Health, Safety, and Social Commitment
We firmly believe that we can only increase our sustainability with the help of our employees – their commitment in the workplace plays a key role during implementation. We have developed a compre-hensive program to involve each and every one of our employees and encourage them to actively make their working day more sustainable.
Sustainable Health and Safety Management
Examples from around the world demonstrate that concrete measures to reduce occupational accidents contribute to long-term employee safety in the workplace. In Indonesia, the East Javanese government honored our affiliate P.T. Beiersdorf Indonesia for its commendable occupational safety, awarding it the 2011 “Zero Accident Award” in recognition of the exemplary culture of safety shared by all of the plant’s employees. A “Zero Accident” campaign in Thailand also helped reduce the risk of accidents during manufacturing and in the warehouse. Regular training helps employees to properly assess and react appropriately to hazardous situations. In manufacturing companies noise often leads to work-related strain. At our Tres Cantos location in Spain, the level of noise on the filling lines in the production facility was significantly reduced by installing modern sound isolation booths.
Beiersdorf’s workplace health promotion program in Germany is inspired by the idea that prevention is better than cure. The program, which is being implemented in close cooperation with Beiersdorf’s occupational health insurance fund, aims to prevent illness through a wide range of measures, focusing on the promotion of a healthy lifestyle. This includes initiatives to encourage cycling, ergonomic advice, and training on lifting and carrying techniques for the workplace. In addition, every year has different focus areas – such as a healthy diet, early detection of bowel cancer, or back health. At the center of the health promotion program in 2012 is resilience training and key measures for the early detection of breast cancer.
During recent food safety crises in Germany, such as the spread of the EHEC virus in 2011, the com-pany medical service worked together closely with Beiersdorf’s internal catering service to inform all employees quickly and comprehensively. The menu in the company cafeterias was also changed in line with the recommendations issued by the public authorities. A Food Safety Crisis Task Force was estab-lished in July 2011 based on our good experiences with the Pandemic Action Committee, which has existed for many years now. This internal team of experts is available to take immediate action if and when required.
Raise Partner Awareness of Sustainability
We do not want to be alone in acting sustainably – we also expect this from our partners. Our Confer-ence and Event Management team evaluated and rated the sustainability of all of the hotels that coop-erated with Beiersdorf in Berlin and Hamburg (Germany) in 2011. The ratings system they developed is considered as an industry benchmark. Projects like these aim to make our contractors, service pro-viders, and suppliers more aware of sustainability issues and, at the same time, promote this as part of every day working life.
–3 Corporate Sustainability –
Commitment – People p. –
68
ation6 – Auditors’ Report and Responsibility Statement5 – Consolidated Financial Statements4 – Group Management Report
We know that sustainability initiatives are long-term projects. This is why we support environmental protection campaigns such as sustainability promotions and community dialog on an ongoing basis.
Together with the regional educational authority in Itatiba, our Brazilian affiliate launched a project to raise elementary schoolchildren’s awareness of sustainability and the environment. As part of the project, tours of the Beiersdorf plant are conducted once a month to teach children about wastewater treatment and waste management processes, among other things. Once a year, the affiliate also organ-izes an open question-and-answer session on topics such as environmental protection and safety. Other campaigns and promotions, such as Green Week, World Water Day, and Earth Hour, strengthen our relationship with stakeholders and increase the environmental awareness of our employees and their families. Our affiliate in Thailand initiated a project that actively involves its employees in restoring the forest in Samutprakran province. Beiersdorf employees planted 1,500 mangrove seedlings to support the regeneration of the forest in the region. The project will be repeated twice a year in the future.
Exercising Our Corporate Social Responsibility
We want to actively take responsibility in the wider world by supporting socially disadvantaged mem-bers of the community. Our social commitment is guided by our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy according to the motto “We care & connect.” This provides a logical framework for ensuring that our work in this area is successful and effective. Our goal is for society and our brands to profit from this in equal measure. We aim to positively influence the world around us by supporting activi-ties that complement our brands and build on Beiersdorf’s strengths. The strategic framework we have developed lays the foundation for our brands’ individual CSR positioning. All CSR activities around the world are based on the principle of “helping people to help themselves” and fulfill the following criteria:
local relevance, a longevity, mutually-beneficial approach, and measurability.
We are committed to several different initiatives. One of the projects that Beiersdorf supports is the
“SISTER2sister” mentoring program in Australia, an initiative run by the non-profit organization “Life Changing Experiences.” Teenage girls from disadvantaged social backgrounds are assigned a “big sister” mentor for a year as a positive female role model to provide individual support and guidance for problems at school and in girls’ personal lives. The program aims to equip girls with life skills and self-confidence, encouraging them to follow their own goals and dreams. Beiersdorf employees help organize career workshops and numerous donation drives, which help to finance the project.
Our largest project to date began in 2010 – the partnership between NIVEA and the children’s develop-ment organization Plan International, which aims to empower children for the long term through educa-tion. We support the project by providing financial assistance and donations in kind, voluntary work, and sharing our knowledge. There are now 25 countries involved in the partnership, including India, Brazil, Ecuador, Indonesia, Kenya, and Guatemala.
–3 Corporate Sustainability –
Commitment – People p. –
69
On the occasion of its 100th anniversary, NIVEA launched the “NIVEA 100 Plan project” in Guatemala.
Together, NIVEA and Plan International are making a large-scale education project in the poverty-stricken mountain region of Alta Verapaz reality. Of the almost 800,000 inhabitants in the region, 90%
live in rural areas and a large percentage of the population belongs to different Maya groups. Poverty and unemployment are widespread. Many children must support their families from an early age and seldom have access to a school education – only 57% of children go to school and only one in every eight girls completes sixth grade. The educational project is designed to give as many children as possible the opportunity to attend school and instill a love of learning through child-centric teaching methods. Girls receive targeted support to enable them to determine their own future. Another goal of the Guatemalan project is to overcome language barriers: 24 different languages, including many Mayan dialects, are spoken in the Central American country. NIVEA provides funding for multilingual tuition, further education for teachers, and the development of cross-cultural teaching methods to give every child the opportunity to go to school – independent of his or her ethnic and social background.
The project supports a total of around 4,800 children aged seven to 14, along with 160 teachers at 40 schools. Eight additional classrooms can also be built and educational materials be made available in the languages of ethnic minorities thanks to NIVEA’s help.
Our consumers are also a part of the partnership with Plan International – for every anniversary edition NIVEA Creme tin sold, 15 cents go directly to the “NIVEA 100 Plan project.” This is expected to raise up to €500,000 for the project. The special-edition tin is available in Belgium, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Ecuador, Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, Ven-ezuela, and India. In addition, the “Message in a Tin” promotion allows Facebook members to send their friends messages in a virtual NIVEA tin until April 2012. NIVEA donates ten cents towards the project in Guatemala for every tin sent.
In Poland, NIVEA took another approach to involving consumers in the brand’s social commitment to mark its 100th anniversary. As part of the “100 playgrounds for 100 years of NIVEA” project, local communities in Poland could visit the NIVEA website to have their say in where exactly the new play-grounds should be built. Like the international partnership with children’s charity Plan International, the project also gets NIVEA consumers directly involved in the company’s social activities, strengthening the value of NIVEA as a family brand. The public playgrounds are a “thank you” to the consumers who have trusted the brand for generations.
–3 Corporate Sustainability –
Commitment – People p. –