Exemplary: EU Commission Commends Bertelsmann For Integration Of Employees With Disabilities

A system that announces incoming e-mails by vibrating and flashing lights, a standing wheelchair that allows people to reach folders high up on shelves, group-wide efforts that serve to educate people with disabilities as well as their colleagues and supervisors: Bertelsmann AG’s Office for Employees with Severe Disabilities has come up with plenty of creative ideas in recent years to make life at work easier for employees with disabilities, to inform them about their rights and educate their surroundings about their problems. Bertelsmann AG is one of 19 European companies commended in a report by the EU Commission’s Directorate on Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunity for its innovative and imaginative approach to integrating people with disabilities. 

The report, presented on Nov 28 at a conference in Brussels under the heading “Business Benefits of Diversity – Proven Methods at the Workplace,” was commissioned by the European Commission as part of the EU’s Action Program to fight discrimination. In particular, it highlights the procedures that Bertelsmann AG has developed to successfully overcome the difficulties that people with disabilities encounter in workaday life. “Some companies like Bertelsmann have developed unique, practical methods that are helpful for work and life in general. They benefit people with disabilities in their work environment in particular, but are also available to society in general,” reads the report, which also shows a photograph of the standing wheelchair. Besides, Bertelsmann AG established itself “at the head of a high-profile campaign to heighten sensitivity and counteract negative attitudes towards people with disabilities at the workplace.” The respective activities of each of the 19 companies under review are presented in detail in a separate part of the report.

At the conference, Knut Weltlich, Bertelsmann’s delegate for employees with disabilities, was also given the opportunity to publicize Bertelsmann’s commitment to people with disabilities to a broad European public. Vladimír Špidla – the relevant commissioner – in particular appeared very impressed by the media company’s efforts.