Schmalz Benefits
Personnel growth
Schmalz undertakes to make stable profits and thus to ensure longterm employment. For many decades now, high annual growth rates have guaranteed secure jobs.The number of employees has risen continually since 1984 – from 10 to more than 600.
Code of conduct for daily interaction
Schmalz offers its employees an extraordinary corporate culture which is based on trusting cooperation between all staff members. All employees can contribute to the design of their own working environment to match their personalities. Our code of conduct forms the basis of this cooperation. It includes important statements on interaction with other persons inside and outside the company and provides the employees and the management with the necessary orientation for their daily activities.
Participate and profit
The employees profit from a bonus programme which provides a wide range of social services and concessions. The programme is rounded off by individual facilities for further training, sports activities and shared leisure activities. Our brochure "Participate and Profit – the Bonus Programme for Schmalz Employees" provides an overview of the programme.
Personnel development
Qualified employees are the signboard of a company. The four-stage Schmalz personnel development programme supports everyone – from apprentices to managers – with individual training courses.
Further education at a high level
With the Schmalz Academy, the internal training centre, the company offers all employees more than 150 courses with internal or external teachers. Events on various subjects, such as technical and commercial seminars, language courses, personal development, health, etc. offer the employees a wide range of possibilities for further education.
Above-average trainee quota
Schmalz makes every effort to cover part of its requirements for new employees by training apprentices. Our trainee quota is far higher than the average in our region, it also demonstrates how the company meets its social responsibilities. Apprentices are trained in different trades and the company also offers training for students at universities of cooperative education. Students also have the opportunity to spend several months in practical training at foreign Schmalz companies.
Responsibility for the young generation
Schmalz participates in the programme "Initial qualification of young people" run by the local temporary employment office and thus helps young people to bridge gaps of up to one year between jobs. In addition, Schmalz enters sponsorship agreements with local schools to offer students there a chance to gain practical experience of working life for a period of one year. Schmalz also allows interested young people to spend a voluntary ecological year with the company.
Flexible working hours
A working-time model permits the company to react flexibly to varying work loads without having to fire employees. When the company is busy, the necessary overtime is credited to the so-called "time accounts" for each employee. When there is less to do, these accounts are debited. This model is used extensively by the employees to regulate their "work-life balance", since it gives them the freedom to select their working hours to meet their personal requirements.
Promotion of women
In a technically oriented company such as Schmalz, there are, regrettably, still too few women in executive positions. For this reason, Schmalz deliberately makes classical apprenticeship trades available to girls and women, so hat they can enter these mainly male trades. Schmalz is already training female industrial mechanics and also mechanical and industrial engineers. For some years now, Schmalz has actively supported the national "Girls' Day" in Germany, which has the same objective.
Inclusion of employees in company decisions
At Schmalz, the employees are actively included in decision processes through a works council (Mitarbeiterbeirat, MBR) and are thus always fully informed in such matters. The MBR comprises the company management and representatives of the employees. It meets regularly and is included in all economic, strategic, personnel and social decisions. In employee surveys carried out in Glatten since 2003, the employees assess the social performance of the company. On the basis of the results, the MBR and the company management create a catalogue of actions and implement this step by step. Employees are kept informed by the company's monthly newsletter "family", team noticeboards and team meetings, the Schmalz intranet and a display at the factory gates which is updated every minute.
Occupational safety and health protection
The subject of occupational safety has high priority in the curriculum of the Schmalz Academy. Seminars on subjects such as "What to do in the case of a fire", "The Schmalz fire-alarm system" or "Handling of hazardous materials" are mandatory for all affected employees and are also open to all other employees. A company medical officer pays attention to ergonomical workplaces and gives medical lectures. He also carries out a free annual vaccination against influenza. Health and no-smoking bonuses promote healthy behaviour. In order to reduce the threat to the health of workers there, solvent-based paints have been replaced by powder paints in the paint shop.
Continuous improvement process
Employees are also "shareholders" of the company. In accordance with this philosophy, Schmalz profits from the knowledge and good ideas of its employees. The company suggestion scheme, established in 1995, is very popular. With the employees' ideas, we have been able to implement considerable process improvements. In recognition of their value, all successful suggestions are rewarded on the basis of a bonus system.
Profit participation with accumulation of assets
In order to ensure that employees profit from the results of their work, Schmalz has a profit-participation scheme with accumulation of assets. Each year, 15 per cent of the company profits are credited to the asset accounts of the employees, and they can use this money as they see fit. The money is initially invested in the company, with good interest rates, for five years. The model thus promotes the accumulation of assets by the employees and also allows them to participate fairly in the success of the company.
