‘No Handicap’ – Bertelsmann Integrates and Supports Employees with Disabilities

Bertelsmann is committed to offsetting the professional, economic and social disadvantages that people suffer due to a disability. Among other things, we have developed creative, innovative aids for employees with disabilities, like “Lisa” – a system that alerts hearing-impaired employees to incoming e-mails by means of vibration and light signals, a standing wheelchair that allows wheelchair-bound employees to reach high shelves, and the “shuttle car,” which lets them drive their wheelchair through the hatch right up to the steering wheel.

Another important aspect are educational measures taken throughout the group to inform people with disabilities about their rights and options, as well as to break down any prejudices among their colleagues and supervisors.
As Corporate HR Head Immanuel Hermreck emphasized at an information event for employees, family members and the interested public in December 2006: “We’re not concerned about meeting statutory quotas – which we see as a matter of course – but about grasping our cooperation with disabled people as an advantage.” Bertelsmann strives to create appropriate conditions for giving people with disabilities the same opportunities for self-fulfillment as anyone else.