Sexism, works council, balance sheet season on the stock exchange

Marie-Christine Döscher

(35) is one of the most knowledgeable #MeToo investigators in German business.

As chief investigator at the consulting firm

, the former public prosecutor leads internal investigations into companies.

This often involves fraud and bribery, but increasingly also sexual harassment in the workplace.

Döscher spoke to my colleagues Simone Salden and Hannah Steinharter about sexism, violence and cover-ups in German companies.

"I help companies to deal with internal misconduct," says the investigator.

The range is wide: sexism can already be a

to which the boss does not respond with the "thumbs-up emoji", but sends the intern a heart emoji.

But too close physical contact or sexualized comments occur again and again, reports Döscher.

She has experienced

men's chat groups such as "

- but not on the basis of their professional performance.

"There's everything you can imagine. It's really frightening at times."

"Many people are still overwhelmed with the topic of sexism," says the investigator.

"In order not to have to show that one is overwhelmed, the importance of the incidents is often downplayed."

She advises those affected: report incidents and never deal with them alone.

"In order for the corporate culture to change, you need people who open their mouths."

You can read in the detailed interview what Döscher experiences in her work and what bothers her in particular.

The business news of the day:

• Norway's sovereign wealth fund makes a loss of 152 billion euros:

  With assets of more than one trillion euros, the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund is the second largest fund in the world.

  Rising interest rates and weakening stock markets as a result of the Ukraine war brought the fund managed by

  Nicolai Tangen

  a record loss of 152 billion euros in 2022.

  But Norway's citizens don't have to be nervous about that: The fund, founded in 1996, which invests the income from the oil and gas sector and has shares in almost 10,000 companies, had made record profits in previous years.

• UBS increases annual profit:

  The major Swiss bank UBS increased its profit in 2022 by 2 percent to 7 billion euros.

  The increase is mainly due to the latest austerity measures, reduced personnel costs and some special income.

  According to UBS boss Ralph Hamers, the UBS dividend should increase by 10 percent.

• According to the IMF, Germany is probably scraping the recession:

  the head of the International Monetary Fund,

  Kristalina Georgiewa

  , had warned of a global recession just a few months ago.

  But now the growth prospects are brightening: according to the IMF, Germany could also avoid a recession.

  In its updated forecast, the IMF now anticipates global growth of 2.9 percent.

What else kept us busy:

• How much money is a works council allowed to earn?

  The recent judgment of the Federal Court of

  Justice (BGH)

  has given fresh impetus to the dispute over appropriate payment for a works council that has been released from work.

  The BGH ruled that personnel managers who pay their works council members excessive salaries may be liable to prosecution for breach of trust – and reversed the acquittals for four

  former VW managers

  .

  Now companies nationwide are concerned that the remuneration models for their works councils are no longer legally secure.

  It is true that the former VW works council

  chief Bernd Osterloh

  , who earned 750,000 euros a year at times, was the number one nationwide and the exception among works councils.

  Nevertheless, trade unions and companies are pushing for a reform of the Works Constitution Act.

  Read more about it here.

• "Let's make a game now!"

  What immediately went through your head when you heard that sentence?

  In her coaching,

  Christine Moscho

  sometimes has to overcome herself before she says this sentence: For many people, play and work are quite far apart.

  Moscho will explain tomorrow and the day after why teams can still benefit greatly from playful methods in the free webinar of our colleagues from manage › forward.

  Here you can sign up.

My recommendation for the evening:

• Happy too early on the stock exchange:

  Since the beginning of October, the leading German index has risen by around 30 percent.

  The

  Dax

  has thus left important US indices behind: the

  Nasdaq

  and

  S&P 500

  each increased by only around 10 percent in the same period.

  But is the outperformance of German companies justified?

  "At the current price level, investors are assuming that there will be no recession," says

  Sven Streibel

  , an equity expert at

  DZ Bank

  .

  "What's more, they expect an average profit increase of 10 percent this year."

  Those are two very optimistic assumptions.

  Reason enough for investors to pay particular attention to the start of the reporting season in Germany this week.

  If the Dax companies do not surprise positively, there is a risk of new setbacks on the stock exchange: My colleague Christoph Rottwilm has summarized everything important about the weeks of truth on the German stock market for you.

Cordially, your Kai Lange