Uniper's "Helping Hands"

At "Helping Hands"—Uniper's in-house social project—the employees actively participate in giving something back to the community. Uniper encourages them to do so by giving them time off work. "What I do has two advantages: For one, it contributes something to the social institutions that we support, but it also benefits the staff a great deal," says Barbara Jagodzinski, who is responsible for "Helping Hands" at Uniper. The individual projects come into being in different ways. In some cases, Barbara approaches the employees and asks them for support via the internal online community, in other cases, colleagues come to her to ask for help from "Helping Hands" in matters that are close to their hearts. Then Barbara tries to make this possible or to find alternatives.

The whole thing started in 2019 with "Düsseldorf Wins," which was an appeal from the city of Düsseldorf to companies to get involved in social institutions and to take on sponsorships. This led to the "Helping Hands" at Uniper, which now implements several social projects per year. For example, we have an annual Christmas campaign. What started as the "wish tree" (a Christmas tree at the company headquarters in Düsseldorf with wish lists from disadvantaged children that employees could fulfill), was transformed into the "Snowflake Campaign" with the help of the IT department of Uniper during the coronavirus pandemic. The former wish tree has now been transformed into a digital format, with a wish of a child or adult in need behind every snowflake.

In addition, we have been working together with the Green Office for two years. The "Helping Hands" and the Green Office have set themselves the common goal of making Düsseldorf greener. By planting trees at social institutions, Uniper is not only making the city greener, but also helping these institutions, which are often daycare centers or other children's facilities, to have more shade in the summer. In addition, the children learn that at the end of the summer they can pick delicious fruit from the trees and they learn how to care for the trees and nature sustainably. "These are always our most satisfying campaigns, because our employees really surpass themselves, putting their heart and soul into it and having good time doing it as well. You can really see the delight they take in answering the children's questions," says Barbara. 

This was also the case recently, when "Helping Hands" and the Green Office worked together to plant greenery on the terraces and balconies of the AWO "Young Living" facility and also built a shed. There are 15 young people with disabilities living in the facility, who are given the opportunity to shape their own lives and live more independently. They all have their own living space, for which they also pay rent. They have access to a common room and prepare meals together every day. What's different from a regular large shared living space is the 24-hour care. If they need help, there is someone they can ask for advice. In their spare time, they play PlayStation, participate in sports and have started their own band. 

During the cooperation with Uniper and the celebration barbecue at the end, the young people and Uniper employees got to know each other better and exchanged ideas about everyday life and professional goals.

Many wonderful projects are still in the pipeline for the future, such as a team event, where Uniper colleagues will build benches and plant flowers at a retirement home. We know that we can count on our employees to continue to be so dedicated.