People at Jokey
The Jokey Family

Changes in society are also reflected in the world of work. In view of the mega trends in our globalized economic world, this change will continue and perhaps even accelerate. As an employer, Jokey bears responsibility for its employees. This ranges from fair remuneration and strengthening ecological awareness to a wide range of social factors such as promoting resilience or protecting health. To identify key issues for our employees and determine the resulting requirements, we carry out internal materiality analyses and promote exchange and discussions. Our focus topics cover the following areas in particular:

• Personal responsibility of Jokey employees
• Digitizing the working world
• Complexity, dynamics and acceleration in the modern knowledge society
• Resilience in times of crisis

Day-to-day work is changing, among other things, as a result of progressive digitization: Tools and technologies such as artificial intelligence open up new possibilities. At the same time, changes in the digital sector help increase the speed and efficiency of business processes. We support our employees with training courses in the field of digitization so they are fit for the job when it comes to this topic.

The speed of modern knowledge generation determines the change in the working world. With a generation that has grown up in the digital world – the digital natives – new input is given on the one hand, and new demands are made on companies on the other. We are therefore not only responsible for responding to our employees, but also for preparing them for new environments and changes.

This becomes particularly clear against the background of the current challenges. The global corona pandemic has had a major impact on social life. But other extreme situations, such as the flood disaster of 2021, raw materials crisis or war in Ukraine, are accompanied by great burdens and challenges. Changes and times of crisis also place new demands on the working world: Open communication is required, including on the part of management, in order to avoid misinformation and allay fears. It is important to support employees adequately and accompany them well even in difficult times.

As an international family company, it is of central concern to us that our employees from more than 40 nations find a safe, clean and socially just workplace at Jokey. To meet this standard, we are constantly working on becoming even better and responding to new developments. In the area of employees, the focus is particularly on the following SDGs:

Joining the Global Compact Germany entails the obligation to support its ten principles in the areas of human rights, labor standards, environmental protection and anti-corruption. Since 2012, there has also been a transnational obligation to comply with our code of conduct. Existing obligations, guidelines and operating procedures are integrated into our job descriptions, work instructions, test direction and process guidance. Goals and measures for employee development can also be found within the Jokey Eco Concept. The Eco Strategy area describes the overall entrepreneurial responsibility and the vision and mission. If you want to align yourself with the future and develop further, you have to start with yourself first. Our values shape the Jokey corporate culture. To live them and meet our goals and obligations, we take a variety of measures.

We use various processes and indicators to monitor the implementation and effectiveness of goals and measures. A regular exchange of staff at the locations through employee surveys provides an insight into the extent to which the working situations and conditions meet internal and external requirements. We guarantee the obligation to comply with guidelines, such as the code of conduct and Sedex standards, through a functioning compliance management system. Management has appointed department heads who implement the regulatory and social obligations and monitor compliance with them. Our HR departments, works councils, specialists for occupational safety (SIFA) and compliance officers are responsible for the employees at Jokey.

The Jokey Group currently employs 2,212 people worldwide (Status: 2021).

Despite our size and internationality, we have always remained a family business. We attach great importance to open, appreciative and collegial cooperation. A number of employees have been working at Jokey for decades. In some cases, we already employ members of the second generation. This results in an age-mixed workforce structure. We consider this, together with the also very pronounced inter cultural cooperation, to be a great enrichment.

Promote diversity – Percentage of women at Jokey

As part of an operational excellence program, Jokey has set itself the goal of positioning more women in management positions. This has already been implemented in some places. We continue to work on increasing the proportion of women in the workforce. The number of female trainees in our plants has already increased slightly. We are currently training 75 trainees in a total of 12 trades in Oberberg, more than ever before. 13 of them are female trainees: 10 prospective industrial clerks, 3 have decided on technical professions. We would like to expressly encourage young women to apply for training in technical professions. In our campaigns, especially on our social media channels, we therefore specifically address young women who we want to attract to technical professions.

The top Jokey body, the SE Board of Directors, consists of three male members and one female member (as of 2023). SE management and the heads of individual departments are currently 100 percent male. The Jokey Holding management consists of one female and two male members.

Inclusion

Employees with disabilities or health restrictions receive special protection at Jokey. At the end of 2021, Jokey Group employed 34 people with disabilities. In our main plant in Gummersbach, we have introduced step-by-step conversion measures to ensure accessibility. Access to the production halls is already barrier-free. In 2022, a new entrance was added to the administration building, which allows wheelchair access to all office floors. Jokey has also appointed a severely disabled officer.

For many years, Jokey has been cooperating with various social organizations that employ people with physical or mental disabilities. This includes, for example, the organization Lebenshilfe, which runs a workshop for disabled people. Here employees manufacture production parts and accessories for Jokey.

Jokey is an internationally growing company and was able to create more jobs in 2021. Overall, the number of our employees increased from 2,146 people in 2020 to 2,213 people in 2021.

In the reporting period, 162 employees were employed on a temporary basis for the entire Jokey Group. In the previous year 2020, a total of 132 employees were employed on a temporary basis.

Areas of application include activities for unskilled workers, young professionals, specialists and executives up to top management. Statistics are collected on a quarterly basis. The value given for 2021 comes from the survey in the first quarter of 2022 and is to be understood as a full-time equivalent. There are no significant fluctuations over the course of the year.

Performance-related pay, which also takes into account equal opportunities for all employees, is important to us. All Jokey employees are employed on the basis of individual contracts. German Jokey locations are not bound by collective agreements, but were based on trade union agreements in the reporting period. Wage and salary agreements are negotiated and concluded between employer and employee bodies (management and works council). In addition to regular wage negotiations, there are a number of company agreements, i.e. written agreements between the works council and the employer. These are legally binding and shape the employment relationship. This includes, for example, remuneration for moving times in the company, shift allowances, special services and regulation of mobile work. Seven of the 13 Jokey locations have works councils and some also have youth and trainee representatives.

We do not provide further details on our remuneration policy, procedures for determining remuneration or annual amount of total remuneration here, because this is competition-relevant information that is also subject to confidentiality restrictions.

In addition to pure performance-related remuneration, we offer our employees a variety of additional benefits specific to the plant, e.g. bonuses, company pension scheme, benefits in the event of accident and illness. These include subsidies to the fitness club and bonuses. At our German locations, part-time employees receive the same benefits as full-time employees. Only employees with fixed-term contracts are not entitled to all company benefits, such as a 13th month’s salary. To be entitled to benefits in connection with the company pension scheme, employees must have been employed at Jokey for at least 6 months.

Due to our internationality, open and multicultural cooperation is a matter of course and actively encouraged. We strictly reject discrimination or disadvantages in employment, whether in terms of origin, skin color, gender, mental or physical impairments, age, religious affiliation, membership of an employee organization or other personal characteristics.

We also owe our leading market position to our employees’ great commitment and the intensive exchange with customers and partners. As an international company, we promote diversity at all levels. We are convinced that cooperation is inspired when people with different experiences, strengths and cultural backgrounds meet. Not only people from different nations work in our teams, but also from different generations. This brings together different perspectives and leads to new approaches and solutions.

As a family company, Jokey has always been based on the idea of community. Our cooperation is characterized by team spirit, professionalism and humanity. We attach great importance to open,inter cultural exchange. In the international Jokey world, all employees are connected through common values. We see this as the strength of the international Jokey Family.

A safe and health-promoting working environment as well as sustainable health management have high priority at Jokey, because both make a decisive contribution to the company’s continued existence and success. This involves employee protection as well as preventive health care. We are also actively working to strengthen the resilience of the organization and our employees. After all, psychosocially competent employees and managers are indispensable for maintaining a company’s innovative strength.

Safe working environment

Guidelines and principles for occupational safety and accident prevention are mandatory for all Jokey employees. Instructions are documented. Jokey keeps a regularly updated register of noise and hazardous substances and has an adapted hearing protection concept for employees. They can also use personal protective equipment free of charge. Work and safety equipment that requires testing is stored in our ERP system. We carry out standardized internal measurements to record noise emissions. The measuring service of the professional association for raw materials and chemical industry (BG RCI) carries out external measurements to identify hazardous substances.

The fact that occupational safety is a high priority at Jokey is also proven by the “Systematic Safety” seal of approval, which Jokey Gummersbach SE received in 2021 for its occupational safety management system (AMS) from the BG RCI. The seal of quality is based on ISO 45001. The certificate confirms that all requirements for systematic and effective occupational safety based on the seal of quality and associated industry-specific implementation have been met. Our departments use the certification process to align their entire occupational health and safety management at the highest level. The management system also includes a manual that describes, among other things, processes, procedures, responsibilities and all steps required to carry out risk assessment.

Implementing the occupational health and safety management system is also planned for the Jokey Wipperfürth and Jokye Sohland locations within the next few years. In the long term, all Jokey plants will be certified.

Accident prevention

We regularly identify and document work-related hazards in the Jokey Group. We also rely on continuous education to avoid accidents. Regular participation in information events and training courses on accident prevention is mandatory for everyone. To identify work-related hazards even better and prepare regular risk assessments, we have implemented a new competency management system at the Jokey Gummersbach site. Using our in-house reporting system Jokey ERP, employees can complete a digital form to report accidents / near-accidents to occupational safety specialists (SIFA) so they can take action. The accident form will be implemented in all Jokey plants in the long term. Four times a year, meetings of the Occupational Health and Safety Committee (ASA) are held at our German locations, in which specialists for occupational safety, company doctor, department heads, plant managers, HR managers and management take part.

Our measures to Improve occupational safety

• Constant monitoring and improving our safety standards by department heads with the support of occupational safety specialists (SIFA)
• Jokey employees receive information about occupational safety and health protection via the intranet, flyers, monitors and staff interviews
• Regular training courses (face-to-face or digital) for all employees and temporary workers. In the future, primarily digital training courses with a final test to ensure the transfer of results
• Annual safety instructions for our employees
• Our employees can submit suggestions for improving occupational safety or health protection via CIP boxes (continuous improvement process) or the works council

Health promotion at Jokey

As a family business, it is very important to us that our employees feel comfortable and stay healthy. That is why we not only ensure a healthy working environment in all Jokey plants, but also actively promote health, fitness and relaxation. For example, Jokey supports its employees’ physical activity. Sport keeps them fit and strengthens team spirit – which in turn benefits the company.

The specialist team at the Oberberg e. V. in Gummersbach advises both us as an employer and our employees on all questions of health protection and accident prevention at the workplace. The team takes care of important occupational health care services and activities and looks after the entire workforce at the Jokey Gummersbach, Jokey Wipperfürth and Jokey Werkzeugbau Lindlar locations.

Our measures for more health in everyday work

• Participation in the JobRad and Partnerrad company vehicle concept
• Gym membership grants
• ASA PLuS to eliminate health problems
• Ergonomic work equipment
• Health days in cooperation with statutory health insurance companies
• In-house back fitness training
• Free company medical examinations for vision and hearing
• Sports events such as participation in city runs, hikes, canoe trips, football tournaments and Cologne marathon
• Anti-stress management offers
• Corona tests
• Flu vaccination
• Health workshops
• Advisory services from the works council, representatives for the severely disabled, care representatives and the Jokey youth and training representatives

Measures listed as examples relate to our Wipperfürth and Gummersbach locations.

Healthy workplace

Employees are usually the best judges of their own work situation. We rely on regular analyses to identify health problems and unused employee resources. With the help of ASA (work situation analysis) PLuS we get a good overview of the most important problems at work and possible improvements. Implementing and processing these points contribute to employee satisfaction.

In changing work environments, employees also have different needs and demands. Participation, community, acting at eye level, freedom for professional development and personal development are topics to which employers have to pay more attention today. As a family business, we live the close exchange within the organization and can quickly promote changes and adjustments. We work continuously to support learning and change processes actively. New digital possibilities support us in implementing New Work concepts. This enables self-determined, flexible and agile work. Home office and mobile working are already possible in some areas. A mobile office policy anchors the possibility of flexible working even after the corona pandemic period. This is accompanied by a shift in the relationship between leadership and self-organization. In the future, managers will play a more orienting, accompanying and networking role than before. At the same time, more knowledge is made available to employees. It is also important to give them meaning, vision and values. In addition to a new understanding of leadership, agile teams are promoted in which employees have creative freedom, can make decisions and act more independently. Promoting new concepts opens up opportunities for development and identification and also enables the assumption of responsibility. Especially in times of crisis, employees can be better prepared. Our focus for the future development of Jokey employees is on promoting and expanding their skills and positioning them in the right team and in suitable roles. To achieve this, we want to involve our employees even more in the future, strengthen their personal responsibility and respond more intensively to their needs.

Vocational qualification begins with the best possible training. It ensures quality, continuity and identification with the company and, above all, the long-term need for skilled workers. To impart knowledge, promote lifelong learning and foster employee development, we offer numerous further training opportunities. In addition to work-specific issues, there is special focus on sustainability issues. We will continue to rely on education and training in the future to maintain and deepen our employees’ hard and soft skills: on the one hand, technical and methodical know-how, on the other hand, social and personal skills. In addition to further training opportunities, we promote our employees’ environmental and sustainability awareness through numerous initiatives and campaign formats.

Jokey offers young people qualified training in industrial, commercial and IT areas as well as dual degrees. To support the ambitions of the Jokey permanent workforce in the best possible way, we subsidize part-time courses of study as well as technician and master craftsman courses in some cases. The high level of our training has been certified several times: Three times in a row, the three locations Gummersbach, Wipperfürth and Lindlar have received the seal of quality “Excellent training company.” To do this, the Jokey trainees answered around 100 detailed questions about the quality of their training in an anonymous survey. Focus was on training content, treating trainees in the company with respect and future opportunities.

In 2021, Jokey trained 75 trainees in a total of 12 trades at the Oberberg locations in Wipperfürth, Gummersbach and Lindlar. That was 15 more than in the previous year and thus more than ever before.

Jokey also offers young people an insight into a possible later professional field through internships and practical semesters. They often then decide on a later training path at Jokey.

Continuing education – Qualification at the highest level

Further training at Jokey does not only take place through external training. At all our locations, experienced experts are available, who are willing to share their expertise. In audits by different faculties, openness is a predicate in which Jokey is repeatedly certified. On-the-job training, cross-team work on projects and switching between departments enable our employees to increase their knowledge continuously. Jokey also provides financial support for their further training initiatives in cooperation with proven educational institutes. International competence is also promoted by the close cooperation of all 15 production sites. Our international company presence offers an enormous range of different skills, experiences and qualifications. This is the basis for being able to act innovatively on the competitive market. Regular mutual visits by Jokey department heads at different locations promote the permanent exchange of knowledge.

Individual Jokey locations are each independently responsible for qualifying trainees, employees, specialists and managers.

Measures and projects for our employees’ development

• Implementing a learning management system
• Regular appraisal interviews to determine individual development needs
• Group-wide training courses on topics such as compliance, procurement, sales and sustainability
• Promoting in-service training
• Developing digital forms of learning: online training courses on specific topics such as occupational safety or compliance, hybrid training
• Initiatives and action formats: Virtual Talk Sustainability, Jokey Global Clean-up Day, Environment Day
• Our Eco4Us teams continuously develop innovative ideas for practical sustainability in Jokey’s everyday work and environment
• Developing and implementing a Group-wide Jokey Academy (since autumn 2022) to bundle comprehensive qualification offers

Jokey as a fair partner

The Chief Compliance Officer, supported by the Compliance Assistant, is responsible for implementing compliance guidelines across the Group. To this end, Jokey Group has installed a compliance management system that centrally defines strategic goals and measures for the Group. Local compliance officers act as multipliers, confidants for employees and competent contact persons.

Compliance complaints and information can be reported by individuals in three different ways: e-mail, anonymously or with sender information via CIP boxes (continuous improvement process) installed in each plant, or anonymously to the ombudsman. Individuals have the opportunity to contact the compliance officers or the works councils (employee bodies) and seek advice.

Code of conduct

It is important to Jokey that conflicts of interest are avoided or mitigated and, ideally, do not arise in the first place. Jokey came a big step closer to this goal in 2012 with successful certification according to the GKV Code of Conduct for the plastics processing industry. Voluntary self-commitment sees itself as a contribution to corporate social responsibility and includes compliance requirements as well as ethical and social principles. These include, for example, fundamental rules against corruption and anti-trust agreements. Compliance requirements include, among other things, procurement guidelines for purchasing, export guidelines including verification of third parties and benefit guidelines for employees. With the SMETA/Sedex audit, the importance of these topics at Jokey becomes clear. The results of our stakeholder analysis are also included in the assessment of any conflicts of interest.

Another control mechanism is the dependency report, which the managing directors prepare and is checked during the audit. There are no cross-shareholdings with suppliers and other stakeholders.

The code of conduct is made available in writing to our employees, business partners and other relevant parties. Our employees can also access it at any time on our intranet. To implement the obligations, Jokey also offers an e-learning platform for the area of compliance. Mandatory training courses include the topics of compliance, data protection and information security as well as occupational safety. In the case of functions with an increased need for training (e.g. compliance in the area of purchasing/sales), in-depth training courses are offered.

The Code of Conduct also includes international requirements such as the UN Human Rights Charter. Likewise, obligations to protect human rights are an integral part of the UN Global Compact, which Jokey joined in June 2021. With this, a further step was taken to focus our business activities even more specifically in the future with a view to social and ecological fields of work.

We are currently revising the GKV code of conduct and will transform it into an individual Jokey code in 2023. In addition to specifications for responsible corporate management, this is intended to be a binding code of conduct for Jokey Group employees and business partners.

Planned content of the Jokey Code of Conduct:

• Jokey values and principles of conduct
• Core topics based on the ILO conventions (International Labor Organization) / ETI Base Code Principles (Ethical Trading Initiative)

In addition, Jokey is audited according to SMETA 4-Pillar.

This includes promoting fair and sustainable standards in dealing with suppliers and customers along the entire value chain as well as dealing with our employees.

We have set ourselves the goal of developing sustainable procurement based on relevant norms and standards and implementing it throughout the Group by 2023.

With the audits and commitments mentioned above, Jokey has committed itself to respecting the principles of the International Charter of Human Rights and the ten principles of the UN Global Compact and not being complicit in human rights violations. This applies to employees, customers and business partners. Central to this are the so-called core labor standards (ILO conventions), which are an essential part of decent work.