© ebm-papst; Philipp Reinhard

Welcome to the People House!

The concept of the ebm-papst “People House” is our shared mission state­ment for our profes­sional home. Based on the values of effi­ciency, enthu­siasm, and humanity, it supports our vision of actively helping to shape a sustain­able future and a better climate in all areas.


“The People House is the vision from which we derive our special, future-oriented ebm-papst employee strategy,” explains Dr. Sonja Fleis­cher, Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) at ebm-papst. It’s not just a house; it’s a mission state­ment that reflects our values and the needs of our employees. We devel­oped the concept by conducting count­less inter­views in all our regions around the world and across every func­tion and hier­ar­chical level within our Group. The results of a global employee survey conducted in 2022, which had an extremely high partic­i­pa­tion rate, were used to further refine and finalize the design.

“The surveys revealed a lot of things. For example, they showed that ‘enthu­siasm’ is a very impor­tant value for our employees, and that they also feel it is part of the working expe­ri­ence and lifestyle at all our sites around the world,” Dr. Fleis­cher recalls. “That’s why we have chosen to re-empha­size this point in our values.” Together with the values of effi­ciency and humanity, it forms the stable foun­da­tion on which our house is built.

This is the foun­da­tion of our excel­lence, which consists of three building blocks: data analysis and analytics, poli­cies and processes, and integrity and compli­ance. This provides a high stan­dard for our work, which is always effi­cient, first-class and – of course – compliant with the law. But we never forget our humanity, either: We attach great impor­tance to making special moments in the lives of our employees personal and indi­vidual.

The ebm-papst People House, the mission state­ment that reflects our values and the needs of our employees. (Graphic | lovelyday12; Vector Tradi­tion – stock.adobe.com; © ebm-papst; Tobias Grewe)

We cele­brate impor­tant mile­stones in their working lives together with them, from their first day at work, to grad­u­a­tion, appren­tice­ship and service anniver­saries, right through to retire­ment. In order to main­tain this good working rela­tion­ship in the future, we take great care when selecting poten­tial employees to ensure that they fit in well with our corpo­rate culture.

Disman­tling hurdles, creating oppor­tu­ni­ties

The way we interact with one another is as inviting and open as the archi­tec­ture of the People House. “By actively promoting diver­sity and inclu­sion, we create a pleasant and trusting working envi­ron­ment in which everyone can be who they are,” affirms Dr. Fleis­cher. “We strive to create an envi­ron­ment in which everyone is accepted, respected and valued, and can make the best use of their indi­vidual strengths to contribute to our success – regard­less of their gender, (social) back­ground, reli­gion, age, sexual orien­ta­tion, or phys­ical and mental abil­i­ties.”

Bild | ebm-papst; Markus Püttmann

“We want everyone here to feel accepted, respected and valued.”

Dr. Sonja Fleis­cher, Chief Human Resources Officer at ebm-papst

We have launched a number of initia­tives and programs to promote this sense of diver­sity. Some deal with work-life balance, an impor­tant priority for the modern employee. This is why we offer child­care support by coop­er­ating with local kinder­gartens, for example. These valu­able part­ner­ships offer parents the secu­rity of safe child­care when (re)starting work at ebm-papst. It is also impor­tant to us that our employees can take a flex­ible approach to orga­nizing their working hours. This includes part-time and flex­time models, as well as mobile work options. “What is easy to imple­ment in terms of admin­is­tra­tion, for example, poses chal­lenges when it comes to produc­tion,” Dr. Fleis­cher says. “That is why we are devel­oping a flex­ible working time and shift model for produc­tion, which – if neces­sary and desired – can be adapted to suit personal wishes and needs.”

We are aware that the propor­tion of women at our company can be increased in several areas. This applies to specific depart­ments such as Logis­tics, but also to manage­ment posi­tions in general. With this in mind, we have launched several initia­tives to promote women in our work­place. This involves providing targeted support to help shape indi­vidual career paths in the form of work­shops, national and inter­na­tional networks, and mentoring and coaching services.

Sarah Akhtar, our HR Expert for Diver­sity & Inclu­sion, can report on several pilot initia­tives that are helping to improve diver­sity in all areas of our company. “With one campaign at our Land­shut site, for example, we are hoping to get more women inter­ested in working in logis­tics,” she explains. “By showing them the different options avail­able, we take away the fear of switching to this area.”

Approaches that accom­mo­date people with disabil­i­ties in our company’s daily work routines are also being pursued world­wide. In Produc­tion at our Land­shut site, for example, there are special inclu­sive work­sta­tions. But ebm-papst’s strong commit­ment to inclu­sion and accep­tance doesn’t stop at the German border, as Sarah Worden, Senior Director Human Resources Amer­icas, reports: “At our Amer­ican branches, our employees regu­larly advo­cate for greater aware­ness of illnesses and disabil­i­ties.”

Campaign days such as World Down Syndrome Day provide an oppor­tu­nity for such work. On this day, employees are encour­aged to wear two different, colorful socks. This is our way of cele­brating the unique­ness of every single person, regard­less of the differ­ences between us. It goes without saying that this philos­ophy is also prac­ticed outside the company, as illus­trated by the open doors of the People House.

Key employee figures in the regions Amer­icas, Europe and APAC. (Graphic | D1min – stock.adobe.com)

By actively and finan­cially supporting a wide range of projects in our sites’ local areas, including children’s hospi­tals and inclu­sive schools, we are helping to ensure that everyone has access to modern medical care and the ability to partic­i­pate in life as part of the commu­nity. In 2023, for example, we helped to fund the purchase of a wheel­chair-acces­sible seesaw for the play­ground at Andreas-Fröh­lich-Schule in Krautheim.

Help in times of need

We are changing the world. Together.

We are committed to creating a good atmos­phere – both with others and among our fellow colleagues. Here at ebm-papst, we call this: Better working. Better teams. Better future.

At ebm-papst, the idea of giving help to those in acute need is taken as read. One recent example of this social commit­ment is the emer­gency aid we provided in Slovenia following the floods in the summer of 2023. Sara Čučnik, Head of HR Depart­ment at ebm-papst Slovenija d.o.o., remem­bers exactly what happened: “ebm-papst didn’t just provide finan­cial help. We also started a collec­tion for urgent relief supplies the day the floods hit. Since our local site in Cerknica was spared from the disaster, the almost 600 staff there were able to devote all their energy to supporting those affected.

Employees who actively helped out were granted two days of special leave to do so. These exam­ples show that humanity is prob­ably the strongest value in our corpo­rate culture,” says Dr. Sonja Fleis­cher. After all, inter­na­tional and cross-depart­mental collab­o­ra­tion can only be successful if there is also a culture of trusting and trans­parent coop­er­a­tion. “Our employees know very well that they are in control of the atmos­phere in their imme­diate working envi­ron­ment. And I look forward to working with them all to bring the vision of the People House to life.” After all, the goal – trusting and trans­parent coop­er­a­tion – is some­thing we can all benefit from.

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