DHL 2001 Annual Report Download - page 52

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New concepts for health and safety
As a responsible employer,Deutsche Post World Net makes every effort to ensure
the safety of its employees. The main emphasis of our occupational safety pro-
gram focuses on preventative measures, so that accidents never happen.As a
part of this, our workforce has been given intensive training on key points. An
issue that caught the attention of the media in 2001 was the threat of letters that
supposedly contained anthrax spores. To date there has been no evidence of
anthrax spores in letters in Germany. However, we have taken all imaginable
precautions as part of a comprehensive security scheme – including the provision
of appropriate equipment, such as protective gloves and breathing masks – in
order to protect our employees and our customers.
During 2001, the proportion of employees taking sick leave fell to 6.4% –
the lowest level in the history of the company to date.We see this as more than
just an indication of job satisfaction among our workforce; we also see it as a
confirmation of our large range of health care offers.In addition to the annual
“employee health day” at our headquarters in Bonn, our health truck also visits
employees at our branches. Our employees can receive expert on-site advice on
health and fitness and undergo a fitness check supervised by a doctor.
Forward-looking training
In 2001, we raised the number of training categories we provide in Germany
from nine to eleven: new additions include training as IT systems clerks and
warehouse management specialists. We offered unlimited full-time positions to
the around 2,200 trainees who completed their training with us in the middle
of the year.
The first class of IT specialists who chose a combination of traineeship and
study at the Berufsakademie (university of cooperative education) has success-
fully completed its training with us.
In the modern world of work,soft skills such as teamwork and conflict man-
agement are playing an increasingly important role.IDEAL, our innovative train-
ing program for life skills in the work place, offers our trainees the opportunity
to train these skills; last year a total of 800 people made use of this opportunity.
Professional university marketing
To help us in the competition to attract young graduates we operate – primarily
in Germany – a professional university marketing program. In addition to attend-
ing various graduate job fairs, during the year under review we struck alliances
with universities, held specialist presentations and conducted joint research
projects.