment and develop 
relevant solutions for them, which the 
respective organization then implements. 
ERGs can form at the local level as well as 
in the Group-wide international context. 
As ­needed, they receive non-material or 
financial support from our Group.
To make our position on inclusion and 
diversity known to the entire Hilti team,  
we also hold open events. For example, we 
conducted three Awareness Weeks for the 
3Gs in the reporting year. The first theme 
week in March took place around Inter-
national Women’s Day. In various internal 
communication channels, events and quiz-
zes, we conveyed facts and drew attention 
to unconscious prejudices and stereotypes. 
Theme weeks on diversity and age differ-
ences followed in May and October.  
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
48
SUSTAINABLE CULTURE AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

Learning & Development
Developing our employees is our focus and 
one of our core competencies. We have a 
broad portfolio of user-generated content 
and formal learning journeys to convey 
­performance-based knowledge and appli-
cation. The ­content on our internal learning 
platform, which has an average of 70,000 
views per day, is written to a large extent 
by more than 2500 employees across all 
­functions. More than 600 team members 
act as ­community managers to engage 
with learners and ensure knowledge trans-
fer. In addition to learning opportunities for 
basic skills such as communication or time 
management, we also offer role-specific 
courses, for example in the areas of sales, 
marketing and leadership.
Employee turnover1 by gender
in %
2018
2019
2020
Female
10.0
10.3
6.7
Male
9.4
8.9
6.3
Total
9.4
9.3
6.4
1 Employees who voluntarily left our organization.
Employee Turnover
One result of our human resources strategy and our caring and 
performance oriented corporate culture is reflected in our turnover 
rate. At 6.4 percent, this was also low in 2020. Our goal is to keep it 
at a low level in the long term compared to the norm of the industry.
 
apprentices train at our 
corporate headquarters 
in Schaan
~90

One example of our internally developed 
content is our new leader onboarding pro-
gram. The multi-month program was jointly 
developed by all regions and is based on 
the templates and experience provided and 
further developed by team leaders from 
throughout the company. 
In addition to our internal offerings, we 
are in contact with external education-
al institutions at many locations and 
also support our employees’ desire for 
­further academic training in appropriate 
cases. By supporting our employees in 
their development, we also live up to our 
­ambition to ­recruit 80 percent of our 
team ­leaders from within. Such a career 
with us can start at a young age. We have 
been providing vocational training pro-
grams at our locations in Liechtenstein, 
Austria and ­Germany for many years. For 
example, ­almost 90 trainees work in seven 
apprentice­ships at our Group headquarters 
in Schaan (Liechtenstein). 
Work-life-balance and 
resilience
The reporting year posed particular chal-
lenges for many employees. The COVID-19 
pandemic has changed many areas of 
personal and professional life within a 
short time. As in many other companies, 
we at Hilti have taken short-term mea-
sures to protect our team members in the 
best possible way. Our flexible working 
models already in place before the pan-
demic have made it much easier to switch 
to working from home where possible. 
These agreements include remote work, 
part-time ­arrangements, longer-term leaves 
of absence (“sabbaticals”) or increases in 
vacation days.  
 Employee Health and Safety: p. 52
Under the special conditions during the 
COVID-19 pandemic, we have translated 
numerous existing offers on resilience 
and mindfulness into digital formats. This 
applies also to our format “Team Camp –  
Care and Perform”. Originally conceived 
as a two-day in-person event, this team 
workshop, which all our team members 
go through worldwide, highlights topics 
such as positive and negative workload, 
multitasking, careful listening, management 
of disruptions in everyday work, individual 
performance curves or conscious breaks. 
After the team camp, the participants could 
voluntarily measure their heart rate ­variability 
over three-days, which showed them which 
situations are stressful at work and at home 
and which serve to recover. Supported by 
the evaluation and advice of our external 
partner “Firstbeat”, employees have the 
opportunity to plan their daily routine on the 
basis of stress and recovery phases.
Number of apprentices in LI, AT and DE in 2020
Total
Of which new
Female
97
32
Male
262
79
Total
359
111
Employees by working time model and employment relationship  
in 2020
Female
Male
Non-binary
Total
Full-time 
6,832
21,534
1
28,367
of which 
permanent
6,471
20,726
1
27,198
of which 
temporary
361
808
1,169
Part-time 
746
433
1,179
of which 
permanent
704
395
1,099
of which 
temporary
42
38
80
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
50
SUSTAINABLE CULTURE AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

To make full use 
of the ­diversity 
of our global 
team, an ­inclusive 
­environment is 
­essential – this 
­enables all ­team 
members to 
­fully ­develop 
their ­potential.
Sabine Krauss, 
Global Head of  
Human Resources
In 2020, we created the virtual series of 
events “Care and ­Perform during chal-
lenging times”, which deals intensively 
with the challenges and ­burdens of remote 
working. ­Specifically created for team 
leaders, the module “Leader­ship during 
challenging times” took place in parallel, 
in which aspects of virtual team leadership 
were discussed, among other things. Our 
“­Sherpas” – ­coworkers responsible for 
the care and development of the corporate 
culture – have also carried out various 
virtual formats such as podcasts, pro­
viding mental support as well as advice 
on organizing home offices, childcare and 
other challenges. 
We are also constantly developing our of-
fers at our international locations. One ex-
ample: In our organization in Great Britain, 
we have initiated a program that enables 
team members and their families to get 
psychological, financial or legal counseling 
as well as coaching from our partner “Life 
Works” free of charge. In addition, we have 
revised our policies and practices since the 
end of 2019 in collaboration with the non-­
profit organization “Mates in Mind”, which 
specializes in mental health in the construc-
tion industry. In this context, for example, 
we organized a “Mental Well-being” week 
in the reporting year, during which guest 
speakers spoke about the topic of mental 
well-being or mindfulness training sessions 
were held for employees.  
Organizational anchoring
Our Head of Global Human Resources 
who reports to a member of the Executive 
Board is responsible for the Group-wide 
strategic personnel orientation. Within 
Human Resources, our own global centers 
of excellence address the topics of talent 
acquisition, talent management, learning 
and development, diversity and inclusion as 
well as reward, social benefits and health. 
In addition, strategic and ­operational ­human 
resource teams work in local organizations 
to support the organization during transfor-
mations, implement programs and support 
team leaders and members in their work.
Management systems and policies
Fair relations, respect for human rights, 
freedom of association and equal opportu-
nities: These are the basis of the core labor 
standards of the International Labor Orga-
nization (ILO), which are a matter of course 
for us. Our own ambition exceeds this by 
far. Our corporate culture, our values and 
our human resource strategy provide an 
important framework for cooperation within 
our Group. Our Group-wide Code of Con-
duct and our Anti-Discrimination Policy are 
among our key internal regulations.
We regularly check our processes and 
compliance with the guidelines through 
internal audits. In addition, we also have 
external reviews carried out according to 
recognized standards. A large number of 
our organizations worldwide have ISO 9001 
certification, which covers a total of 
87 ­percent of our employees. This is sup-
plemented by local standards, for example 
with regard to remuneration. For example, 
we use the recognized tool Logib for our 
organizations in Liechtenstein and Switzer-
land to analyze our remuneration practices 
with regard to wage and salary equality.
Violations of internal or external regula-
tions are not tolerated. In addition to the 
respective team leaders and members 
representatives (if available locally), contact 
persons are available in our global and local 
compliance organizations. 
 Business Ethics: p. 60
At a Glance
•	 Continuous increase in employee engagement: all-time high  
in GEOS employee survey
•	 Introduction of “MOMENT” people approach reinforces priority  
on personal and professional growth
•	 Virtual delivery of “Care and Perform during challenging 
times” workshop for all employees
Successes and Actions
51
SUSTAINABLE CULTURE AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

EMPLOYEE 
HEALTH AND SAFETY
We are responsible for the well-being of our 
approximately 30,000 employees world-
wide. We want to provide them with the 
safest possible working conditions in all 
areas of activity – in our plants, in logis-
tics, in repair centers, in direct sales and 
at an office workplace – and consequently 
minimize physical and mental hazards and 
strains. We focus not only on the specific 
risk of injury to our employees, but also on 
their long-term health. Many work-related 
strains are associated with certain move-
ment and posture patterns. The specific 
way of working in direct sales, with long 
car journeys, numerous appointments and 
irregular daily routines, can also have a 
negative impact on health in the long term. 
In addition, there is the individual feeling of 
stress. Mental symptoms are therefore also 
a possible health effect.
The Team 
Counts
Our goal is to be a leader  
in the health and safety of 
our employees.
We want to counteract the various stresses 
in everyday working life and thus promote 
the basis of our successful existence as a 
company: the health, performance and job 
satisfaction of a highly motivated team.
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
52
EMPLOYEE HEALTH and SAFETY

STOP
Our “STOP in case of danger” 
principle applies at all locations 
worldwide: No Hilti ­employee 
should be exposed to dangerous 
situations.
A network across 
all production 
sites promotes the 
­exchange between 
internal safety 
­experts.
Organizational anchoring  
We steer our plants, logistics and repair 
centers worldwide with our ­Occupational 
Health and Safety Management. Approxi-
mately 20 percent of our employees work 
in these production-related areas, where 
the individual safety risk is comparatively 
high. The Global H&S Process Manager, 
from Health & Safety (HSE), is responsible 
for this. The function reports directly to the 
Chief ­Compliance Officer (CCO).
 
Management systems and policies  
Different management systems are dom-
inant in different regions. These include 
ISO 45001 in Europe or OHSAS in the U.S. 
The management systems throughout the 
Group are therefore similar but not identi-
cal. To ensure compliant implementation, 
internal and external occupational safety 
specialists carry out audits in plants, logis-
tics and repair centers.
How we ensure safety
Our “STOP in case of danger” principle 
applies at all locations worldwide: No Hilti 
employee should be exposed to dangerous 
situations, but instead distance themselves 
from these situations immediately. We 
expressly accept interruptions in our work 
processes in this context. In addition, all 
hazards are recorded and maintained by 
the local HSE team in the plants and sup-
plemented by in-depth risk analyses. 
If a dangerous situation or an accident 
occurs despite all precautionary mea-
sures, a structured investigation is carried 
out to determine which factors led to the 
accident, which immediate measures and 
which longer-term improvement potentials 
are necessary, including within the occu-
pational safety management system. In ad-
dition, there are daily exchanges between 
local HSE experts and employees across all 
hierarchy levels, where occupational safety 
is managed as a permanent agenda item. 
Our sustainability strategy places even 
greater emphasis on employee safety 
for the entire Group. We not only want to 
expand the scope of our measures, but 
also to build new organizational ­structures, 
intensify exchanges of knowledge within 
the Group and establish a vibrant ­safety 
mentality throughout the Group. The 
Global H&S Process Manager supports 
this Group-wide networking. 
In particular, the employees in our market 
organizations, in which local managers 
currently ensure that the current statutory 
health and safety regulations are complied 
with, should be addressed and involved 
more closely than before. The risk situation 
is generally lower in market organizations 
than in production-related areas. However, 
direct sales activities involve the specific 
safety risks in road traffic, which we ad-
dress in some organizations, for example, 
with driver safety trainings.
We are aware that safety in all areas of 
activity cannot be increased by rules 
and training alone. Instead, we rely on all 
employees to take our safety mentality 
to heart and to think and act in a safety-­
conscious manner in their daily work. Our 
team leaders have special responsibility in 
this change of mentality. They must have 
internalized this mindset and show all team 
members the way to an even better han-
dling of safety issues, reaching their hearts 
and minds at the same time.
53
EMPLOYEE HEALTH and SAFETY

1 2 3
Building a strong safety mentality  
begins with reflection
Our path to greater safety
We made important progress in terms 
of processes and data technology in the 
­reporting year 2020.
•	 In the reporting year, we agreed on a 
road map, with which we want to anchor 
the new safety mentality in the Group. 
Our “Safety Mindset Road Map” will 
take shape in three dimensions: in the 
way team leaders deal with the topic 
and take responsibility, in the processes 
and habits of daily work as well as in the 
transfer of knowledge and in the creation 
of risk awareness. 
 
For the safety mentality to prevail as 
­effectively as possible in our ­organization, 
several factors are especially ­important. 
For example, we will use the tools of 
an integrated management system 
­according to ISO, such as identifying 
dangerous situations in a structured 
manner or assigning risk responsibilities. 
In addition, we will raise the awareness 
of risks of our employees, for example 
through continuous training, through the 
behavior of superiors and coworkers and 
through a mentality of mutual caring. 
Finally, we will involve our employees in 
safety issues and promote their active 
engagement. In this way, we will trans-
form potentially affected persons in the 
area of safety into real stakeholders.  
•	 With the introduction of new IT 
­solutions, we are creating Group-wide 
transparency on the subject of occupa-
tional safety. Starting from 2021, acci-
dents at work will be reported uniformly 
via a central platform. Since accidents 
from external parties are also recorded 
in this system, we are also improving 
the data situation compared to previous 
reporting systems. In addition, we have 
already introduced a legal management 
system at locations in Austria, Italy, 
­Germany, Hungary and Liechtenstein, 
which lists all legal occupational health 
and ­safety obligations in our organiza-
tions and monitors their compliance. 
In another technical solution, all Hilti 
­organizations will be able to track audits 
and resulting measures in the future. 
Starting 
point  
 
Assessment  
of our current 
safety  
mentality
Result
Fewer  
accidents and  
a strong sense  
of safety  
Mutual  
Caring 
Leadership 
  
 
• Development of 
management systems 
according to ISO 
standards
 
• ­Assignment of  
responsibilities
Behavior  
 
 
• Team leaders  
exemplify a ­safety 
mentality in the  
company
• Team members are 
trained regularly
Engagement  
 
 
• Team members 
are ­actively in-
volved in improving 
­safety and directly 
­questioned  
about it
At a Glance
•	 Development and adoption of our Safety Road Map
•	 Certification of our market organization in Italy according  
to ISO 45001
•	 Protecting employee health during the COVID-19 pandemic 
through effective crisis management
Successes and Actions
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
54
EMPLOYEE HEALTH and SAFETY

•	 We also conducted various training 
courses on occupational safety and 
safety instructions for our employees in 
the reporting year 2020. These training 
courses are based on risk analyses in 
production-related areas and ­especially 
provide insights from near misses.Tem-
porary workers are also required to par-
ticipate in safety trainings. All employees 
undergo a mandatory ­occupational safe-
ty training at our Group headquarters.  
•	 Our market organization in Italy was the 
first of our organizations to receive ISO 
45001 certification for a health and 
safety management system at work in 
the reporting year.  
Data and incidents in 2020
The information in the table on this page 
­relates to reported accidents from our 
­larger plants, logistics and repair centers. 
We compiled the data from our sales 
organizations and office locations as well 
as smaller operating units on the basis of 
surveys in several organizations.
Health – our most  
important asset 
Hilti’s health management system is being 
implemented in the various regions in the 
form of independent concepts that meet 
the respective requirements on site. Some 
regions, such as North America and Central 
Europe, already have holistic health pro-
grams, while others are still being defined.
Using the example of the health 
­management system at our Group head-
quarters, we explain below how we 
implement the ­development of a pro-
gressive health concept that enables our 
­employees to be – and remain – healthy 
and efficient. We focus on three aspects:
•	 We sensitize our employees to health 
issues and increase knowledge in this 
area. For this purpose, for example, 
we design theme years with specific 
offers intended to enable our ­employees 
to consciously deal with their health. 
In ­addition, we have developed a 
­structured reintegration management 
system to help employees return to work 
after a longer illness. 
•	 We want to impart health-relevant knowl-
edge to our team leaders and support 
them in sustainably maintaining and 
­increasing the engagement and ­resilience 
of their employees. The topics of mental 
well-being are examined in detail in 
the chapter “Sustainable Culture and 
­Employee Engagement”. 
•	 We consider it very important to ensure 
healthy working conditions for all 
employees, both physically and mentally. 
Together with a physiotherapist, we have 
already carried out inspections at several 
locations and evaluated the ­functionality 
of aids and the ergonomic quality of 
office furniture. 
We have defined concrete measures in 
our “Health@HILTI HQ” program for the 
implementation of the health concept. The 
basis for this is the prerequisite of good 
general working conditions, which include a 
­continued payment of wages for 720 days 
in the event of illness, occupational and 
­private accident insurance, care provid-
ed by our company doctor and flexible 
­working time models. Supplementing this, 
there are offers for physical health, such 
as healthy ­nutrition in our staff restaurant 
and the rental of e-bikes as part of our 
mobility concept. In addition, we oper-
ate the “Innofit” fitness center directly at 
headquarters, where both conventional 
training with gym equipment is possible 
and a wide range of courses are offered. 
In this way, we provide options for active 
compensation of desk work. In addition to 
supporting physical health, we have also 
developed various mental health offerings. 
This includes training courses as well as 
relaxation and meditation rooms. 
Organizational anchoring 
The HSE departments, which report to the 
Chief Compliance Officer, together with 
Employee accidents during work
2018
2019
2020
Total1
415
422
348
of which with severe consequences 2
31
41
35
of which fatal 3
1
1
0
Total accident rate1  
(based on 1,000,000 hours worked)
8,6
8,3
7,5
Accident rate with severe consequences 
(based on 1,000,000 hours worked)
0,6
0,8
0,8
Fatality rate 
(based on 1,000,000 hours worked)
0,0
0,0
0,0
1 Employees off work for at least one day
2 Accidents with subsequent work loss > 60 days
3 Fatal traffic accidents  
• Awareness-raising
• Knowledge transfer
• Healthy working  
conditions
Focus  
on
55
EMPLOYEE HEALTH and SAFETY

the Human Resources Department, which 
reports directly to the Group Executive 
Board, bear responsibility for the best 
possible implementation of the employee 
health concept. 
How we promote health
The 2020 fiscal year put the health of our 
employees in the spotlight as a result 
of the coronavirus pandemic. All Hilti 
­organizations shared the common guiding 
principle that the health of employees is 
always clearly the top priority. 
•	 Thanks to a well-structured, decentral-
ized crisis management system, we 
were able to react quickly and flexibly 
to the constantly changing conditions. 
The implementation of the measures to 
protect employee health was carried out 
in the Hilti organizations on site, where 
the managing directors of the respec-
tive organizations are already being 
trained to perform their role in ­crisis 
management. The global crisis manage-
ment team acts as a point of contact 
for questions and provides platforms to 
enable ­organizations to learn from each 
other during the dynamic course of the 
pandemic.  
•	 In addition to the administrative ad-
justments, direct measures have also 
been implemented. For example, face 
masks and disinfectants were made 
available to all employees. In general, our 
employees in markets outside Europe 
have access to Hilti-subsidized health 
insurance that goes beyond the level of 
insurance in local healthcare systems. 
Our flexible working models already in 
place before the pandemic have made 
it much easier to switch to working from 
home where possible. The strong sup-
port the Hilti organizations provided to 
each other should also be emphasized. 
For example, at the beginning of the 
crisis, a shortage of masks and per-
sonal protective equipment in Asia was 
compensated for by deliveries from other 
parts of the world. Furthermore, knowl-
edge, best practice examples and – last 
but not least – encouraging messages 
and ­positive news were exchanged via 
our digital channels during this difficult 
time for all. 
E-Bikes
Free usage as part of  
our mobility concept at  
Group headquarters
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
56
EMPLOYEE HEALTH and SAFETY

•	 In November of the reporting year, we 
conducted a health survey at Group 
headquarters. In doing so, we strove to 
receive additional guidance and ideas 
from our employees on how to further 
improve our health-promoting environ-
ment. The digital survey consisted of 
60 questions on topics such as work 
­design, health behavior, work-life-­
balance and the impact of COVID-19. 
The results of the survey will be ­analyzed 
by an external partner and lecturers 
at the universities of Innsbruck and 
­Liechtenstein and made available to us 
in an anonymized form.  
•	 In the reporting year, we conducted the 
“Biology of Enthusiasm” program in 
our development company at our loca-
tion in Kaufering (Germany), together 
with the consultancy “Neuro Pioneer” 
from the field of professional sports. 
All team leaders were able to partici-
pate voluntarily in a two-day workshop 
in which details on mindfulness and 
fundamentals of neuropsychology were 
taught. The contents dealt with sports, 
relaxation, sleep and nutrition and their 
influence on our immune system and 
performance. Heart rate and neurotrans-
mitter measurements (e.g., cortisol and 
serotonin) were carried out in advance, 
the results of which were evaluated in in-
dividual coaching. The goal is to achieve 
a positive change in the participants, so 
that they can live healthier, increase their 
performance and be happier. On the sec-
ond day, the topic of “healthy leadership” 
was addressed in detail. Afterwards, we 
started a one-day program rollout that is 
available for all team members.
COVID-19
We keep a distance

FOR OUR  
SOCIETY
… the Hilti Foundation and our employees engage with great 
­commitment. The following pages show how we help people to lead 
self-determined and independent lives and how we go beyond our 
­corporate responsibility.
60 	
Business Ethics
64 	
Social Impact

Ethical business conduct is based on 
integrity, one of our core values, and is not 
only a legal requirement for us, but also 
forms the sustainable basis for ­responsible 
business activities. It is part of the trust-
ing ­collaboration within our teams as well 
as with our customers and partners. The 
self-image of integrated and ethical action 
applies to everything we do and at all our 
locations worldwide. 
Organizational anchoring
Our Group has a Compliance Department 
headed by the Chief Compliance Officer 
(CCO). The CCO has overall responsibility 
for compliance and reports to the General 
Counsel, who reports to the CEO. In addi-
tion, he may contact the Audit Committee 
on the Board of Directors directly. 
The CCO’s responsibilities include monitor-
ing and assessing compliance risks in the 
context of Group-wide risk management, 
which is updated annually together with the 
internal Group audit. 
Management systems and policies  
In addition, the CCO is responsible for 
our Group-wide Compliance Manage-
ment System (CMS), which is based on 
ISO 37301 as well as the IDW PS 980 
audit standard. The CMS applies to all 
Group companies and addresses all formal 
compliance objectives and resolutions of 
the Board of Directors and the Executive 
Board. It includes guidelines, regulations, 
processes, organizational structures, roles 
and responsibilities as well as information 
on planning and implementing ­compliance 
BUSINESS ETHICS
Integrity, one of our 
core values, describes 
ethical and responsible 
business ­behavior  
for us.
Mirko Haase,  
Chief Compliance  
Officer
Create  
 Trust
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
60
BUSINESS ETHICS

measures. In addition to mandatory 
requirements for all companies, the CMS 
also contains recommendations on how 
individual Hilti organizations can work to 
meet objectives according to the nature 
and complexity of their business activities. 
The CMS’s internal policies are built upon 
the Hilti Code of Conduct for Employees 
and the Code of Conduct for Suppliers. The 
latter is also a mandatory part of all direct 
supplier contracts and indirect supplier rela-
tionships based on a risk matrix.
 Supplier Sustainability: p. 30  
In addition, the CMS contains ­regulations 
on antitrust law, money laundering, dis-
crimination, prevention of forced and child 
labor, health, safety and environmental 
protection (HSE), data privacy, product 
regulations, ­human rights, areas of export 
control and/or ­sanctions law as well as 
corruption prevention. 
How we embed business 
­ethics in our processes
We have introduced various measures to 
raise awareness for the topic of compliance 
among our employees and to keep this 
knowledge active. 
We uphold ourselves 
and the industry to the 
highest standards in 
business ethics.
61
BUSINESS ETHICS

Comprehensive and target group-oriented 
compliance training concepts ensure 
that we inform our employees about these 
requirements. On-site training and case 
studies are also an essential part of our 
strategy. The training courses serve both 
the general introduction to compliance 
issues and to deal with individual aspects 
in more depth and are attended by ap-
proximately 1500 employees annually. The 
so-called “marketplace” in the entrance 
area of our corporate headquarters, and 
screens in the entrance areas of our market 
organizations, are also regularly used to 
draw attention to compliance topics. In 
some cases, this is also done in the form of 
exhibitions and events, such as the “Data 
Protection Marketplace”. 
A monthly topic-specific ­communication 
of the Compliance Department on the 
­intranet, in local channels and our internal 
­communication platform “Yammer,” with 
concise easy-to-remember content for 
the entire workforce, increases awareness 
of current and relevant compliance topics 
and serves as a reminder for completed or 
optional e-learning courses. 
All new general managers of a market 
organization are trained on compliance 
issues in their area of responsibility as part 
of ­comprehensive training for general 
managers immediately after taking office.
Our workforce should not only be aware 
of compliance topics, but also live com-
pliance. That is why we undertake great 
effort on making any conflicts of inter-
est transparent. New employees must 
therefore disclose all relevant conflicts 
during the recruitment process and existing 
employees must participate in a conflict of 
interest survey at least every three years; 
this ­period can also be shortened at the 
discretion of local organizations.
All employees are encouraged to prevent 
and report violations of legal regulations 
or internal guidelines. We have numerous 
options and contacts for trustworthy – and, 
if necessary, anonymous – contact chan-
nels. These can be supervisors or mentors, 
our so-called “Sherpas”, as well as the HR 
department. Our employees can contact the 
local and regional compliance officers, the 
central compliance department, the CCO 
and the anonymous compliance hotline 
“SpeakUp”.
We also investigate any suspected breach 
with due diligence in internal ­investigations 
to ensure that facts are clarified, and 
­systemic problems are identified. In accor-
dance with our compliance regulations, we 
ensure that the rights of both the whistle­
blower and the involved person are not 
affected (non-retaliation policy). 
Data protection-compliant behavior is 
supported by various technical and orga-
nizational measures, while employees are 
sensitized to data protection-related topics 
through training courses and automated 
IT security requirements. The approach 
­follows a process design in line with data 
protection laws to the extent possible.
We see ourselves as an innovation and 
premium provider in our industry, foster-
ing fair competition and driving technical 
progress and digitalization. We have 
E-Learnings and Workshops
Number of participants
2018
2019
2020
E-learnings antitrust law1
3,536
15,442
3,213
Face-to-face 2 workshops on  
compliance, incl. antitrust law  
and anti-corruption
23
604
229
1 
 Number of participants in EU countries, based upon the antitrust initiative 2019; plus participants in antitrust 
e-learnings in non-EU countries (CN, BR, IN, JP, AU, ZA)
2 
 General Compliance workshops (incl. antitrust law and anti-corruption) as well as workshops with focus on 
antitrust law for specific user groups
•	 Antitrust Law
•	 Money Laundering
•	 Discrimination
•	 Prevention of Forced and  
Child Labor
•	 Health & Safety and 
­Environmental Protection (HSE)
•	 Data Privacy
•	 Product Regulations
•	 Human Rights
•	 Export Control and  
Sanctions Law 
•	 Corruption Prevention
Compliance Management System
Regulations concerning the following topics:
SpeakUp
is the name of  
our anonymous  
compliance hotline
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
62
BUSINESS ETHICS

established a Product Regulatory Com-
pliance (PRC) position that reports to the 
CCO independently of the business units 
and supports and monitors the fulfillment 
of product regulatory requirements across 
the units. In this role, the Compliance 
­Office also provides legal databases in 
addition to those of the technical depart-
ments to ­ensure timely access to informa-
tion on regulatory developments. 
We are committed to the ten principles of 
the UN Global Compact and to respecting 
internationally recognized human rights 
as set out in the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights and the Declaration of the 
International Labor Organization (ILO) on 
fundamental principles and rights at work; 
and we are committed to protecting these 
rights. They are reflected in our Code of 
Conduct for Employees, our internal poli-
cies and our Supplier Code of Conduct. 
 Supplier Sustainability: p. 30 
2020 Implementation 
Examples 
In our sustainability strategy, we not only 
want to meet existing minimum legal 
requirements, but also to set a visible sign 
for responsible corporate governance. 
We have set this ambitious goal ­realizing 
that corporate attitudes and behavior 
cannot be changed in the short term. This 
­involves constantly improving our internal 
organi­zation, regularly questioning existing 
systems and making changes and optimi-
zations as required.
•	 The revision of our Code of Conduct 
for Employees was one of our priorities 
in 2020 to achieve this goal.  
•	 In addition, a new learning portal, with 
more than 50 newly created topics and 
formats in many languages, was set up 
for all compliance areas. This enables 
implementation of modern and target-­
group-oriented learning concepts on the 
individual topics. 
•	 Based on our annual plans coordinat-
ed with the Executive Board and the 
Board of Directors, we are system­atically 
implementing further measures both 
internally and externally to live up to our 
responsibilities as a globally operating 
company. This also means that we must 
continuously work on the measures to 
meet the constantly increasing legal 
requirements. Key priorities are the 
standardization and digitalization of 
processes, the further optimization of 
our training programs and a structured 
and reinforced auditing of compliance 
with ethical standards at our suppliers. 
Particular emphasis is placed on respect 
for human rights. 
At a Glance
•	 Revision of the Employee Code of Conduct
•	 Setting up a new learning portal in five languages
Successes and Actions
63
BUSINESS ETHICS

Wherever our employees work and live, 
societal challenges exist all over the world. 
As a group, we want to contribute to the 
sustainable solution of social problems. 
Our social engagement is based on two 
strong pillars. On the one hand, there is 
a great need for our employees to make 
a social contribution and consequently 
be strongly engaged in projects that go 
­beyond business issues. On the other 
hand, the Hilti Foundation initiates and 
promotes social projects in numerous 
countries.
 Hilti Foundation Projects: p. 68
The social engagement of the Hilti 
­Foundation and the Hilti Group is based 
on a shared understanding of values. In 
addition, both organizations pursue the 
same objective with their projects: to 
achieve ­social impact at scale. To make 
our engagement even more effective in 
the future, we want to more closely inter­
link the ­activities and competencies of the 
­Hilti Group and the Hilti Foundation. 
Organizational anchoring
The Hilti Group is responsible for social 
impact on the direct behalf of the Executive 
Board. The Corporate Sustainability Team 
coordinates the social engagement of em-
ployees worldwide at Group level. It makes 
general recommendations to Hilti organiza-
tions and steers local implementation of the 
targets.
The Hilti Foundation’s governing body is 
its Board of Trustees. Its members are 
nominated by the Martin Hilti Family Trust 
and the Hilti Group. The Foundation’s 
operational business is delegated by 
the ­Foundation’s Board to the Executive 
Board, which also performs an advisory 
role ­vis-à-vis the Hilti Group’s sustainability 
team.
The social activities of the Hilti Group and 
the Hilti Foundation can be divided into two 
areas:
•	 Projects of the Hilti Foundation 
The Hilti Foundation creates 
­opportunities for people in need to 
find their way to an independent and 
self-determined life. To this end and 
together with a ­network of partners, 
­impact-oriented programs are devel-
oped and ­implemented in clearly de-
fined focus areas, which pursue sustain-
able social change for disadvantaged 
groups in society. The Foundation’s 
work focuses primarily on developing 
countries and emerging markets. Invest-
ments in charitable projects amounted 
to CHF 28.7 million in the year under 
review.
SOCIAL IMPACT
Sustainable
 Help
The Hilti Foundation and  
the Hilti Group share a  
common ­understanding  
of values, the aim of which  
is to achieve social ­impact 
at scale.
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
64
SOCIAL IMPACT

•	 Corporate Volunteering Program 
­“Engaged Beyond Business” 
We established the “Engaged Beyond 
Business” program together with the Hilti 
Foundation in the reporting year. All Hilti 
organizations are encouraged to spend 
0.1 percent of their sales on social en-
gagement by team members beyond their 
business activities. A guideline, which 
was ­released by the Executive Board and 
communicated throughout the Group in 
October 2020, provides uniform decision-­
making support and a recommendation 
for this. There is already substantial 
engagement in many Hilti organizations 
today. We want to contribute to a more 
structured and global implementation and 
to the pooling of energy and readiness of 
our about 30,000 employees.
How we measure  
social impact
We want to ensure that our engagement 
has a social impact. Measuring the impact 
is therefore an important element of any 
social initiative.
We are currently developing a structured 
impact measurement system within the 
Hilti Group. However, the large number of 
projects already shows the high motiva-
tion of ­employees to make a difference. In 
the coming years, we want to build on the 
positive development of these valuable 
contributions and encourage employees 
in their initiatives. We want to convey the 
­conviction that each and every one of us 
can make a difference, according to the 
maxim “Your engagement is our most 
powerful tool.”
Non-profit engagement of the Hilti Foundation
2018
2019
2020
Number of projects supported
72
79
80
Monetary value of investments in 
­support projects in CHF million
22.3
26.5
28.7
Engaged Beyond Business
2018
2019
2020
Number of employee projects
>80
>100
>120
Estimated spending 1 on corporate 
­volunteering programs in CHF million
̴1
̴1.2
̴1.5
1 
1  in time, donations or Hilti products 
At a Glance
•	 Commitment of the Hilti Foundation further expanded
•	 Launch of the “Engaged Beyond Business” corporate 
­volunteering program
Successes and Actions
Providing help where  
it is most needed:  
A @fire volunteer in  
the streets of a  
heavily damaged  
Beirut

Events in the 2020  
reporting year 
•	 In the reporting year, we launched the 
“Engaged Beyond Business” program 
and established Group-wide responsibil-
ities for our social engagement as part 
of a Corporate Volunteering Program. 
The aim is to structure the already 
strong social commitment and conse-
quently ensure a global establishment 
of the program: to promote exchanges 
between employees, highlight success 
examples and be the contact point for 
questions and implementation support. 
Various Hilti organizations have already 
created corresponding possibilities and 
structures. Two examples can be seen in 
our branches in Germany and the United 
States, whose programs are explained in 
more detail below. 
•	 Our companies in Germany have been 
supporting local projects as part of the 
“16 hours for a better future” program. 
Every employee can use two working 
days a year for charitable work and 
increase it with additional ­volunteering 
in his or her spare time. More than 
1000 hours have already been registered 
only five months after the official launch 
of the program. One example of the 
many initiatives taken by employees is 
the ­project in the Friedensdorf (Peace 
Village) Oberhausen: Up to 200 sick 
children from crisis regions of the world 
regularly find temporary homes there. 
The co-workers worked on-site for more 
than a week to renovate the village’s 
outdoor facilities, so that volunteers in 
the project can concentrate on working 
with the children.
•	 Hilti USA also provides its employees 
with the opportunity to carry out two 
days of non-profit service each year. 
The social engagement of employees 
toward local communities has been a 
practice in this area for years. In the 
past two years, we were able to register 
a considerable number of more than 
12,000 hours for social projects. Just 
one of the many ­examples: In October 
of the ­reporting year, colleagues from 
Texas and ­Louisiana met to support 
people from socially disadvantaged 
The gratitude received on 
site and the radiance in the 
eyes of the children are 
priceless. It’s so easy to 
make a difference. 
Lena Meuers, 
Field Coach
full-time years of work 
would be the result if each 
of the about 30,000 Hilti 
­employees were socially 
engaged for one day – 
that is our vision for our 
Corporate Volunteering 
Program.
~150
Tackling things together: 
­Employees in Germany  
help in the Friedensdorf 
(Peace Village) Oberhausen
We have set ourselves the goal of spend-
ing an average of one working day a year 
on social engagement by 2023 for all 
employees worldwide. Overall, this would 
­correspond to an annual engagement of 
roughly 150 full-time working years. 
The impetus for “Engaged Beyond Busi-
ness” projects can come from different 
­directions. On the one hand, the Hilti 
employees themselves independently 
propose, plan, organize and implement 
projects. In addition, the initiative for a 
local project can also come from any Hilti 
­organization or the Hilti Foundation. 
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
66
SOCIAL IMPACT

backgrounds in cleaning up after 
Hurricane Laura. Together with the 
organization SBP, they helped rebuild 
the houses, and consequently provided 
important support for the inhabitants of 
the city severely hit by the disaster. 
•	 In August 2020, the disastrous explosion 
in the port of Beirut, Lebanon, almost 
completely destroyed the city’s critical 
infrastructure. Hundreds of people lost 
their lives, thousands were injured and 
hundreds of thousands made homeless. 
In the spirit of international solidarity, 
the Hilti Foundation and various local 
Hilti organizations combined their efforts 
and provided emergency relief. The Hilti 
Foundation provided financial support 
and donated tools to its long-­standing 
emergency partners @fire and MSF 
­Médecins sans Frontières. In ­addition, 
I am grateful that my time 
and work have helped to give 
hope and assistance to people 
­affected by the hurricane on 
their way back to normality. 
Sarah Nieuwenhuizen, 
Marketing Segment Manager
Cleaning up after Hurricane Laura:  
The team in the USA supports residents 
in the disaster area
employees worldwide ­responded 
to a call for donations from the Hilti 
­Foundation. More than USD 100,000 
were raised. These funds will be used 
in 2021 to rebuild two hard-hit schools 
in Beirut. Moreover, Hilti organizations 
in the region around Lebanon partici-
pated with immediate aid by providing 
Hilti tools free of charge for cleanup and 
reconstruction.
67
SOCIAL IMPACT

The Hilti Foundation focuses on ­achieving 
sustainable social impact with every 
cultural project it engages with. In 2006, 
this saw the Foundation collaborate with 
the “El Sistema” music program, one of 
MUSIC FOR 
SOCIAL CHANGE
the world’s best known and sought-after 
initiatives in the field of “Music for Social 
Change”. Over the years, subsequent 
collaborations have evolved for which the 
Hilti Foundation not only provides ­financial 
Music  
Transforms 
In its first year, AIM is already making a mark 
as a “generous laboratory” for teaching and 
leadership innovation in support of a global 
field that is uncommonly dedicated to em-
powering young people in life and in music. 
Fiona Cunningham,  
Director of the Academy of  
Impact through Music 
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
68
HILTI FOUNDATION FOCUS AREAS

­support, but also professional expertise and 
cultural networks, all of which em­powers 
young people develop skills through music 
that enable them to become self-deter-
mined and responsible members of society.  
 
Owing to the nature of these close, long-
term collaborations, the Hilti Foundation 
has learned to better identify and under-
stand the main development needs for 
these social music programs. The desire to 
develop tailor-made training opportunities 
led to the foundation of the “Academy for 
Impact through Music” (AIM) in 2020. 
 
Studies have also shown that compre-
hensive teacher training and development 
programs, improved project management 
know-how and measurement methods are 
key to the sustainable success of music 
programs. Such learnings have also been 
used to validate the effectiveness of the 
programs without depending on costly 
long-term studies. AIM will focus precisely 
on these three topics in the coming years.  
 
2020 was a pilot-year for these ­endeavors. 
The curriculum for the new teacher training 
program “Firebird Fellowship”, was devel-
oped under the leadership of AIM-director 
Fiona Cunningham together with the heads 
of ten selected international music pro-
grams and professionals whose expertise 
range from pedagogy to communication. 
In the summer of 2020, 30 young teachers 
completed the first course. In the mean-
time, they are already applying what they 
have learned and are accompanied and 
supported by AIM advisors, with whom 
they regularly reflect on their work and, as 
a result, have begun to improve and try out 
new ideas. This summer, the first group  
of teachers will pass the baton to the next 
group of “Firebirds”, but as graduates, 
they will remain committed to the program  
and thus contribute to AIM’s basic philo­
sophy of constant questioning and further 
development. AIM hopes to have already 
trained a large group of dedicated teachers 
within just a few years. They will not only 
share their knowledge with young people, 
but also enable them to find ways towards 
a more self-determined future.  
AIM has once 
again awakened my 
­desire to change 
the world and to 
actively participate 
in change that hap-
pens through music 
education.
Francis Gagliardo, 
El Sistema, Greece
 
What we do is im-
portant – but if we 
do it together, it 
­becomes ­significant. 
We represent the 
end of music as a 
privilege and the 
­beginning of music 
as a universal right.
Pablo Parra,  
Acción Social por  
la Música, Spain  
Working for AIM has 
revived my interest 
in teaching. I am 
very much looking 
forward to the new 
school year. 
Mollie Westbrook,  
BSO Orchkids,  
Baltimore, USA
Quotes from our 
“Firebirds” 
69
HILTI FOUNDATION FOCUS AREAS

An estimated 1.6 billion people live in 
substandard housing worldwide. The Hilti 
Foundation believes that a safe home is the 
basis for the positive development of every 
human being and has therefore set itself 
the goal to provide sustainable support 
for those in need to improve their housing 
situation. The main basis for this is the 
development of innovative and sustainable 
products and technologies that help make 
houses safer and more affordable. 
The construction of homes for families in 
need started as a project in 2012 when 
Hilti engineers in the Philippines tested 
innovative construction technologies for 
all supporting elements of a building. To 
do so, they used bamboo, a construction 
material that is both sustainable and locally 
available. Bamboo not only withstands nat-
ural disasters; it is also less expensive than 
conventional construction materials. Just 
two years later, the Base Bahay Foundation 
was founded to further develop and apply 
the technology. By 2018, nearly 800 houses 
had been built using bamboo and handed 
over to disadvantaged families. At the same 
time, a value chain began to emerge in 
the country, which ranged from bamboo 
harvesting and transportation through to 
processing which, in turn, created valuable 
jobs in vital rural regions. Back in 2019, the 
Base Bahay Foundation established its own 
research center on the former site of the 
Hilti Training Center South East Asia, which 
is where new technologies are in constant 
development and construction workers and 
developers are trained in the application of 
this material.
The research center accommodates a train-
ing center for up to 50 people, a laboratory 
equipped with a universally applicable 
Houses 
Help
AFFORDABLE 
HOUSING & 
TECHNOLOGY
Together with the Base Bahay 
Foundation, the Hilti ­Foundation 
creates safe and affordable 
­housing made of bamboo for 
­families in need.
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
70
HILTI FOUNDATION FOCUS AREAS

testing unit, as well as a freed-up con-
struction space where a complete model 
home can be built for test and research 
purposes. In addition to this, the research 
center collaborates with leading universities 
and research centers around the world and 
publishes scientific specialist publications 
on a regular basis. 
Cooperation with the housing charity 
Habitat for Humanity International, which 
started in 2019, represents a major mile-
stone for the Foundation. In the coming 
years, together with partners from public 
and private sectors, the project aims to 
construct 10,000 houses in the Philippine 
province Negros Occidental to demonstrate 
that the technology can also be applied 
on an industrial scale. The transfer of this 
technology to other Asian countries has 
already started: in Nepal, bamboo houses 
are being built for the first time outside the 
­Philippines in cooperation with the govern-
ment and the private sector. 
A visit to Marissa
Marissa lives in Payatas, a neighborhood in 
the Manila metropolitan area. The 46-year-
old mother of five normally works at one of 
the country’s largest landfill sites earning 
just USD 4 a day as a refuse collector. As 
a single mother, she is currently unable 
to work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 
She and her children have to make do 
without any savings and depend entirely on 
charitable contributions and food donations 
provided by the local government. 
Nonetheless, even in this difficult situation, 
Marissa is still deeply grateful. She lives 
in one of 50 bamboo-technology houses 
made available to deprived families which 
were constructed by the church organiza-
tion Vincentian Missionaries. Having the 
house means a lot to Marissa: she and her 
children have access to running water and 
electricity and are sheltered against winds 
and inclement weather. She appreciates 
the fact that her children can attend nearby 
schools and that her neighbors have be-
come good friends. For Marissa, none of 
these aspects of her life are taken for grant-
ed. She is happy to live in a safe home with 
her family – a place where she can renew 
her strength and regain confidence in her 
daily struggle to survive.
 
This place is safe.  
It is better for my 
children and the 
schools are close by.
Marissa,  
resident of the  
Vincentian Missionaries  
housing scheme
Use of bamboo technology 
has helped establish a local 
value chain that ranges from 
harvesting and transportation 
through to processing, and 
has created valuable jobs, 
particularly in rural regions. 
DISCOVER  
ONLINE
hiltifoundation.org
71
HILTI FOUNDATION FOCUS AREAS

The bare figures speak for themselves: 
­according to the United Nations, 700 ­million 
people currently live in extreme poverty 
and are forced to survive on a daily wage 
of less than USD 2. Due to the COVID-19 
pandemic, the World Bank estimates that an 
additional 150 million people will be pushed 
into extreme poverty until 2021. Despite 
all international efforts, at least 600 million 
people will still be faced with these condi-
tions by 2030, 90 percent of whom will live 
in Sub-Saharan Africa. 
The goals of the Hilti Foundation are there-
fore clear: It is paramount to empower 
people to escape this downward spiral and 
to become economically independent by 
earning a sustainable income that helps 
support better living conditions. Only in this 
way can people contribute to a socially and 
economically healthy society. 
The activities of the Hilti Foundation focus 
on East Africa, because poverty there is 
disproportionally high in rural regions. 
Therefore, together with the aid organiza-
tion Hand in Hand International, self-help 
groups have been established which are 
led by professional, local business coaches 
who share the knowledge that is funda-
mental for young entrepreneurs. These self-
help groups create self-generated savings 
funds which, in turn, are given to individual 
members as microloans for necessary 
investments. The program has already 
yielded positive results: By the end of 2020, 
more than 11,000 new small businesses 
had been founded, which also helped 
create 10,000 additional jobs. 90 percent 
of participants who have completed the 
program are now able to earn a living above 
the poverty line.
Encouraged by this success, in the summer 
of 2020, the Hilti Foundation started a three-
year project with its partners. By 2024, it is 
hoped that the project will be able to sup-
port the foundation of 40,000 small farms, 
thereby enabling 150,000 East African citi-
zens to live a better quality of life. In 2021, 
the Foundation is also planning initiatives 
aimed at transforming already existing small 
enterprises into solid, mid-sized businesses, 
which will be able to merge into coopera-
tives. This would provide individual entre-
preneurs additional training opportunities, 
­better logistics and purchasing conditions, 
as well as access to larger sales markets. 
With these projects, the Hilti Foundation 
strives to establish a system that drives 
independent economic development. Such 
initiatives will help independent people as 
well as families to move out of poverty and 
perhaps even become part of an emerging 
middle class. 
Now that I own my small 
­businesses, I feel much freer 
in life. I never imagined I could 
achieve all this.
Mary Machala, 
Company Founder,  
Muranga, Kenya
ECONOMIC 
EMPOWERMENT
Make Use of 
Acquired Skills
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
72
HILTI FOUNDATION FOCUS AREAS

With needle and haystack
Mary Machala lives in a small village in 
Kenya. She is the mother of three and over 
the years she has managed to establish her 
own modest tailor’s workshop. Joseph, her 
husband, works as a carpenter in Nairobi. 
However, until recently, their joint income 
was barely sufficient to cover expenses for 
basic necessities.
In the end, a conversation with her eldest 
son turned into a meaningful turning point. 
He told her that his dream was to receive 
a technical education in the city. As the 
oldest of seven children herself, Mary had 
experienced first-hand how her parents 
struggled daily to make sure there was 
enough food for the entire family. There 
was simply no surplus money for vocational 
training or anything of the kind. It is there-
fore Mary’s goal to spare her own children a 
similar fate. 
At the beginning of 2019, she visited a 
self-help group for the first time which is 
supported by the Hilti Foundation and led 
by an employee of Hand in Hand Inter-
national. Step by step, in addition to the 
skills she already had, Mary learned the 
fundamentals needed to establish a second 
career: a small farm with cattle and vegeta-
ble cultivation.
Today, thanks to the additional income she 
has been able to gain from her training, 
Mary and her family have a brighter future 
– a prospect that allows her to finance her 
children’s education which will also support 
their own, self-determined lives in the future.
Establishing economic inde-
pendence – having your own 
business and a sustainable in-
come that grows year on year 
is the basis for many families 
who seek to achieve a higher 
standard of living.
73
HILTI FOUNDATION FOCUS AREAS

USA
With head, heart 
and muscle power
Every year, our team in the UK 
supports various initiatives of 
the organization “WellChild”, 
with which we have been 
working since 2016. The same 
applies to the “Helping Hands” 
project: 200 ­dedicated Hilti em-
ployees build small playgrounds 
and adventure worlds for chil-
dren with special needs. Due to 
the COVID-19 pandemic, active 
engagement was unfortunately 
not possible in 2020. However, 
>100
 tools were  
donated.
this did not prevent co-workers 
from making their contribu-
tion this year and supporting 
­“WellChild” with a donation of 
GBP 20,000.
Worldwide Pro  
of Our Teams
GREAT BRITAIN 
Helping hands  
for children
Together with the St. ­Louis 
organization “Rebuilding 
Together”, Hilti employees in 
the United States worked to 
renovate and maintain homes 
where elderly people on low 
incomes live. In addition, Hilti 
USA contributed and donated 
over 100 tools.
20,000
were  
donated.
GBP
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
74
WORLDWIDE PROJECTS OF OUR TEAMS

The COVID-19 pandemic affects 
everyone worldwide. And in our 
global workforce, too, employ-
ees suddenly find themselves in 
difficult situations. Sick family 
members, supply bottlenecks or 
suddenly closed borders – the 
disease has many effects. Addi-
tionally, government support is 
inadequate in some countries.
To support Hilti employees 
in this emergency-situation, 
colleagues in various Group 
divisions voluntarily waived part 
of their salary and reduced their 
working hours. Together with  
a contribution by the company, 
CHF 13.6 million was raised in a 
short time. Until now, more than 
LIECHTENSTEIN
A real team – how we 
­support each other  
at Hilti
Especially at the outbreak of the COVID-19 
pandemic, Italy was one of the hardest hit 
countries. The Hilti team in Italy and their 
families worked on behalf of the “Croce 
Bianca” in Milan. Under the auspices of 
#insiemesempre, they launched a crowd-
funding initiative to fund an ambulance, 
helping those who are fighting the virus 
day after day. A complete success – the 
employees raised a total of EUR 35,000 
and were consequently able to make a 
significant contribution.
35,000
was collected by  
employees for the  
Croce Bianca Milano.
 13.6  
million
were collected in the 
­Solidarity Fund.
jects 
4000 employees have already 
benefited from these uncom-
plicated and fast aid payments. 
This is great proof of how we 
stick together in our team!
ITALY
#insiemesempre – 
stick together
CHF
EUR 
DISCOVER ONLINE
www.hilti-sustainabilityreport.com/
en/worldwide-projects
75
WORLDWIDE PROJECTS OF OUR TEAMS

ABOUT THIS REPORT
Basis of reporting
The 2020 sustainability report is the first sustainability 
report of the Hilti Group. The report also contains in-
formation provided by the Hilti Foundation. The report-
ing period is the 2020 financial year from January 1 to 
Decem­ber 31, 2020. Deviating reporting periods of data or 
content are shown separately. The editorial deadline was 
­February 25, 2021. In the future, we will report annually on 
our progress. The next sustainability report will therefore 
be published in 2022.
The report is based on the internationally recognized 
­reporting framework of the Global Reporting Initiative 
(GRI). This report has been prepared in accordance with 
the GRI standards: Core option. The GRI content index 
can be found starting on page 78 in this report.
All symbols used in the report are explained on page 1 of 
this report. 
We have chosen gender-neutral language in the report. If 
this was not possible, we have used the generic masculine 
form, which of course addresses all genders equally.
Material topics and their delimitation
The material topics for us were identified using a ­materiality 
analysis based on the principles of sustainability context, 
materiality, completeness and stakeholder engagement 
formulated by the GRI. In addition, general reporting prin-
ciples were observed: accuracy, balance, comprehensibility, 
comparability, reliability, and up-to-dateness. 
 Sustainability Management: p. 10
The table on page 77 shows the scope of the ­material 
topics according to GRI 103-1 and the associated 
GRI standards. There are no associated GRI standards 
for the ­“Employee Engagement” and “Hazardous Sub-
stances” topics. We have therefore referred directly to the 
corresponding pages in the report to find the management 
approach. The management approaches to the topics 
“Waste”, “Water Efficiency” and “Contaminant ­Emissions” 
have been combined and are reported jointly in the 
­“Environmental Protection” chapter.
Data and content  
Quantitative sustainability reporting at Hilti is still under 
development. Therefore, we are not yet able to report 
standardized group data, but have different data bases 
depending on the topic. The content and data were de-
termined using content and data surveys in the respective 
departments. The data published in this Sustainability Re-
port was collected and processed with the highest degree 
of accuracy. Nevertheless, we cannot completely exclude 
the possibility of transmission errors.
For calculation reasons, rounding differences of ± one unit 
(CHF, %, etc.) may occur in the tables.
Data on circularity
The calculation basis of the quantitative score covers 
various periods from 2019 and 2020. Purchasing volumes 
were included in the period from 06/19 to 05/20, produc-
tion data from 07/19 to 06/20, and sales volumes from 
08/19 to 07/20.
Environmental data
This sustainability report contains data on Scope 1, 
Scope 2 and, in some cases, Scope 3 CO2 emissions. 
We have determined Scope 1 emissions for the Group 
using energy consumption and local emission factors. We 
use real information on gas, oil, district heating and solar 
energy consumption in our buildings as well as vehicle fuel 
consumption in our market organizations. In the orga-
nizations where we did not have consumption data, we 
estimated it using average consumption (per employee or 
per m2). In addition, we estimated emissions from refriger-
ants in the plants.
Scope 2 emissions are determined “market-based” i.e., 
we calculate them using the specific emission factors 
­provided by the electricity suppliers.
Of the Scope 3 emissions, we have so far only published 
the emissions resulting from business travel. This is deter-
mined using data from the travel operators and our own 
estimates which are based on average values if we do not 
have exact data. The data on CO2 emissions are verified 
by “South Pole”.
Waste data is collected at the various sites in all plants 
and approximately 60 percent of the logistics and repair 
centers. The offices, Hilti Stores and distribution centers 
are not yet included. 
Water data is collected at our plants by the respective 
employees responsible for reading the meters. We have 
not included water consumption in our office buildings due 
to the negligible comparative amount.
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
76
ABOUT THIS REPORT

Material topic
Relevance 
Related GRI standard(s)
within Hilti
externally
Environment
CO2
x
x
305 Emissions 2016
302 Energy 2016
Circularity
x
x
301 Materials 2016
306 Effluents and Waste 2016
Waste
x
x
303 Water and Effluents 2018
Water Efficiency
x
x
303 Water and Effluents 2018
Contaminant Emissions 
x
x
303 Water and Effluents 2018
Supplier Sustainability
x
204 Procurement Practices 2016
308 Supplier Environmental Assessment 2016
414  Supplier Social Assessment 2016
People
User Health & Safety
x
416 Customer Health and Safety 2016
Building Safety
x
416 Customer Health and Safety 2016
Hazardous Substances
x
Page 42 – 43 
Employee Health & Safety
x
403 Occupational Health and Safety 2018
Employee Engagement
x
Page 44 – 47 
Inclusion & Diversity
x
405 Diversity and Equal Opportunity 2016
Learning & Development
x
404 Training and Education 2016
Work-life-balance
x
401 Employment 2016
Society
Social Impact
x
x
203 Indirect Economic Impacts 2016
413 Local Communities 2016
Business Ethics
x
x
202 Market Presence 2016
205 Anti-corruption 2016
206 Anti-competitive Behavior 2016
307 Environmental Compliance 2016
402 Labor/Management Relations 2016
406 Non-discrimination 2016
407 Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining 2016
408 Child Labor 2016
409 Forced or Compulsory Labor 2016
412 Human Rights Assessment 2016
415 Public Policy 2016
417 Marketing and Labeling 2016
418 Customer Privacy 2016
419 Socioeconomic Compliance 2016
Employees
We record data on our employees throughout the Group. 
With the exception of turnover figures, all data relate to 
the reporting date of December 31. All data are headcount 
figures. Apprentices, trainees and interns are included in 
the total number of employees.
The forward-looking statements made in the report are 
based on internal assessments of future developments 
that are subject to uncertainties and are not under the 
control of Hilti. The report is published in German and 
English. In the event of any discrepancies, the German 
version shall be binding.
77
ABOUT THIS REPORT

GRI CONTENT INDEX
Disclosures
Page
Comment
UNGC 1
GRI 102
General Disclosures 2016
Organizational profile
GRI 102-1
Name of the organization
Hilti Group
GRI 102-2
Activities, brands, products, and services
www.hilti.group  
See Company Report: p. 4 – 6
GRI 102-3
Location of headquarters
Schaan, Liechtenstein
GRI 102-4
Location of operations
See Company Report:  
table “Sales growth” 
See Financial Report:   
chapter “Group companies and joint ­arrangements”
GRI 102-5
Ownership and legal form
See Company Report:  
p. 4 and table “Consolidated Balance Sheet”
GRI 102-6
Markets served
34 – 43
See Company Report:  
p. 6 and table “Sales Growth”
GRI 102-7
Scale of the organization
46
See Financial Report:   
chapter “Key financial information of HILTI Group”, 
“Group companies and joint arrangements” 
www.hilti.group
GRI 102-8
Information on employees and other 
workers
45, 46, 50, 77
Our headcount is not subject to seasonal fluctuations. 
We only employ temporary workers to a limited extent.
GRI 102-9
Supply chain
30 – 31
GRI 102-10
Significant changes to the organization 
and its supply chain
See Financial Report:  
chapter “Method of Consolidation”
GRI 102-11
Precautionary Principle or approach
16 – 17, 20 – 23, 
27 – 29
See Financial Report:  
chapter “Financial risk management”
GRI 102-12
External initiatives
5, 10  – 11
1 – 10
GRI 102-13
Membership of associations 
Swissmem
EPTA – European Power Tool Association
ZVEI – Zentralverband Elektrotechnik- und  
­Elektronikindustrie e.V.
Strategy
GRI 102-14
Statement from senior decision-maker
2 – 5
1 – 10
Ethics and integrity
GRI 102-16
Values, principles, standards, and norms 
of behavior
6, 30 – 31, 51, 
60 – 63
1, 2, 10
Governance
GRI 102-18
Governance structure
See Company Report:  
“Executive Board” and “Board of Directors”
Stakeholder engagement
GRI 102-40
List of stakeholder groups
13
GRI 102-41
Collective bargaining agreements
We have collective agreements in all countries where 
it is legally required. We ensure that all employees are 
paid in line with the market.
3
1 
1 The numbers are referring to the relevant 10 principles of UN Global Compact.
GRI 101: FOUNDATION 2016
GENERAL DISCLOSURES
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
78
GRI content index

Disclosures
Page
Comment
UNGC 1
GRI 102-42
Identifying and selecting stakeholders
10  – 13
GRI 102-43
Approach to stakeholder engagement
10  – 13
GRI 102-44
Key topics and concerns raised
10  – 13
Reporting practice
GRI 102-45
Entities included in the consolidated 
financial statements
See Financial Report:   
chapter «Group companies and joint arrangements»
GRI 102-46
Defining report content and topic 
­Boundaries
10  – 11, 76 – 77
GRI 102-47
List of material topics
77
GRI 102-48
Restatements of information
76
GRI 102-49
Changes in reporting
76
GRI 102-50
Reporting period
76
GRI 102-51
Date of most recent report
This is the Hilti Group’s first sustainability report.
GRI 102-52
Reporting cycle
Sustainability reporting is planned on an annual basis.
GRI 102-53
Contact point for questions regarding the 
report
Publication 
details
GRI 102-54
Claims of reporting in accordance with the 
GRI Standards
76
GRI 102-55
GRI content index
78 – 83
GRI 102-56
External assurance
The report is not externally audited.
MATERIAL TOPICS
Disclosures
Page
Comment
UNGC 1
GRI 202
Market Presence 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10  – 12, 44 – 47, 
60 – 62, 77
GRI 202-1
Ratios of standard entry level wage by 
gender compared to local minimum wage
Hilti uses standardized salary group structures for 
all functions and in all countries. Gender pay equity 
is reviewed in several countries, based on the legal 
framework.
GRI 203
Indirect Economic Impacts 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10  – 12, 64 – 66, 
77
GRI 203-1
203-1 Infrastructure investments and 
services supported
64 – 75
GRI 204
Procurement Practices 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10 – 11, 30 – 31, 
77
GRI 204-1
Proportion of spending on local suppliers
30
GRI 205
Anti-corruption 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10  – 12, 60 – 62, 
77
10
GRI 205-2
Communication and training about 
­anti-corruption policies and procedures
61 – 62
10
GRI 205-3
Confirmed incidents of corruption and 
actions taken
We are not aware of any confirmed cases of 
­corruption in the Group.
10
79
GRI content index

Disclosures
Page
Comment
UNGC 1
GRI 206
Anti-competitive Behavior 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10  – 12, 60 – 62, 
77
GRI 206-1
Legal actions for anti-competitive 
­behavior, anti-trust, and monopoly 
practices
There are no legal proceedings pending due to 
anti-competitive behavior or the formation of anti-trust 
or monopolies.
GRI 301
Materials 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10  – 12, 20 – 23, 
77
7, 8 
GRI 301-1
Materials used by weight or volume
24
8
GRI 301-2
Recycled input materials used
24
8, 9
GRI 301-3
Reclaimed products and their packaging 
materials
22 – 23
8, 9
GRI 302
Energy 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10  – 12, 16  – 17, 
77
7, 8 
GRI 302-1
Energy consumption within the  
organization
19
8
GRI 302-4
Reduction of energy consumption
18 – 19
8, 9
GRI 303
Water & Effluents 2018
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10  – 12, 27 – 29, 
77
7, 8
GRI 303-1
Interactions with water as a shared 
resource
27 – 29
7, 8
GRI 303-2
Management of water discharged-related 
impacts
27 – 29
7, 8
GRI 303-5
Water consumption
28
8
GRI 305
Emissions 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10  – 12, 16  – 17, 
77
7, 8
GRI 305-1
Direct (Scope 1) GHG emissions
17, 19
8
GRI 305-2
Energy indirect (Scope 2) GHG emissions
In the report, we show the market-based method. 
­According to the location-based method, the following 
values were determined.
2018: 46,399 t
2019: 47,819 t
2020: 42,767 t
8
GRI 305-3
Other indirect (Scope 3) GHG emissions
17, 19
8
GRI 305-4
GHG emissions intensity
CO2 emissions (Scope 1 and 2)/employee
2018: 5.20 t
2019: 5.07 t
2020: 2.56 t
8
GRI 305-5
Reduction of GHG emissions
18  – 19
8, 9
GRI 306
Effluents and Waste 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10 – 12, 27 – 29, 
77
7, 8
GRI 306-2
Waste by type and disposal method
28
8
GRI 307
Environmental Compliance 2016 
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10 – 12, 28, 
60 – 62, 77
GRI 307-1
Non-compliance with environmental laws 
and regulations
In the reporting year, a violation of environmental 
protection laws by one of our waste disposal service 
providers was disclosed at our plant in Navsari, India. 
We have suspended the supplier. No penalty payment 
has been due to date.
1 
1 The numbers are referring to the relevant 10 principles of UN Global Compact.
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
80
GRI content index

Disclosures
Page
Comment
UNGC 1
GRI 308
Supplier Environmental Assessment 
2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10 – 11, 30 – 31, 
77
GRI 308-1
New suppliers that were screened using 
environmental criteria
30 – 31
GRI 401
Employment 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10  – 12, 44 – 48, 
77
GRI 401-1
New employee hires and employee 
turnover
45, 49
GRI 401-2
Benefits provided to full-time employees 
that are not provided to temporary or part-
time employees
Our full-time and part-time employees receive the 
same company benefits. Temporary employees are 
excluded from this.
GRI 402
Labor/Management Relations 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
GRI 402-1
Minimum notice periods regarding 
­operational changes 
All employees are informed of operational changes as 
quickly as possible.
GRI 403
Occupational Health and Safety 2018
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10  – 12, 52 – 55, 
77
GRI 403-1
Occupational health and safety 
­management system
53
GRI 403-2
Hazard identification, risk assessment, 
and incident investigation
53
GRI 403-3
Occupational health services
55 – 57
GRI 403-4
Worker participation, consultation, and 
communication on occupational health 
and safety
53
GRI 403-5
Worker training on occupational health 
and safety
54 – 56
GRI 403-6
Promotion of worker health
55 – 57
GRI 403-7
Prevention and mitigation of occupational 
health and safety impacts directly linked 
by business relationships
30 – 31
GRI 403-8
Workers covered by an occupational 
health and safety management system
In essence, all employees are covered under the 
process management.
GRI 403-9
Work-related injuries
53 – 55
We are currently unable to record accidents involving 
employees who are not employed by Hilti in a stan-
dardized manner.
GRI 404
Training and Education 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10  – 12, 44 – 48, 
77
GRI 404-2
Programs for upgrading employee skills 
and transition assistance programs
49 – 50
GRI 404-3
Percentage of employees receiving regular 
performance and career development 
reviews
48
GRI 405
Diversity and Equal Opportunity 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10  – 12, 44 – 48, 
77
6
GRI 405-1
Diversity of governance bodies and 
employees
46
6
GRI 405-2
Ratio of basic salary and remuneration of 
women to men
51
6
81
GRI content index

Disclosures
Page
Comment
UNGC 1
GRI 406
Non-discrimination 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10  – 12, 60 – 62, 
77
GRI 406-1
Incidents of discrimination and corrective 
actions taken
We have implemented an anti-discrimination policy.
Violations can be reported via our various compliance 
tools. No cases were known during the reporting year.
GRI 407
Freedom of Association and Collective 
Bargaining 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10  – 12, 60 – 62, 
77
3
GRI 407-1
Operations and suppliers in which the 
right to freedom of association and 
­collective bargaining may be at risk
31, 63
All suppliers are committed to maintaining the highest 
ethical standards. In cases of suspicion, external 
audits are carried out.
3
GRI 408
Child Labor 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10  – 12, 60 – 62, 
77
5
GRI 408-1
Operations and suppliers at significant risk 
for incidents of child labor
All suppliers are committed to maintaining the highest 
ethical standards. In cases of suspicion, external 
audits are carried out.
5
GRI 409
Forced or Compulsory Labor 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10  – 12, 60 – 62, 
77
4
GRI 409-1
Operations and suppliers at significant risk 
for incidents of forced or compulsory labor
All suppliers are committed to maintaining the highest 
ethical standards. In cases of suspicion, external 
audits are carried out.
4
GRI 412
Human Rights Assessment 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10  – 12, 60 – 62, 
77
1, 2
GRI 412-1
Operations that have been subject 
to ­human rights reviews or impact 
­assessments
60 – 63
GRI 413
Local Communities 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10  – 12, 64 – 66, 
77
GRI 413-1
Operations with local community 
­engagement, impact assessments, 
and development programs
64 – 67, 74 – 75
GRI 413-2
Operations with significant actual and 
potential negative impacts on local 
­communities
We do not engage in business activities with 
­significant or potential negative impacts on local 
communities.
GRI 414
Supplier Social Assessment 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10 – 11, 30 – 31, 
77
GRI 414-1
New suppliers that were screened using 
social criteria
30 – 31
GRI 415
Public Policy 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10  – 12, 60 – 62, 
77
GRI 415-1
Political contributions
As a matter of principle, Hilti does not support any 
political parties.
GRI 416
Customer Health and Safety 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10  – 12, 34 – 43, 
77
GRI 416-1
Assessment of the health and safety 
­impacts of product and service categories
Hilti examines all products with regard to their  
impact on the health and safety of users and  
building ­occupants.
GRI 416-2
Incidents of non-compliance concerning 
the health and safety impacts of products 
and services
There were no known violations in the reporting year.
1 
1 The numbers are referring to the relevant 10 principles of UN Global Compact.
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
82
GRI content index

Disclosures
Page
Comment
UNGC 1
GRI 417
Marketing and Labeling 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10 – 12, 60 – 62, 
77
GRI 417-2
Incidents of non-compliance concerning 
product and service information and 
labeling
There were no known violations in the reporting year.
GRI 417-3
Incidents of non-compliance concerning 
marketing communications
There were no known violations in the reporting year.
GRI 418
Customer Privacy 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10 – 12, 60 – 62, 
77
GRI 418-1
Substantiated complaints concerning 
breaches of customer privacy and losses 
of customer data
To our knowledge, there were no substantiated 
­complaints in the reporting year.
GRI 419
Socioeconomic Compliance 2016
GRI 103
Management approach 2016  
(including GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3)
10 – 12, 60 – 62, 
77
10
GRI 419-1
Non-compliance with laws and regulations 
in the social and economic area
No significant fines were paid in the reporting year for 
violations of socio-economic laws.
83
GRI content index

PUBLICATION DETAILS
Publisher
Hilti Corporation
Corporate Sustainability
PO Box 333, 9494 Schaan, Liechtenstein
Editor-in-chief 
Peter Rupp 
Contact
sustainability@hilti.com
Concept
Kirchhoff Consult AG (Hamburg, Germany),  
Corporate Sustainability
Editorial team, text 
Patricia Minogue (Lead), Kirchhoff Consult AG,  
Katrin Walser-Kessler
Design 
Kirchhoff Consult AG,  
Benno Erhardt, Kristijan Sessa
Photography
Hilti AG, Getty Images, Reinhard and Luca Fasching  
(Bregenz, Austria)
Translation
TRADEX GmbH (Saarbrücken, Germany),  
Chris Larson
Image processing
Kirchhoff Consult AG
Production
Katrin Walser-Kessler, Lise Santschi
Printed by
BVD Druck + Verlag AG
9494 Schaan, Liechtenstein
We would like to thank our customers, employees and partners for their support. The sustainability ­report 
is published in German and English. Duplication, even in part, only with permission of the publisher. 
The complete sustainability report, the principles of corporate governance, the Group organizational 
chart, a list of consolidated companies and information on the Martin Hilti Family Trust can be found on 
the Internet at www.hilti.group.
Hilti Sustainability Report 2020
84
PUBLICATION DETAILS

Printed on FSC-recycled certified paper. By using FSC paper, we actively support the environmentally 
friendly management of our forests as well as the social advancement of the forest-managing population.
 
The paper is certified with the “Blue Angel” eco-label in accordance with ISO 14024.
 
This report is produced CO2-neutrally in a company with a holistic climate strategy with the highest  
gold certificate.