- Thousands of employees from all parts of the world will join in the program for the second consecutive year
- Already 736 registered projects on the launch date
- Long-term commitment of employee projects via the “Living Responsibility Fund”
Bonn, 09/06/2012, 11:00 AM CEST – The projects cover a wide range of activities, including the remodeling of schools in South Africa and donation drives for the homeless in Russia
Deutsche Post DHL is encouraging its employees, customers and business partners to take part in the company’s Global Volunteer Day for the second year in a row. This year’s program is scheduled for September 6 to 16. But employees can continue to volunteer beyond this 10-day period, providing assistance to the elderly, helping the disadvantaged and cleaning up the environment, among other areas. Last year, the first year that the Global Volunteer Day was held employees in 130 countries and territories worked on approximately 600 projects.
“With our workforce of 470,000 people in more than 220 countries and territories, we have a tremendous reservoir of knowledge and energy. We also want to use this energy on behalf of society as a whole and make a positive contribution to the communities where we do business,” says Christof Ehrhart, head of Corporate Communications and Responsibility at Deutsche Post DHL. “The volunteer work that our employees do throughout the year is quite impressive in and of itself. With the annual Global Volunteer Day, we can also produce a strong feeling of oneness and create additional motivation.”
Assisting local projects
The activities done as part of Global Volunteer Day are coordinated group wide in order to create a joint platform for all projects. They are also aligned with the Group’s three CR programs – GoGreen (environment), GoHelp (disaster management) and GoTeach (education). The volunteer day focuses on activities that meet local needs and have a good working relationship with local organizations.
For this reason, the countries or regions assume responsibility for implementation. The DHL divisions there individually select the projects and carry them out in September. In addition to employees, the program encourages customers and business partners to join in. The focal point of the first Global Volunteer Day in 2011 was the activities of employees in 24 countries in Asia and in the Pacific region, which had been assisting local projects since 2008.
The projects cover a wide range of activities, including the remodeling of schools in South Africa, donation drives for the homeless in Russia, reading hours for children with impaired vision in India and the cleanup of nature preserves in Thailand.
Living Responsibility Fund
In addition Deutsche Post DHL supports the voluntary engagement of its employees via the “Living Responsibility Fund”. Twice a year employees can apply for financial support for their projects in the following year. The amount of support granted depends on the time the employee devotes to the project. In the first half of 2012, the company supported a total of 48 projects with over 2,000 employees involved. Together with the three Corporate Responsibility programs GoGreen, GoHelp and GoTeach – this volunteerism has been an integral part of the Corporate Responsibility Strategy under the motto “Living Responsibility”.
