- Sustainability
- Social issues
Social interaction
“We as ifm have an excellent image as an employer in our industry which can be perceived and experienced by everybody, and we live sustainability, both with regard to the environment and to social aspects”
- this principle shapes ifm's corporate culture and personnel work worldwide.
As an integral part of the overall corporate strategy, the ifm-wide HR strategy combines internal and external (mega) trends. Due to increased public interest and awareness of social principles, we have therefore decided to appoint a social sustainability manager to complement our global sustainability manager. Because ifm attaches great importance to a safe working environment and health promotion of all employees - also on the part of the business partners.
Occupational health and safety
In this sense, ifm ensures that all legal requirements for occupational health and safety are complied with and practised, with the expert support of company physicians and safety specialists. Examples include regular risk assessments, inspections and instructions. At the same time, ifm's occupational health and safety management takes into account the concept of work-life balance, which includes various sports offers, prevention courses and an annual health day. This is supplemented by opportunities for a company pension scheme and information events on the subject of occupational disability.
Compatibility of work and family
As a family-run company, we place particular emphasis on the compatibility of family and work. Thus, we encourage our employees not only to benefit from approaches of the New Work movement and digitalised communication channels, but also to take advantage of offers such as site-specific holiday care for kids. For this personnel policy, ifm in Tettnang, for example, was awarded the title "Family-conscious company" already for the second time in 2020.
In addition, ifm offers secure jobs - even in times of crisis: In line with the corporate philosophy, ifm has never had to make operational redundancies. This proves ifm to be a crisis-proof and secure employer, both in retrospect and with a view to the future. In particular, the established crisis and risk management as well as the solidarity group founded in 2009 contribute to this result. In addition, as a group of companies we support selected social projects in the areas of education, science and innovation.
Social standards and corporate values
With its philosophy ifm answers all legal and economic as well as social and ethical questions. This clearly defines that applicable laws and standards form the basis of our actions. In addition, we are committed to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and to globally recognised social standards that represent the minimum requirement for us.
In order to take responsibility beyond our employees, we have also formulated a code of conduct for our business partners that is in line with our values. This is to ensure that ifm-specific minimum requirements are already taken into account and guaranteed during the selection of suppliers as well as in the ongoing evaluation and promotion.
With the Internal Audit & Compliance main department and a Compliance officer, we are creating a central compliance organisation within the entire group of companies.
In addition, parts of our group of companies are audited according to SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit) - one of the most widely used concepts for ethical audits worldwide.Moreover, further internal control systems as well as our professionally operated controlling ensure the long-term success of the company. What is more, by setting up a whistleblower system, employees as well as customers and suppliers can report potential violations of our corporate values as well as possible criminal suspicions and thus contribute to supporting and ensuring our standards.
Training and further education
With more than 30 different apprenticeships and (dual) study courses, we at ifm want to specifically promote the education of young people and offer them an attractive partner and employer. Accordingly, we strive to take them on as employees after they have successfully completed their training or studies. We also see promising successes and potential in our cooperation with schools and universities and offer an annual Girls' Day in addition to internships and the employment of working students. This is intended to improve the proportion of women and strengthen diversity. In addition, we maintain dialogue with politicians and other companies in our meetings with trade and industry associations.
We offer external stakeholders the opportunity to learn about the latest technologies and technology trends as well as ifm-specific solutions, in particular through our ifm Academy. Our in-depth know-how in technology, handling and effective use of hardware and software is clearly conveyed in seminars, trainings and further education. In this way, clients and business partners in particular can benefit from our in-house experts.
Furthermore, ifm would like to offer all employees challenging tasks. To ensure that they can also continuously develop and professionalise their skills, they can participate in external seminars as well as in-house trainings on an ongoing basis. From product presentations to dialogue with our owners and managers, the group of companies also offers its employees the chance to find out about developments in the company. In doing so, ifm strives for an open and transparent exchange between all parties involved as well as on an international level.
The active promotion of our employees essentially takes place within the operational tasks, for example through digitalised modern and internationalised accounting. In addition to this, the ifm learning factory as an internal institution determines a binding and sustainable knowledge and quality assurance at the German ifm locations, on the basis of which the internal further training landscape will also be expanded in the future.
