Social Week - Making a
difference all together
Social commitment is a high priority at the family-owned company Webasto. As part of this year’s Social Week, the automotive supplier offered its employees a wide range of “taster volunteering” opportunities.
Thanks to Webasto Social Week, the 14 ladies and gentlemen from the Münchenstift and their companions spent a sunny afternoon at Hellabrunn Zoo, Munich, Germany.
Making a difference all together: Webasto employees around
the world were given time off to assist in social projects
Stockdorf – June 26, 2024 – For the second time in a row, Webasto organized a Social Week under the motto “Volunteer instead of working day”. Following the consistently positive response to the local pilot project in 2023, this year employees at 21 administrative sites and plants from Stockdorf to Shanghai (China) and New Hudson (USA) to Irapuato (Mexico) were given the opportunity to provide local support where help was needed from June 17 to 21, 2024.
In close cooperation with the Webasto Foundation, the automotive supplier enabled colleagues to take up to one working day off to get involved in various charity organizations in the neighborhood and to get to know new perspectives.
“Initiatives like the Social Week broaden our horizons and show us: Together we can make a difference,” said Dr. Holger Engelmann, CEO of Webasto SE, who was pleased with the lively participation in Social Week.
Many managers also set a good example and took part in one of the activities. “Only by working together will we be able to overcome the enormous challenges posed by climate change and geopolitical conflicts and ensure fair access to important resources such as drinking water, education and medicine – to name just a few. As a family-owned company, we are driving our transformation forward not only in terms of technology and ecology but also in our understanding of culture. Our employees want to contribute their work to a responsible company that has a sustainably positive impact on the development of our society. This is what drives us. That’s why we support projects like the Social Week.”
Doing good, but how? Social Week opens up a wide range of opportunities
The charitable organizations that opened their doors to Webasto employees around the world offered a wide range of volunteering opportunities. These included projects for children, young and old people or people with disabilities in all regions. Colleagues from the Indian sites, for example, lent a hand in orphanages. In an integrative kindergarten in Hengersberg, Germany, a ramp for wheelchair users to a raised garden bed was built with manual labor. New garden furniture was made from wooden pallets for a home for the disabled in Luxembourg. In many places, Webasto colleagues actively participated in the upcoming renovation and painting work in kindergartens. Chinese employees gave schools and universities insights into various professional fields and shared their experiences with the young people.
Masoumeh Dorbash (left) from Bavarian Red Cross, Starnberg District Association, welcomed the Webasto colleagues (some of them in the picture from left: Claudia Steinke, Michael Tanner, Yeon-Jeong Dullin, Michael Urbanczyk, Melanie Mändl). Their Social Week commitment consisted of gifts of time for the residents of the Red Cross retirement and nursing home in Gilching – and an experience for themselves.
Gifts of time for residents of nursing homes and retirement homes were also offered at many locations: bringing joy to senior citizens – by reading to them, playing games and laughing with them, taking them on excursions or organizing a small “ice cream festival” – these were wonderful experiences for everyone involved.
In addition, various organizations benefited from the expertise of technical experts from Webasto, for example when the Malteser Hilfsdienst (Malteser Ambulance Service) visited senior citizens with home emergency call devices. Those who preferred to work with flora and fauna were able to get involved with nature and gardening clubs or animal shelters.
The Webasto locations in Korea offered even more room for action and invited people to join in a collective beach clean-up. Webasto plans to hold another Social Week next year.
Making a difference together – here the Webasto colleagues Tobias Ertel and Patrick Bi are tackling the walls of the daycare center of the Workers' Welfare Association in Martinsried, Germany, with paint.
