2008 I 2009 Sustainability Report - Econsense

Moreover, knowledge management tools
and methods like the "wheel of competencies"
or the "intellectual capital statement"
help us to analyse the existing specialist,
methodological and social skills of our
employees throughout the Group and to
identify developmental needs.
2008 Annual report, p. 74
Process and idea management
"Better together" is the motto of the corporate
"!mpuls" programme launched in 2008.
The goal is to actively involve all employees
and management personnel in the ongoing
efficiency improvement process at EnBW,
to achieving lasting cost reduction and to
underpin the growth strategy of the Group
"from within".
Alongside the "!mpuls" scheme, the idea
management programme also promotes
the development and implementation of
good ideas. In the year under review, EnBW
employees submitted a total of 3,327 suggestions
to improve and optimise work
processes; 2,394 of these ideas concerned
the working sphere of the person submitting
the idea, while the remainder related to
supraordinate routines and processes within
the Group overall.
42
Reconciling the demands
of career and private life
We attach particular importance to promoting
part-time working concepts and flexible
working time models, providing more childcare
places for the children of our employees
and raising awareness among management
personnel for the "work-life balance"
issue. By the summer of 2010, we will have
increased the number of places in childcare
nurseries and daycare centres from the figure
of 14 in the year under review (2008) to
80 in all. Following the success of the "child
office" launched as a pilot project in Karlsruhe
in 2008, a similar room with all the
necessary equipment and facilities was set
up for EnBW employees and their children
in Stuttgart in the summer of 2009.
Our "pme Familienservice" partner company
also helps employees to find suitable
childcare – whether it be a nanny, an au-pair
or a babysitter for their home, childminders,
babycare, crêche or after-school care
places, playgroups or childcare during the
holidays. All employees of the core companies
can take advantage of these services.
EnBW pays the advisory costs, while the employees
themselves pay for the actual cost
of these care services. The company also has
back-up places in reserve at child nurseries
in the event that carers for the children of
employees cancel at short notice. This service
is free of charge for employees.
The "pme Familienservice" also advises employees
whose relatives are in need of care.
The topics covered include such things as legal
rights in the area of care and supervision
– such as defined care levels, the services
provided by the long-term care insurance
system and related issues like power of attorney,
living wills or preventive patient
care. EnBW also bears the cost of counselling
in these areas. These services are designed
to supplement the new German Nursing
Leave Act, which gives caregivers the right
to request limited or short-notice leave as
well as a changeover to part-time employment.
EnBW supports these efforts by
paying four days out of a maximum of ten
working days leave for this purpose.
Back in 2007, the Hertie Foundation awarded
us "berufundfamilie" (career and family)
certification in recognition of our efforts on
this front. The re-auditing process which we
hope will lead to the granting of permanent
certification is scheduled to begin at the end
of 2009.
Diversity – a strategic goal
For EnBW, diversity is about respecting the
different living environments and life phases
of our employees and about understanding
and promoting these differences as
things that enrich our company. This policy
is also of strategic relevance and is firmly
rooted in the cross-company personnel
goals within the EnBW Group. We attach
particular emphasis to furthering the career
prospects of women, who are underrepresented
in specialist positions and within the
management in general. Accordingly, our
aim is to significantly increase the percentage
of female employees at specialist and
management level – through such measures
as the creation of an in-house women's
network, which stages regular meetings and
special-topic events and serves as a forum
for the exchange of ideas and experience
among female employees in the higher echelons
of the company.