As a company, we have a respon­si­bility to protect both the envi­ron­ment and the well-being of our employees. Jonas Limmer, Director Envi­ron­ment, Health and Safety, is dedi­cated to this duty. “When it comes to envi­ron­mental protec­tion and occu­pa­tional health and safety, the preven­tive approach is what counts,” he explains. “We focus on preven­tive measures to ensure that damage to the envi­ron­ment or people never occurs in the first place, rather than dealing with it after the fact.” This includes setting up safe work­sta­tions and intro­ducing suit­able protec­tive equip­ment.

However, Jonas Limmer knows the biggest factor in preventing inci­dents and control­ling how often they occur is human behavior: “Nowa­days, incor­rect or negli­gent behavior is the most common cause of acci­dents at work.” With this in mind, ebm-papst’s main focus is on raising aware­ness – regular training courses and discus­sion of case studies promote an under­standing of safety and envi­ron­mental protec­tion among employees.

Looking to the future, however, Jonas Limmer sees two further chal­lenges to which employers like ebm-papst must adapt. “The big issues will be an aging work­force and main­taining mental health.” ebm-papst is well prepared for this, having already opti­mized its work­sta­tions and set up a range of services relating to mental well-being to prevent future prob­lems.

Phys­ical and mental health

“Overall, ebm-papst offers many preven­ta­tive, but also supportive, measures to promote the well-being of our employees – both phys­i­cally and mentally,” stresses Markus Beringer, Vice Pres­i­dent HR Heating Tech­nology in Land­shut. Just like with envi­ron­mental protec­tion and occu­pa­tional health and safety, we attach great impor­tance to behav­ioral preven­tion measures in the tradi­tional areas of exer­cise, nutri­tion, stress, and addic­tion preven­tion, etc. These measures can be offered both in person and online – meaning they are acces­sible across all our loca­tions world­wide.

This year’s focus is on preven­tion programs to avoid muscu­loskeletal disor­ders – partic­u­larly back prob­lems – and to promote mental health. “These offers are aimed at employees with office tasks as well as colleagues from our Logis­tics and Produc­tion areas. We also offer face-to-face coun­seling sessions and online psycho­log­ical coun­seling for all employees for crisis inter­ven­tion purposes,” explains Ralf Stehle, Team Lead Health Manage­ment.

The program also includes regular medical check-ups such as blood pres­sure and blood sugar tests, bowel cancer screening, and the usual occu­pa­tional health exam­i­na­tions. The compre­hen­sive program is rounded off by support for those on long-term sick leave and assis­tance with their return to work. The health-oriented 0-10-21 running program has also proved popular as a means of preparing for the ebm-papst marathon (see info box).

Working together for a good cause

Carina Hirschlein, Project Manager Exhi­bi­tion & Events, is in charge of orga­nizing the ebm-papst marathon, and has noticed an inter­esting devel­op­ment in recent years: “The whole event is a high­light for the Hohen­lohe region – and not just in sporting terms. That’s because we work hard with local compa­nies and clubs to offer a wide range of activ­i­ties for all the family.” It’s no surprise that the event attracts thou­sands of visi­tors every year.

After all, ebm-papst employees also regu­larly travel from neigh­boring coun­tries to partic­i­pate in a number of the offered disci­plines. However, we are always partic­u­larly delighted to see the large numbers of chil­dren taking part in the charity run. For every lap run, ebm-papst donates a sum of money to char­i­table orga­ni­za­tions. The 2023 charity run raised the highest sum to date: 3,000 euros. We were able to present this money to the inclu­sive local school Andreas-Fröh­lich-Schule shortly after­wards (more in the article about the people house).