Social Impact: By People for People

Every company influences the people who work for it as well as those outside the organisation. The same is true of us in the High Performance Metals Division (HPM). With the Social Impact pillar of our “inSPire” sustainability framework, we focus intensively on consciously managing this social impact.

CO₂ savings, energy consumption, recycling rates: many areas of sustainability can be summarised in figures to make them clear and easy to grasp. However, the extent to which a company fulfils its responsibility in the area of social sustainability can often be much more difficult to determine. We therefore use the inSPire pillar Social Impact to dedicate even more time, space and, above all, visibility to this important area of sustainability. Our aim is to promote positive social change within and beyond the boundaries of the organisation while positioning ourselves as an attractive employer for existing and future employees. In this way, we are able to increase our employees’ commitment while meeting the expectations of our stakeholders with regard to sustainable and ethical corporate governance. Because we stand for state-of-the-art technologies and high-quality products made by people for people. We are especially committed to the important future pillar of Social Impact and are aware that there are many other opportunities and plenty more potential for improvement in addition to our own initiatives and ideas. We therefore pursue a clear vision, which we work on continuously together. “For us, social impact is not just an empty phrase, but a hugely important pillar for a future that we are fully committed to. Talking to each other and always being open to new approaches is crucial in order to continuously develop our social commitment and find new ways and solutions together,” says Reinhard Retzl, Lead Social Impact and Director of Human Resources, High Performance Metals Division

AT A GLANCE: SOCIAL IMPACT

As with all pillars of sustainability, social impact is also defined in various ways and according to a range of perspectives. To summarise, “social impact” means dealing responsibly with people both inside and outside the company. These include, for example, employees, neighbours in the vicinity of the branches or customers. Companies are required to do their part to positively influence the world and society and to coexist well with their stakeholders. How a company actually does this can vary substantially.

SOCIAL IMPACT: HAPPENS CONSTANTLY AND UNAVOIDABLY

Our fourth inSPire pillar, Social Impact, focuses on people. Alongside the Circular Economy, Climate Impact and Sustainable Sourcing, Social Sustainability completes our all-round, holistic view of sustainability. The division takes care of internal social impact across the board, i.e. it provides employees with as many positive experiences as possible during their daily work: from the moment a potential employee reads the job advert to the moment they leave the company. Between these two points, topics such as family friendliness, opportunities for growth, promoting diversity, equal opportunities and many others play a role. Working for a responsible employer is also increasingly important when it comes to motivating and retaining employees. Employees are increasingly attaching importance to having a meaningful job in a company that stands up for the people in its immediate vicinity. Visible Social Impact therefore also helps to secure the core business and the future viability of the HPM Division.

THE FIELDS OF ACTION

The diversity of the area of social impact is matched by that of the opportunities available to companies to achieve a lasting positive social impact. The division has defined four key fields of action in order to develop and bundle measures in a targeted way:

• Diversity and New Talent

It is important to us to build lasting partnerships with our existing and future employees because we want to inspire talent in the long term. Here, we focus in particular on actively promoting and living diversity. For example, we are pursuing ambitious goals in the area of female empowerment and want to significantly increase the proportion of female employees in production and technology over the next few years. Wherever underlying conditions allow, we also promote the inclusion of people with special needs. Whether youngsters, experienced employees, people from different professional and cultural backgrounds or people with special needs: for us, diversity through heterogeneous teams in the company is not only an opportunity for more diversity and a more colourful working environment, but also a decisive basis for greater productivity and performance.

• Education and Community Building

Sustainable means something that lasts and stays with you. This also includes comprehensive knowledge and continuous training. inSPire therefore invites all employees to hone their own knowledge of sustainability issues with “sustainability nuggets”, small “knowledge bites”, in-depth content and expert training. As part of our Ambassador programme, trained contact persons also offer knowledge directly to the companies and are available to answer any questions. The first pilot project is set to be launched in the 2024/25 financial year. With our educational initiatives on sustainability, we want to raise personal awareness and encourage and empower all colleagues to take action for our planet, both at home and at work.

• Family Friendliness

A good work-life balance is essential if we want to be an attractive employer these days. Numerous measures are already being implemented in the division so that personal goals such as family planning or personal training and professional development can be achieved at the same time. For example, additional flexible working time models for employees and workers as well as additional childcare options are being developed and implemented. Job-sharing approaches and various part-time models are also being considered. Due to the different local circumstances, this topic requires a great deal of sensitivity. There are no universally applicable solutions here. We therefore analyse the current situation in close cooperation with the local HR departments and implement measures locally with the support of the division.

• Health

Our social impact measures also include promoting the physical and mental health of our employees: from joint participation in sporting events and support for memberships in sports clubs and gyms to medical lectures, workshops and preventive medical check-ups. We provide our employees with reliable support throughout their career and also during personally and professionally challenging times. For us, this also includes providing employees with psychological support both preventively and in acute exceptional situations.

SOCIAL IMPACT IN PRACTICE

In addition to having a positive impact on our employees, our initiatives also focus on social commitment and acting responsibly towards people outside the company. This is because the companies in our division have an impact on a large number of people through their influence and economic success. Proactively managing this impact and thus demonstrating social responsibility is a core element of inSPire. External social impact measures are always culture and country-specific and strongly dependent upon local conditions. They are therefore defined together with local contacts such as HR managers or sustainability officers and implemented locally. The joint inSPire pillar social impact provides a network, shares best practices, offers impetus and defines initiatives together with our companies worldwide. The division comprehensively supports the HPM companies’ social commitment, which is ultimately implemented locally and individually tailored to local needs.

In one of our upcoming blog posts, we will use some examples from the international HPM companies to demonstrate how colourful and diverse social impact is in practice at our company.