Health of our employees as the foundation of our success
Our global "We Are 1" culture is the driving force behind our "Sustainable Future" strategy – for us, health, sustainability, and economic success belong together. Because values are not just formulated but lived, health promotion is not a program for us, but a natural part of everyday working life.
Our Holistic Approach
Health begins with working conditions and extends to individual development. Our integrated HSEQ (Health, Safety, Environment and Energy, and Quality) management system follows a comprehensive approach in accordance with applicable local and international standards and based on the PDCA cycle (Plan-Do-Check-Act). Regular reviews and feedback loops ensure continuous improvement. Two essential elements of workplace health management work hand in hand in our HSEQ management system:
Environmental prevention: We create health-promoting work environments – from ergonomic workplaces to flexible working models that enable work-life balance.
Behavioral prevention: We strengthen each individual's health literacy through targeted training and individual counseling.
Mental well-being is just as important to us as physical safety. Our approach takes psychosocial risks into account and offers proactive support.
Culture as a Strategic Sustainability Lever
Our corporate culture is like a network of interconnected elements: each cultural initiative reinforces the others and creates a multiplier effect for sustainability. This is reflected in our WMUC framework (“What Makes Us Covestro”), which defines four central behavioral dimensions:
- Acting Responsibly: We think and act like owners – this explicitly includes responsibility for the planet and people
- Wanting Better: Innovation and transformation for a fossil-free and circular economy
- Winning Together: We connect and collaborate
- Leading Forward: We help each other grow in the area of sustainability
Diversity as a Driver of Sustainable Innovation
Against the backdrop of implementing our "Sustainable Future" strategy, our Inclusion & Belonging strategy, which takes local conditions into account, is far more than an HR program. Just as in a diverse ecosystem, where different species contribute to more stable and resilient systems, diverse perspectives in our teams foster more creative and holistic sustainability solutions throughout the entire organization.
Concrete examples of collaboration:
- Employee Resource Groups develop locally adapted initiatives
- Diverse teams identify market needs for inclusive, sustainable business models
Healthy Leadership for Sustainable Transformation
The integration of our “Healthy Leadership” approach into many offerings of our workplace health management and HR tools exemplifies how individual health and sustainability within the organization mutually reinforce each other. Leaders who consciously use their own resources can guide teams sustainably through complex transformation processes.
From Analysis to Impact
We shape health together. A key element of our approach is the active involvement of our employees. Through our global ENGAGE survey, we regularly collect health indicators in compliance with local data protection regulations and derive concrete measures from them – from stress management courses to local health initiatives. This data-driven approach ensures that our programs have an impact where they are needed.
