- Ten thousands of employees mobilize for “Global Volunteer Day” for the third consecutive year
- Program now extended to the entire year
Bonn, 09/05/2013, 10:00 AM CEST – Deutsche Post DHL, the world’s leading postal and logistics group, is calling on its employees, customers and partnering non-profit organizations worldwide for its third-ever “Global Volunteer Day”. As of this year, the program is no longer limited to projects during the main “Global Volunteer Day” event, which is scheduled to take place between September 5th and 15th, 2013 employees can now include their volunteer activities carried out throughout the entire year. Last year, some 62,000 employees from 120 countries around the world contributed to more than 1,000 “Global Volunteer Day” projects.
“This year, much like in past years, we’ll be supporting a myriad of different volunteer projects around the world in many cases, these are community projects that involve our employees directly,” explains Christof Ehrhart, Director of Corporate Communications and Corporate Responsibility at Deutsche Post DHL. “This year is special, however. Since many of our approximately 475,000 employees are busy volunteering in projects the whole year through, we decided to honor not only the activities carried out during the official “Global Volunteer Day” week in September but all other volunteer projects carried out by our employees the whole year round. This allows our employees to really put the Group’s “Living Responsibility” mission into practice.”
Group-wide coordinated activities
Deutsche Post DHL employees began dedicating volunteer-time to local projects in 2008. In 2011 this idea was turned into an official volunteer day conducted around the world. Now, two years later, the activities are coordinated Group-wide, with all projects integrated into a shared platform. Projects are implemented at the country and regional level, making it possible to tailor them to meet local needs.
All of the volunteer projects reflect at least one of the Group’s three Corporate Responsibility programs: “GoTeach“, for improved education, the environmental program “GoGreen” and “GoHelp“, which provides disaster logistics support worldwide. As a result, schools in Germany get a new coat of paint, employees in Finland help renaturate a river, and sports equipment is collected for transport to Chinese elementary schools, to name a few.
Deutsche Post DHL also promotes employee volunteerism through its Living Responsibility Fund. Twice a year employees can apply for financial support for local projects run by local non-profit organizations and in which they engage. In 2012 Deutsche Post DHL granted funding to a total of 104 projects involving more than 9,000 employees in 48 countries worldwide. Promoting the community involvement of employees is, together with the Group’s three “Go” programs, a key component of the Corporate Responsibility strategy at Deutsche Post DHL, with “Living Responsibility” as its leitmotif.
