exclusive
Although Deutsche Bahn failed to meet its goals for punctuality and customer satisfaction, according to research by NDR, WDR and SZ received generous bonuses. Documents that have so far been kept secret show how the amounts are calculated.
If you talk to people who have already been allowed to enter the top floor of the Bahntower at Potsdamer Platz, you will hear about an exquisite world. Until a few months ago, the board members of the crisis-ridden company dined here, high above the government district, with their own chef and expensive wines. Access is only by invitation, so railway employees say.
Now the Bahntower is in need of renovation, and so is the company. The rail network is partly dilapidated. Only every second train reaches its destination on time. Recently, strikes brought the railway to a standstill – many employees are dissatisfied.
Five million euros as additional payment
Nevertheless, according to research by NDR, WDR and “Süddeutscher Zeitung” (SZ) the railway bosses will now be paid high bonuses – a total of almost five million euros. It’s about the remuneration for 2022. These had been put on hold in the meantime.
The reason was the legal regulations on the electricity price brake. The law stipulates that a company is not allowed to pay out bonuses as long as it uses the price cap as government support. This also applied to other companies. However, the electricity price brake is set to end at the end of 2023. And then bonuses can also flow for 2022, as the Federal Ministry of Economics confirmed upon request.
Performance-related Payments for achieved goals
Each member of the railway board has a fixed basic salary. In 2022, the board received a total of around four million euros. However, as is usual for corporate managers, there is also a second salary component that is performance-related.
Internal documents that reporters from NDR, WDR and SZ were able to see the concrete target agreements that the board members around railway boss Richard Lutz apparently had written into their contracts – and what sums they should now receive for them.
Small successes – massive payments
Accordingly, around 1.3 million euros in bonuses should flow to CEO Richard Lutz alone – around 384,000 euros of this because the railway has confirmed particularly satisfied employees and an increased proportion of female managers for 2022. According to the documents, the board of directors slightly exceeded the company’s own target in this area. The bonus for this area has been increased significantly – to 175 percent.
As far as the railway’s financial result is concerned, the company bosses should even receive double the bonus because it turned out better than originally expected. In addition to these additional remuneration for common goals, there are also large sums for the individual goals of the board members.
Railway boss Lutz will apparently receive almost 440,000 euros for achieving the desired CO2 targets.
Railway boss Lutz apparently included CO2 savings in his agreement. And because the railway says it saved two percentage points more than it wanted in 2022, Lutz should receive a bonus of almost 440,000 euros for this alone.
Berthold Huber, the board member responsible for long-distance transport at the time, had the goal of having at least 278 ICE trains ready for use. The railway considers the fact that there were 284 ICEs on the tracks as a target achievement of 133 percent. Huber will now receive around 183,000 euros in bonuses for this alone.
Bahn board member Ronald Pofalla is responsible for the infrastructure, the quality of which has been heavily criticized.
Questionable bonus for existing network quality
According to the documents, Ronald Pofalla, who was once head of the Chancellery under Merkel and then railway board member for infrastructure, also apparently exceeded his goal of the best possible existing network quality by 200 percent – even if the railway network is described by many experts and employees as dilapidated and in need of renovation. A request from NDR, WDR and SZ did not answer this question.
Key goals missed
The documents show: It is apparently due to a special calculation that the board members receive high bonuses, even though they clearly miss their goals in terms of punctuality and customer satisfaction. Goals that are exceeded can be used to compensate for goals that are missed.
When it comes to bonus payments to its managers, Deutsche Bahn basically differentiates between bonuses for long-term goals and specifically five short-term goals. In addition to good business results, employee satisfaction in combination with the proportion of women in leadership and the respective personal goals, these also include customer satisfaction and punctuality – i.e. the central goals that make the railway a functioning company in the public eye.
The punctuality scores are worse than they have been for a long time. Unsurprisingly, they also showed up In 2022, rail customers were dissatisfied with the group’s performance – so clearly that the railway was unable to even come close to achieving its self-imposed goals in freight transport, long-distance transport or local transport.
| Goal | reached | |
|---|---|---|
Long-distance transport | 81% | 74.8% |
Regional transport | 72% | 70.1% |
cargo | 67% | 67% |
As a result, the railway bosses receive zero percent credit for punctuality and customer satisfaction. The situation is different when it comes to the goal of “employee satisfaction and women in leadership”. When it comes to employee satisfaction, the board’s goal was not to allow it to decline any further. Because the mood among employees was slightly better in 2022, this goal is considered to have been exceeded. The consequence: for the railway board members, the pro-rata bonus increases to 175 percent.
In addition, according to internal documents, the railway will now have 27 percent women in management positions in 2022. This means that it has exceeded its self-imposed target by one percentage point. But this one percentage point gave the railway executives 200 percent of the bonus for this area.
| Surname | department | Goal | reached |
|---|---|---|---|
Lutz | Chairman of the Board | CO2 savings | 200% |
Hell | Finance & Logistics | Development by Schenker | 200% |
Seiler | staff | New hires and personnel development | 200% |
Markotten | Digitalization & Technology | Vehicles in maintenance | 160% |
Huber | Infrastructure | operational availability ICE | 133% |
Nikutta | Freight transport | Expansion to European Railway logistician | 150% |
Pofalla | Ex infrastructure | Expansion of network and infrastructure | 200% |
High bonuses also for the board members Long-distance transport subsidiary
Long-distance transport with its ICEs in particular should attract even more business travelers, commuters and families from cars and planes to rail in the future. But the image of the rail division is now devastating due to the many train cancellations and delays. The railway apparently also gave the long-distance transport bosses a zero percent bonus for the goals of punctuality and customer satisfaction.
Nevertheless, according to internal documents, they not only received a basic salary of between 270,000 euros and 395,000 euros per year, but also bonuses: Because as corporate executives – and the board members of the railway subsidiaries in the railway group are considered as such – the so-called “performance-related salary component” lies is paid out when certain goals are achieved, up to 60 percent of the basic salary. And according to the railway documents, long-distance transport chairman Michael Peterson has met 100 percent of his personal success goals in 2022.
More Amenities
In addition to stays on the luxurious top floor of the railway tower, the DB bosses were contractually entitled to further amenities. In the event that a board member moves for his job, the state-owned company paid 800 euros per month for a second home at the company headquarters, limited to two years.
The railway, which has set itself the goal of getting people from the road to the rails, also provides its board members with a company car for professional and private use, and the frequent flyer points collected can also be used privately.
New Compensation model from 2024
The supervisory board, which also includes state secretaries from the finance, economics and transport ministries and representatives of the trade unions, decides on Deutsche Bahn’s bonus system. The remuneration practice is to be changed next year. Railway board members should then receive a higher proportion of their total salary as a fixed salary, and in return the proportion of performance-related remuneration should decrease: from around two thirds to 50 percent.
The DB Group explained at the request of NDR, WDR and SZ, they do not comment on supervisory board matters and refer to the company’s annual reports. When asked, the Federal Ministry of Transport pointed out that the Supervisory Board could use remuneration agreements to enforce the goals of the federal government as the owner of the railway.