07.05.2021, Friedrichshafen
Internal ideas competition automatically triggers donations to charitable organizations
Friedrichshafen, May 7, 2021. Every year, the Zeppelin Group awards prizes for the best suggestions for improvement made by its employees – and combines these with its social commitment. In addition to those lucky individuals whose ideas were awarded prizes this year, we also made donations of 6,000 euros each to four different charitable organizations. The award ceremony took place on May 4, 2021 as part of a virtual live streaming from the Friedrichshafen trade fair.
The Zeppelin Group encourages its employees to develop their own ideas and contribute them to the company. In 2016, the company created an internal platform for idea management called Z IDEA, which enables the improvement of processes and the development of new ideas in a structured format. Rewards are given for each positively evaluated idea, and the Z IDEA Award is also presented annually to the best ideas worldwide. Around 500 ideas were received in 2020, 13 of which were honored during the event. 16 lucky winners from Germany, the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Uzbekistan (some of the ideas were submitted by teams) celebrated their honors in various categories virtually in front of a computer screen.
As a foundation-owned company, it is second nature for Zeppelin to assume its social responsibility whenever the opportunity arises. For this reason, the Group has linked the internal ideas competition with a donation target from the very beginning.
Alexandra Mebus, the Zeppelin Group's Labor Director, said about the awards ceremony, "People at Zeppelin work tirelessly with great inventiveness to improve our processes and products, which in turn benefits our customers. At the same time, they are fully committed to charitable and non-profit causes. I am therefore particularly pleased that these good ideas also generate a high donation sum. This time, to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Z IDEA Awards, we are able to support four nonprofit and charitable organizations."
Two organizations from Munich and two from Friedrichshafen were selected jointly by the Group Management Board and the Group Works Council. Important criteria included special COVID-19-support services for those in need. Representatives of Tafel Friedrichshafen e.V., Kinderstiftung Bodensee as well as Kältebus München and DIE ARCHE e.V. received the donations from the Group representatives in the form of a symbolic check for 6,000 euros each as part of the initial virtual celebrations.
Ralph Misselwitz, Chairman of the Zeppelin Group Works Council, explains how the total donation amount of 24,000 euros came about. "The ideas submitted are evaluated by our own Z IDEA experts. If they vote particularly quickly, i.e. within 30 days, a donation of 50 euros to a virtual donation pot is automatically triggered. Since we had to cancel the Z IDEA Award in 2020 due to the coronavirus, this year we can distribute the collected donations for the ideas evaluated in both 2019 and 2020."
