As an employer, we promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace. After all, these form the best basis for successful teamwork and for innovation—both of which are particularly characteristic of aviation.
“We believe in our employees’ diversity of ideas, experience and perspectives.”
STEFAN MORGENSTERNSenior Vice President, Human Resources, MTU Aero Engines AG
In aviation, teamwork counts and diversity produces particularly strong teams
Aviation connects cultures and people. It crosses borders, introducing us to new places, foreign cultures and interesting people. Aviation has something unifying about it, and at the same time it broadens horizons. The same is true of diversity and inclusion. Each of us contributes our uniqueness to the team, bringing new ideas and perspectives. Diversity also strengthens our cooperation and our sense of belonging to MTU when we consciously include everyone in the spirit of unbiased collaboration.
We consider gender, cultural background, age and experience, disability, and sexual orientation and identity to be equally important aspects of diversity. Fair employment and promotion prospects for people of different cultures, genders, physical abilities or age groups are a core component of our respectful corporate culture, which we strengthen and actively develop through a variety of specific measures. Read more in the Diversity and inclusion section of the report
How do employees experience diversity and inclusion at MTU? What was it that encouraged women in STEM jobs at MTU to pursue this career? And how does our new Executive Board member, Dr. Silke Maurer, see it? In our Spotlight on Diversity, we present selected aspects and experiences of diversity.
#WeAreMore: How do you experience inclusion at MTU?
As part of the #WeAreMore series, colleagues share their perspectives on diversity and inclusion at MTU.
“Care is always taken to ensure that everyone can deal with each other as equals”
Günther Rankl joined MTU in Munich as an apprentice industrial mechanic, and has worked at the company ever since. He became a process engineer in production, then took part in on-the-job training and switched to NC programming. Since an accident he has needed a wheelchair.
What challenges do you face in your day-to-day work? How has being in a wheelchair changed your job?
“By the time I started working again after my accident, a lot had already been done to eliminate anything that might interfere with or inhibit my daily life. As a result, I face very few challenges that are a direct result of my disability. In the past, accessibility wasn’t a key consideration, so access to older buildings is usually more difficult. New projects take accessibility into account from the outset. When MTU decided to build a new company restaurant, I was asked right at the planning stage whether I would like to be involved.
As to my job, there were some huge changes, but that had little to do with my accident. I’d already decided I wanted to go into further education and change my area of work, so I was back in school and working on a master’s degree. Up to then, I’d arranged it as a leave of absence for education. When the accident happened, I was on a leave of absence and had to interrupt my studies, but a year later I was able to pick up where I left off. In a way, the accident accelerated my move into operations scheduling. What I like about my job is that I’m still in contact with manufacturing.”
How do you like to see inclusion lived out in a team?
“To me, inclusion in a team is simply a question of not noticing that one person is different. People should naturally show consideration, but not in an intrusive way. When I joined my team, everything about how they received me was completely normal. I think that’s important. It never made me feel different.”
Is there anything you particularly appreciate about equality at MTU?
“I really appreciate that there’s never any thought of favoring or disadvantaging anyone for any particular reason. Lots of things seem matter of fact—even when it involves putting in extra effort, care is always taken to ensure that all colleagues can deal with each other as equals.”
Female empowerment
“At MTU, I’m encountering strong personalities who shape the company’s success.”
DR. SILKE MAURERChief Operating Officer, MTU Aero Engines AG
Aviation is still a male domain. While women are more likely to sit in an aircraft cockpit today than they were in the past, the average across airlines is still for only 6% of pilots to be women (International Society of Women Airline Pilots 2021). For aviation to realize its full potential as a forward-looking and innovative industry, change and a better gender balance are needed. Because it’s not only in the cockpit that there is a lack of women: in the first quarter of 2022, women made up only 15.8% of people in STEM occupations in Germany (German Economic Institute autumn report 2022). Among the reasons cited by experts are social conditioning, people’s incorrect assessment of their own abilities, and gender stereotypes in upbringing.
Proportion of women at MTU
16.4%
This puts us above the 15.8% figure for women in STEM occupations in Germany (German Economic Institute autumn report 2022). It is important to get girls and young women interested in technology at an early age, so that engineering companies like MTU become an option when choosing a career.
“Throughout my career, I’ve had the privilege of meeting extraordinary women. At MTU, too, I’m encountering strong personalities who shape the company’s success. As an engineer and Executive Board member, I’m always delighted when we can inspire talented women to choose a career in technology and aviation. This industry offers a host of exciting opportunities, and a major transformation lies ahead. We consciously promote diversity and empower our employees to fully realize their own individual potential. This makes our collaboration more successful and paves the way for innovation. That’s why I prefer an inclusive and empathetic leadership style.”
Dr. Silke Maurer, Chief Operating Officer, MTU Aero Engines AG
We want to actively dispel the prejudice that technical professions are not for women. To this end, we not only train managers and employees to recognize unconscious biases, but we also want to encourage women to take up technical professions. We regularly showcase role models and positive examples from our sites around the world, both internally to MTU and externally via our social media channels, asking these women to describe their personal path into aviation, a technical profession or STEM studies. Schoolgirls and female high-school graduates should discover aviation as a career option for themselves.
True enthusiasm: MTU women & their passion for technology
“How do airplanes fly if they’re heavier than air? I found questions like these really interesting as a child. My curiosity demanded answers, and I wanted to quench my thirst for knowledge. That yearning developed into a passion for flying during my high school years. I found the answers I was looking for through aerodynamics, one of my subjects at the Aviation Academy in Belgrade.”
Julijana Zivkovic
Non-Destructive Testing Inspector, Serbia
“I always wanted to know how technology worked. As a child I got a doll with moveable eyes – I cut the head open in order to find out how the mechanism worked. I’m grateful that I got my blue-collar start as an aircraft electrician in the aviation industry, and I’m just as excited now as I was then.”
Jutta Trimmel
Head of Quality, HSE & Logistics, Germany
“I used to go through books of experiments with my dad, and I competed in several Physics Olympiads at high school. Later I went to TU Braunschweig to study aerospace engineering. At MTU, I work on safety analyses for propulsion systems.”
Andrea Neumann
Safety & Certification, Germany
“My passion for technology started very early. Thanks to my father, I got to sit in the cockpit of a 747 from Toronto to London when I was eight years old. At the end of the flight, the crew asked me if I would consider becoming a pilot.”
Sarah Farrugia Warren
Technical Manager Lease Services, Netherlands
“For me, the topic of ‘women in technical professions’ has always been a chance to learn about the world from a new perspective, a chance to evolve and grow—combined with positive experiences of excellent collaboration and camaraderie. It always pays to invest in yourself and pursue your own dreams and goals!”
Dr. Mihaela-Sorina Seitz
Head of MRO TechProjekt, Germany
“My physics and math teachers were role models and motivated me to learn and think. Their lessons fueled my self-confidence and gave me a can-do attitude, because I saw that hard work pays off. With my fondness for physics, I decided to study mechanical engineering, which is one of the most broadly applicable subjects.”
Maribel Martinez
Shop Support Engineer, Canada
“Even as a child, I enjoyed tinkering and building things. In the 1980s, I wrote my first programs in Basic on my Atari. Since there was no IT faculty at the local technical university at the time, I opted to study electrical engineering. At MTU, I develop new functionalities together with my team, and I work on system integration and many other things. I love this job, because it never lets you get stuck in a boring routine.”
Agnieszka Adamska
Application Specialist, Poland
“My decision to study electrical engineering at Belgrade University was driven by my great love of mathematics, which I got from my mother. After I graduated, I began my career as an aerospace engineer—and that was the start of a new love affair. I’ve had the opportunity to meet some wonderful women in aviation. We should just make the most of our talents, have fun with it and make the choices that feel right.”
