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A Prize for Exemplary Businesses
For ten years the EKD has been awarding the "Arbeit Plus" workplace seal of approval
April 20, 2009
The current financial and economic crisis spells hard times for many businesses, raising questions about the viability of some of them. This is where the workplace seal of approval Arbeit Plus (Work Plus) has a role to play. For exactly ten years the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) has been awarding the workplace seal of approval to commend sustainable business practices. "Arbeit Plus strives to distinguish businesses that pursue humane personnel policies and set an example for future management practices," said Bishop Wolfgang Huber, chairperson of the Council of the EKD and a member of the jury.
"Management and employees experience this public recognition as acknowledgment and confirmation of a healthy employee-employer partnership," said Cornelia Coenen-Marx, executive director of Arbeit Plus. Since this EKD initiative was launched in April 1999, 65 certifications have been awarded. Debeka-Versicherungen, Fraport AG, Flughafen München GmbH and Trimet Aluminium AG are among the 15 companies which have received the award several times. They all have made above-average efforts in comparison with their respective sectors as a whole to create and maintain jobs, to provide personal development opportunities to employees, to adjust to changes in their environment and to shape the labor economy, at both company and intercompany level.
Most recently, in 2008, the jury chose to honor Wittenstein AG from Igersheim (Main-Tauber district) for its "exemplary contribution to personnel and employment policy." In this period of conjunctural crisis, the manufacturer of drive systems counts on its 1,100 collaborators. On May 4 the Kreissparkasse of Ludwigsburg will be presented with the workplace seal, for the third time in a row, by Bishop Frank O. July of the Württemberg regional church. Stable employment development and a strong commitment to continuing education and training were decisive factors in awarding the prize. On May 19 the award will again be granted, this time to the Sozial-Holding of the city of Mönchengladbach which is receiving the Protestant workplace seal of approval for the fourth time. This limited liability company specialized in health care for the elderly integrates in an exemplary fashion persons with severe disabilities, long-term unemployed people and older employees. The management and conflict-resolution culture of the establishment was also deemed a positive factor.
Businesses of all branches and of any size may submit applications to the EKD. These applications are then examined by the independent Institute for Economic and Social Ethics of the University of Marburg. The evaluation takes several specific criteria into consideration: existential opportunities, co-participation opportunities, personal development opportunities and social culture. The decision to award the prize is not based on either the application form completed by the company or the electronic analysis of the data, but rather on an on the spot visit, a thorough analysis and, finally, the expert opinion of a panel of prominent specialists. Besides the EKD, employer, trade union and labor science representatives share in making the decision. At present the panel is composed of: Bishop Wolfgang Huber (EKD), Peter Clever (Confederation of German Employers' Associations), Regina Görner (IG Metall), Hubertus Schmoldt (the Mining, Chemical and Energy Industrial Union - IG BCE) and Wilfried Hamel (economics professor, University of Düsseldorf). The idea for this initiative originated with Rainer Meusel, a businessman and president of the 27th German Protestant Kirchentag in Leipzig.
Hanover, April 20, 2009
Press Office of the EKD
Silke Römhild