Wide-ranging
incentive systems
Alongside regular pay, target agreements, and management awareness, we offer a variety of incentives to actively promote sustainable behavior and improvements, and to contribute relevant ideas. This is encouraged through means such as DEKRA’s Ideas Management and Innovation Management systems, as well as local initiatives. We generally foster sustainability and integrity among our employees through raising awareness, information, and training, such as the global sustainability training conducted in 2021, which was attended by almost 25,000 employees. Incentives are also provided by the exemplary conduct of managers, and the general direction of our corporate culture.
In 2021, we placed greater emphasis on our explicit sustainability targets in our management target agreement system. For example, we integrated additional quantitative targets relating to our carbon footprint and energy consumption at our sites, and regarding the production of renewable energy. This means that our sustainability targets are now also linked to the compensation of all managers at levels L 1 to 3. Specifically, performance bonuses are awarded if the quantitative targets relating to DEKRA’s own production of renewable energy, energy efficiency and modernization projects, and employee participation in sustainability training are attained. These targets have been set for gradual attainment through to 2025, and are designed to support and ensure the attainment of our sustainability targets.
Parallel to the World Climate Conference COP 26 in 2021, we ran the “DEKRA Sustainability Weeks”. In an interactive in-house campaign, promoted by all board members, we rewarded examples of good practice from our employees in the area of sustainability, thus underlining the relevance of each individual to implementing our sustainability strategy – not just to the management team, but also to all employees.
DEKRA Sustainability Weeks 2021
As part of DEKRA's "Sustainability Weeks", launched in November 2021, employees were able to contribute a wide variety of ideas that they themselves have already implemented in the areas of mobility, energy and resource consumption, and social sustainability for more sustainability in the working environment. The many submissions from our employees included, for example, planting fruits and vegetables in their own gardens, neighborhood cleanups, using environmentally friendly alternatives, recycling, and energy conservation measures.
A total of 41 ideas were submitted in the areas of mobility, energy and resource consumption, and social sustainability. Three winners were selected from each category and they each received a voucher to spend on sustainable services and in sustainable stores.
In the mobility category, one of the winners was the “Let’s walk” idea (China). Not only does this have health benefits, but by deciding to walk to work or to the park or to do the shopping, in China you can collect steps using the app "Wechat step records" and then donate them to a good cause.
The “Task Force” contribution came top in the social sustainability category with 243 votes. In response to the catastrophic floods in Europe in 2021, our Claims & Expertise Service Division put together a “Flood Task Force” in a very short space of time. 150 DEKRA colleagues from Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Austria used their expertise to support numerous flood victims and respond to any questions they had. Another contribution was the planting of an apple tree in the grounds of the DEKRA headquarters in Stuttgart by the team of the DEKRA SE HP2 department. A wonderful side effect of this was the tree’s first blossoms in spring 2022 attracting the bees kept on site at DEKRA’s headquarters. It’s also good to know that the apple tree is fertilized with coffee grounds from the department's own coffee machine.
Sustainability and inclusion go hand in hand
At the beginning of 2022, DEKRA started a Germany-wide collaboration with refurbisher AfB gGmbH, which recycles used IT and mobile devices in an environmentally friendly way. The non-profit IT company accepts end-of-life IT hardware in compliance with data protection regulations and, wherever possible, processes it to be resold. All other devices are professionally recycled. Reusing devices saves huge amounts of raw materials compared to new production. Discarded DEKRA hardware is now a part of this. At the same time, DEKRA employees have the opportunity to buy used IT and mobile devices at reduced prices. And that’s not all. AfB also places great importance on inclusion. The company has already created a large number of jobs for people with disabilities – almost 300 of the total of 600 employees are severely disabled – and has among other things been awarded the North Rhine-Westphalia Inclusion Prize for this.
