Social
Motivated employees
Our employees ensure the future viability of Alzchem as a sustainable chemical company. Through their professional qualifications and active personal commitment, they are largely responsible for the long-term success of our company. It is of decisive importance to continue to attract and develop qualified talents in the future and to bind them to the company for the long term. This is the only way we can counteract demographic change and the growing shortage of skilled workers.
For this, we offer attractive and secure jobs as well as extensive development and qualification opportunities that they can participate in shaping. In addition to a fair, performance-based remuneration system and attractive social benefits, we also offer a good work-life balance by flexible working hours and mobile working from home office.
A working environment built on trust, fairness, respect and appreciation in our dealings with each other are our top priorities and are part of our corporate philosophy - regardless of gender, age, origin or sexual orientation. They are the foundation and the standard for cooperation within the company and also in dealing with our customers and suppliers. Social interaction and collegial behaviour are part of our corporate philosophy. By signing a charter on equality, Alzchem ensures, among other things, a living wage, working hours oriented to life phases, equal career development opportunities and equal pay for women and men.
Education has always been a high priority at the Alzchem Group: for many years, the training rate has been at least nine percent, far above the average of 5.5 percent in the chemical industry in Bavaria. In order to be able to meet the demand for junior staff in the future as well, Alzchem offers apprenticeships in eight different professions and trains more than its own requirements at the Trostberg Chemical Park. In total, we employed around 150 trainees in 2022. As part of practical training in the relevant specialist departments, we offer our trainees, for example, a state-of-the-art training laboratory and ideal training workshops as well as varied, comprehensive and interesting commercial training.
The very low fluctuation rate of 3.5% (2020: 3.5%) and the above-average length of service of 17.8 years (2020: 18.3 years) are proof for us of the satisfaction of our employees and are top values in a Germany-wide comparison (fluctuation average 16%, length of service average 11.5 years).
Social sustainability
As a company with regional roots, the Alzchem Group has set itself the goal of actively shaping social and community life at its sites through public commitment. Social commitment is an important part of sustainability at Alzchem: chemistry that connects - for a sustainable future.
For example, we promote children's and youth projects, support school projects and are a member of the non-profit association for the promotion of education and entrepreneurship in Germany, the so-called Wissensfabrik (Knowledge Factory - Companies for Germany; homepage (21 January 2021). The Knowledge Factory and we have a common goal: to make future generations and Germany as a business location fit for the future. We see ourselves as a cooperative partner with the responsibility to pass on entrepreneurial impulses to schools and universities as well as to support and accompany politics in its educational mission.
As a member of the “Trostberger Förderkreis der Wirtschaft”, we support education, art, local history, music and other cultural offerings and promote sports as well as social institutions in Trostberg. The funds provided for donations and sponsoring campaigns have already been used to specifically support numerous projects and measures with a focus on social issues, sports, culture and education.
In cooperation with the city of Trostberg under the sponsorship of the Traunstein Workers' Welfare District Association, we are currently in the implementation phase of a building project to be able to offer up to 37 children of Alzchem employees in four groups (two regular groups and two crèche groups) a kindergarten or crèche place from autumn 2023.
Alzchem promotes education
Taking time for young people is a tradition and priority at Alzchem. As a chemical company with passion, we are happy to pass on our enthusiasm. We see our commitment to young people as an investment in both the future of the company and the future of the region. We feel very connected to the region and our home country and, in the spirit of good neighbourliness, we want to offer children and young people career prospects. It is a lasting concern of ours to introduce them to the fascination of the natural sciences and chemistry in particular at an early age and in this way also to show them the diverse career prospects of the Alzchem Group.
With the Alzchem education initiative, we not only provide financial support for schools in the catchment area of our sites, but we also initiate cooperation in the area of scientific learning content.
With projects such as "NaWi - Naturwissenschaft, wie geht das?" (NaWi - Science, how does it work?), even the very youngest children embark on a journey of discovery into the world of science full of curiosity. Together with BASF Construction Additives GmbH as a sponsoring partner, we have concluded cooperation agreements on an educational partnership with kindergartens and primary schools in the region. With experiment kits, teacher's scripts with instructions and technical background information, our NaWi team members pass on their knowledge to the teachers of the participating schools. They explore chemical and physical phenomena in everyday life using exciting, child-friendly laboratory experiments. In addition to everyday materials, the laboratory equipment used includes mortars, filters and pipettes. With a lot of curiosity and imagination, many interesting experiments are carried out, which have become an integral part of science lessons at primary schools. The event is recognised as teacher training. After about six months, the NaWi team members and the teachers meet to exchange results and experiences from the project and to evaluate learning outcomes and teaching methodology.
Occupational safety and health protection
The safety and integrity of our employees as well as accident prevention and the prevention of incidents in everyday work and in the operation of our production facilities are fundamental components of responsible corporate action for us. With our high safety standards, we aim to prevent accidents as well as damage to health and the environment. This applies to our own employees as well as to employees of external companies during working hours or on the way to work.
We are constantly working to improve our performance in this area on the basis of the legal foundations and agreements.
As a company in the Trostberg Chemical Park, it is not only economic success that counts for us, but we also want to be perceived as a good partner, employer, trainer and neighbour. Based on this self-image, we take responsibility for the safety and protection of our environment. For over 100 years, we have been operating plants at the Trostberg and Hart sites that are subject to the Major Accidents Ordinance. This ordinance regulates the protection of people, animals and the environment from the consequences of possible incidents at technical plants where hazardous substances could escape. A wide range of our own safety initiatives, a highly trained plant fire brigade and the extensive safety precautions optimised in cooperation with the authorities in our plants and facilities help to minimise dangers for our employees and the people in our neighbourhood.
Our safety audits are also an important instrument of our safety management system to prevent unsafe acts. They aim to motivate all employees to act safely on a regular basis and to identify, report and remedy misconduct and safety deficiencies.
With a current brochure, we as a company of the "ChemDelta Bavaria" (joint initiative of the companies in the Bavarian chemical triangle) provide information about safety measures and the correct behaviour in case of incidents. The information contained in the brochure can be accessed at any time on the Alzchem Group homepage.
Our carbide plant in Sweden falls within the scope of the European SEVESO III Directive and is therefore subject to the corresponding Swedish laws, which are comparable to the German Hazardous Incident Ordinance.
When it comes to health protection and health promotion, our goal is to maintain or improve the performance and well-being of our employees.
In addition to our employees themselves, we consider the situation at the workplace as well as the company environment. Our occupational health management includes, in addition to needs-oriented occupational health care, the ergonomic design of the workplace as well as occupational emergency care. In this way, we aim to avoid high absenteeism rates due to illness.
The development and maintenance of physical, intellectual and mental performance is an important requirement for a successful working life for our employees. Alzchem therefore offers all employees voluntary health promotion measures. With the health initiative "gesund punkten..." (score healthy...), for example, focusing on healthy nutrition, exercise and preventive health care, we motivate our employees to adopt healthy behaviour both at work and at home and support a healthy lifestyle.
Sustainable procurement
It is our effort to increase transparency, taking into account sustainability aspects along of our entire supply chains. Intensive exchange and close cooperation with our suppliers are the requirements for sustainable business development and help to avoid both human rights violations and environmental violations in the supply chain.
The link between business and respect for human rights is an essential part of our corporate responsibility and is in line with the expectations of our stakeholders. The entry into force of the German Act on the Due Diligence of Companies in Supply Chains ("Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz") further underlines these efforts.
Our purchasing department ensures that company-wide standards are adhered to in the procurement of our raw materials. As a member of the BME Compliance Initiative (Bundesverband Materialwirtschaft, Einkauf und Logistik e.V. - German Association for Materials Management, Purchasing and Logistics), we are obliged to require all suppliers to comply with the code of conduct laid down by this initiative and to ensure this through regular evaluation.
We audit suppliers at regular intervals based on clearly defined criteria. For these supplier audits, we have established a process that provides for various escalation levels. In the event of deviations, we ask the suppliers to implement corrective measures within a defined period of time. If suppliers have particularly serious deficiencies and no improvement can be identified, we reserve the right to terminate the cooperation.
The Alzchem Group was audited by "Together for Sustainability" (TfS), an initiative of the chemical industry with regard to the sustainability of global supply chains and evaluated with regard to the improvement of ecological and social standards. The focus is on environmental protection, labour and human rights, occupational safety, business ethics and responsible procurement.
