Freundlicher Jokey Mitarbeiter aus der Produktion mit Haarnetz lächelt in die Kamera

People at Jokey
The Jokey Family

Working at Jokey
Achieving more together

The changes in society are also reflected in the world of work. In view of the megatrends in our globalised 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 variety of social factors, such as promoting resilience or protecting health. In order to identify key topics for our employees and to determine the resulting requirements, we conduct internal materiality analyses and promote exchange and discussion. Our focus topics cover the following areas in particular:

  • Personal responsibility of Jokey employees
  • Leadership
  • Digitalisation of the world of work
  • Complexity, dynamics and acceleration in the modern knowledge society
Junge Jokey Mitarbeitende besprechen Materialfarben
Achieving more together – employees in exchange

The challenge of digitalisation
Support through training and education

Everyday working life is changing, among other things, due to the advance of digitalisation: tools and technologies such as artificial intelligence are constantly opening up new possibilities. At the same time, changes in the digital field are helping to increase the speed and efficiency of business processes. We support our employees by providing training and education in the field of digitalisation so that they are also up to date on this topic in their jobs.

The challenge of acceleration
in the knowledge economy

The speed at which knowledge is generated today is transforming the world of work. On the one hand, a generation that has grown up in the digital world – the digital natives – is providing new input, while on the other hand, companies are facing new challenges. We therefore not only have a responsibility to respond to our employees, but also to prepare them for new environments and changes.

The challenge of times of crisis
Support even in difficult times

This is particularly evident in the context of the current challenges. While the global coronavirus pandemic has already had a major impact on social life since 2020, other extreme situations have since arisen, such as extreme weather events, the raw materials crisis and the war in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip. These are all associated with major stresses and challenges. Changes and crises also place new demands on the world of work: for example, open communication is needed, including from management, to avoid misinformation and allay fears. It is important to provide adequate support for your own employees and to accompany them well even in difficult times.

Responsibility for our employees
Our claim

As an international family business, it is of central importance to us that our employees from more than 40 nations find a safe, clean and socially just workplace at Jokey. In order to meet this standard, we are continuously working to improve and respond to new developments. In the area of employees, the focus is particularly on the SDGs of health and well-being, quality education and further development, and equality for all employees.

SDG Icons No. 3, 4 and 5

Joining Global Compact Deutschland entails a commitment to support its ten principles in the areas of human rights, labour standards, environmental protection and anti-corruption. Since 2012, there has also been a group-wide and thus transnational obligation to comply with our Code of Conduct, which we revised in 2023 and issued personally to all Jokey employees (Jokey Group Code of Conduct). The existing obligations, guidelines and operating procedures are integrated into our job descriptions, work instructions, test instructions and procedural instructions. Objectives and measures for the development of our employees can also be found within the Jokey Eco Concept. The Eco Strategy section describes the company’s overall responsibility and sets out its vision and mission. If you want to be forward-looking and develop further, you have to start with yourself. Our values shape Jokey’s corporate culture. We take a variety of measures to live up to them and to fulfil our goals and obligations.

Planning with foresight, acting responsibly
Processes, indicators and responsibilities

We use various processes and indicators to monitor the implementation and effectiveness of the objectives and measures. For example, a regular exchange of employees at the locations through employee surveys provides insight into the extent to which work situations and conditions meet internal and external requirements. We ensure compliance with guidelines, such as the Code of Conduct and Sedex standards, through a functioning compliance management system. For example, the management has appointed department heads who implement the regulatory and social obligations and monitor compliance. Our human resources departments, works councils, occupational safety specialists (SIFA) and compliance officers are responsible for the Jokey employees.

Ein freundliche Jokey Verwaltungsmitarbeiter schaut frontal in die Kamera

Composition of the workforce
List of employees

The Jokey Group currently employs 2,213 people worldwide (as of 2021).

Tabular comparison of the number of employees in 2020 and 2021

One Jokey –
what makes Jokey stand out as an employer

Even though we now have 14 international locations, we have always remained a family business. We attach great importance to open, appreciative and cooperative interaction. A number of our employees have been working at Jokey for decades. In some cases, we also employ second-generation employees. This results in a workforce with a good age mix. We see this, together with the equally strong intercultural cooperation, as a great enrichment.

Tabular overview of employees by employment contract and by employment relationship in 2020 and 2021
Bildreihe mit Freizeitaktivitäten der Jokey Mitarbeitenden

Promoting diversity – proportion of women at Jokey

As part of an Operational Excellence Programme, Jokey has set itself the goal of placing more women in management positions. This has already been implemented in some areas. We are continuing to work on increasing the proportion of women in the workforce (see also SDG 5 “Gender Equality”). For example, the number of female apprentices in our plants has already risen slightly. We are currently training 75 apprentices in a total of 12 occupations in Oberberg, more than ever before. 13 of them are female apprentices: 10 aspiring industrial clerks and 3 have opted for technical occupations.

We explicitly encourage young women to also apply for apprenticeships in technical occupations. In our campaigns, we therefore specifically address young women, especially on our social media channels, who we also want to attract to technical occupations.

The Jokey SE administrative board, the top management body, consists of three male and one female member (as of 2024). With the exception of the human resources and finance departments, the SE management and the heads of the individual departments are all male. The management of Jokey Holding consists of one female and two male members.

Eine Jokey Mitarbeiterin schaut freundlich lächelnd in die Kamera

Inclusion

Employees with disabilities or health restrictions enjoy special protection at Jokey. At the end of 2022, the Jokey Group employed 34 people with disabilities. In our main plant in Gummersbach, we have gradually introduced 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, providing wheelchair access to all office floors. Jokey also has officers for the severely disabled in some of its plants, for example at the German sites in Wipperfürth and Gummersbach and at the French site in Labourse.

For many years, Jokey has been cooperating with various social institutions that employ people with physical or mental disabilities. These include, for example, the Lebenshilfe organisation, which runs a workshop for disabled people. Here, employees manufacture production parts and accessories for Jokey. Further examples are Jokey France and Jokey Sohland. Our French plant, for example, cooperates with the organisations ESAT de la Gohelle and L’Entreprise Adaptée de Souchez. Jokey Sohland cooperates with the Diakoniewerk Oberlausitz, the Görlitzer Werkstätten and the Lebenshilfe für Menschen mit Behinderung in Bischofswerda for assembly work.

Newly hired and retired Jokey employees
in 2021

Jokey is a growing international company and was able to create further jobs in 2021. Overall, the number of our employees rose from 2,146 in 2020 to 2,213 in 2021.

During the reporting period, 162 employees were employed by the Jokey Group as temporary agency workers. In the previous year 2020, a total of 132 employees were employed as temporary agency workers.

The areas of deployment include jobs for unskilled workers, for career starters, for specialists and managers up to top management. The statistics are collected on a quarterly basis. The figure 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.

Fair remuneration
and additional benefits for employees

Performance-related pay that also takes into account equal opportunities for all employees is important to us. All Jokey employees are employed on the basis of individual contracts. In addition, the German Jokey plants in Gummersbach, Wipperfürth and Sohland, as well as Jokey France, for example, have wage groups with starting wages and development opportunities for certain areas. In addition to regular wage negotiations, a number of company agreements are in place, i.e. written agreements between the works council and the employer. These are legally binding and shape the employment relationship. They include, for example, compensation for changing times at work, shift bonuses, special services or mobile work arrangements. Seven of Jokey’s 14 locations have works councils and, in some cases, youth and trainee representative bodies.

Further details on our remuneration policy, the procedure for determining remuneration or the annual amount of total remuneration are not listed here, as this is competition-relevant information that is also subject to confidentiality restrictions.

From health promotion to retirement planning –
Incentives für Jokey Mitarbeitende

In addition to pure performance-related pay, we offer our employees various additional benefits, such as bonuses, a company pension plan, and benefits in the event of accident or illness. These include, for example, subsidies for active health promotion and premiums.

Diversity and equal opportunities
Multicultural cooperation

Our international outlook means that open and multicultural cooperation is a matter of course and is actively promoted. We strictly reject discrimination or disadvantage in employment or occupation, whether it be with regard to origin, skin colour, gender, mental or physical impairment, age, religious belief, membership of an employee organisation or other personal characteristics.

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

As a family-owned company, Jokey has always been characterised by the idea of community. Our cooperation is characterised by team spirit, professionalism and humanity. We attach great importance to an open intercultural exchange. In the international Jokey world, all employees are united by shared values – One Jokey.

Tabular representation of employees by international location

Occupational safety and health protection
Working environment and health management

A safe and health-promoting working environment and sustainable health management are high priorities at Jokey, as both contribute significantly to the continued existence and success of the company. This involves both the protection of employees and health prevention. We are also actively working to strengthen the resilience of the organisation and our employees. After all, psychosocially competent employees and managers are also essential for maintaining a company’s innovative strength.

Tabular presentation of medical treatments in 2021

Safe working environment

The guidelines and principles on occupational safety and accident prevention are mandatory for all Jokey employees. The instructions are documented. Jokey keeps a regularly updated register of noise and hazardous substances and has a customised hearing protection concept for employees. They are also provided with personal protective equipment free of charge. Work and safety equipment subject to mandatory testing is stored in our ERP system. We carry out standardised internal measurements to record noise emissions. To identify hazardous substances, the measuring service of the German Social Accident Insurance Institution for the raw materials and chemical industry (BG RCI) carries out external measurements

The fact that occupational safety is a high priority at Jokey is demonstrated, among other things, by the Vision 0-0-0 and the “Safe with a system” seal of approval that Jokey Gummersbach SE received from the BG RCI in 2021 for its occupational health and safety management system (AMS). The site was recertified in 2023 (valid until November 2026). The seal of approval is based on ISO 45001. The certificate confirms that all requirements for systematic and effective occupational health and safety are met on the basis of the seal of approval and the associated industry-specific implementation. Our departments have used the certification process to harmonise their entire occupational health and safety management at the highest level. The management system also includes a manual that describes processes, procedures, responsibilities and all necessary steps for carrying out a risk assessment.

The implementation of the occupational health and safety management system is also planned for the Jokey Wipperfürth and Jokey Sohland sites over the next few years. In the medium term, more Jokey production plants are to be certified.

Zero accidents – improved occupational safety

Jokey is also continuing to pursue the Vision 0-0-0 in the area of occupational safety and will roll out activities and processes in all plants by 2024.

Accident prevention

We regularly identify and document work-related hazards in the Jokey Group. To prevent accidents, we also rely on continuous education. Regular participation in information events and training courses on accident prevention as part of the Jokey Academy is mandatory for everyone. We have implemented a new competence management system at the Jokey Gummersbach site in order to identify work-related hazards even better and to carry out regular risk assessments. Employees must use our in-house reporting system Jokey ERP to report accidents / near misses to the occupational safety specialists (SIFA) via a digital form so that they can take action. The accident form is to be implemented in all Jokey plants in the long term. Meetings of the Occupational Safety Committee (ASA) are held four times a year at our German sites, attended by the occupational safety specialists, the company doctor, department heads, plant managers, HR managers and the management.

Vision 0-0-0

In the area of occupational safety, we are also pursuing the Vision 0-0-0, in this case: 0 accidents at work, and have initiated a number of measures to achieve this in the reporting period. For example, an awareness campaign entitled “0 accidents at work” was launched at our Turkish plant, Jokey Turkey. Information posters on the topic of occupational safety, which are placed at various locations, are a central component of this campaign. They are intended to sensitise employees to potential risks and encourage conscious behaviour. Additional safety training courses also strengthen employees’ knowledge of how to deal with safety-relevant situations. Targeted accident analyses help to identify patterns and causes and are regularly shown on screens in the canteen in order to reach all employees. On the one hand, this creates transparency and, on the other, further preventative measures can be developed.

Our measures to improve occupational safety

  • Constant monitoring and improvement of our safety standards by the division managers with the support of the SIFA specialists
  • Information on occupational safety and health protection for Jokey employees via the intranet, flyers, monitors or staff meetings
  • Regular training (face-to-face or digital) for all employees and temporary workers, especially digital training with a final test to ensure the transfer of results
  • Regular occupational safety tours in all plants
  • Annual safety briefings 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 good and stay healthy. That’s why we not only ensure a healthy working environment at all Jokey plants, but also actively promote health, fitness and relaxation. For example, Jokey supports sporting activities for its employees. Sport keeps you fit and strengthens team spirit – which in turn benefits the company.

For example, the team of specialists at the Werkarztzentrum Oberberg e. V. in Gummersbach advises us as an employer and our employees on all matters relating to health protection and accident prevention in the workplace. The team provides important occupational health services and activities and looks after the entire workforce at the Jokey Gummersbach, Jokey Wipperfürth and Jokey Werkzeugbau Lindlar sites. Our plant in Sohland is looked after by AMD Arbeitsmedizinische Dienste TÜV in Bautzen.

Our foreign locations also implement numerous health promotion measures on site. Jokey France, for example, receives advice and selective support from the health service AST Action Santé Travail in Béthune. Jokey Turkey offers its employees private health insurance; in the event of illness, they can be treated in a private clinic of their choice. In addition, everyone is entitled to an annual mini-check-up and regular health tests.

The deployment of five MHFA first aiders at Jokey UK is new. They have been trained as part of the Australian “Mental Health First Aid” programme. The aim is to recognise employees’ mental health problems at an early stage so that support and assistance can be provided.

Our measures for better health in everyday working life

German Jokey plants:

  • Participation in the company car concept JobRad and Partnerrad
  • Subsidies for active preventive healthcare
  • Health days in cooperation with statutory health insurance companies
  • ASA PLuS to eliminate health-related stress
  • In-house back fitness training
  • Anti-stress management programmes
  • Flu vaccination
  • Workshops on the topic of health

Wipperfürth and Gummersbach sites:

  • Counselling services provided by the works council, disabled persons’ representatives, care representatives and the Jokey youth and trainee representatives
  • Free company medical examinations for eyesight and hearing

All Jokey plants:

  • Ergonomic work equipment
  • Sports events such as participation in city runs, hikes, canoe trips, football tournaments, marathons

Healthy workplace

Employees are usually best placed to assess their own work situation. At our plants in the Oberberg region, we rely on regular analyses to identify employees’ health risks and unused 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 working through these points contributes to employee satisfaction.

New Work –
flexible working models

In a changing world of work, employees also have different needs and demands. Participation, community, interaction on equal terms, and freedom for professional and personal development are topics that employers today must increasingly address.

As a family business, we are used to close exchange within the organisation and can quickly push through changes and adjustments. We are continuously working on actively supporting learning and change processes. New digital possibilities support us in implementing new work concepts, such as home office and mobile working. They enable self-determined, flexible and agile working. A mobile office policy anchors the possibility of flexible working.

This is also accompanied by a shift in the relationship between leadership and self-organisation. In the future, managers will play a stronger role than before in providing orientation, support and networking. At the same time, more knowledge will be made available to employees. It will also be important to communicate meaning, vision and values to them. In addition to a new understanding of leadership, agile teams are also being promoted in which employees have room for manoeuvre and can make decisions and act more independently.

Promoting new concepts opens up opportunities for development and identification and also enables employees to take on responsibility. Especially in times of crisis, employees can be better equipped in this way. Our focus for the future development of Jokey employees is on promoting and developing 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 sense of personal responsibility and respond more intensively to their needs.

Code of Conduct
of the Jokey Group

It is important to Jokey that conflicts of interest are avoided or mitigated and, ideally, do not arise in the first place. To this end, we have developed guidelines that are explained in our Code of Conduct. They are based on our core values of down-to-earthness, sustainability, social responsibility, appreciation and honesty. By joining the Global Compact Germany, we have also committed to supporting its ten principles in the areas of human rights, labour standards, environmental protection and anti-corruption. These principles have since been bindingly integrated into our corporate strategy, corporate culture and day-to-day business and formulated in the Code of Conduct published at the end of 2023. It also incorporates internationally recognised standards such as the International Bill of Human Rights and the core labour standards (ILO conventions). The Code of Conduct forms the basis for the behaviour of all employees, managers and directors of the Jokey Group.

In addition, Jokey is audited in accordance with SMETA-4-Pillar. This includes the promotion of fair and sustainable standards in dealings with suppliers and customers along the entire value chain as well as in dealings with our own employees. The results of our stakeholder analysis are also included in the assessment of any conflicts of interest. We are currently developing a Supplier Ethical Code based on the Code of Conduct, which will also define our guiding principles for our global supplier network in a binding manner.

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

The Jokey Group’s Code of Conduct is made available to our business partners and other relevant parties on our website. Our employees can access it at any time on our intranet. In order to implement and realise the obligations, the Jokey Academy also offers e-learning formats in the area of compliance. The mandatory training courses include the topics of compliance, data protection and information security as well as occupational health and safety. In the case of functions with increased training requirements (e.g. compliance in the area of purchasing/sales), in-depth training courses are held.

In 2023, we underwent a Group-wide sustainability rating by the Eco Vadis evaluation platform for the first time and achieved a bronze rank. In addition to the environmental area, our sustainability performance in the areas of ethics, human and labour rights and sustainable procurement was also evaluated.

Qualification
and personnel development

Professional 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 labour. To impart knowledge, promote lifelong learning and the development of our employees, we offer numerous further training opportunities. In addition to work-specific topics, the focus is also on sustainability issues. We will continue to focus on education and training in the future in order to maintain and deepen our employees’ hard and soft skills: technical and methodological expertise on the one hand, and social and personal skills on the other. In addition to further training opportunities, we promote environmental and sustainability awareness among our employees through numerous initiatives and action formats, such as those launched by our voluntary sustainability team Jokey Eco4Us.

Jokey offers young people qualified apprenticeships in the industrial, commercial and IT sectors as well as dual study programmes. In order to support the ambitions of Jokey’s core workforce in the best possible way, we subsidise part-time degree courses as well as technician and master craftsman courses in some cases. The high standard of our training has already been recognised several times: Four times in a row, the three locations Gummersbach, Wipperfürth and Lindlar have received the “Excellent Training Company” seal of approval. Jokey trainees answered around 100 detailed questions about the quality of their training in an anonymous survey. The survey focussed on the content of the training, respectful treatment of trainees in the company and future opportunities.

Logo Ausgezeichneter Ausbildungsbetrieb 2024

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

Jokey also offers young people an insight into a possible future career field through internships and practical semesters. They often then decide in favour of a subsequent apprenticeship at Jokey.

Gruppenbild mit erfolgreichen Absolventen
The trainees at the Trainee Hopping Day in Wipperfürth

Further training – qualification at the highest level

At Jokey, further training does not only take place through external training courses. Experienced experts are available at all our locations and are willing to share their expertise. Openness is a quality that Jokey is repeatedly recognised for in audits by various faculties. Training on the job, cross-team work on projects and switching between departments enable our employees to permanently increase their knowledge. Jokey also provides financial support for their further training initiatives in co-operation with tried and tested educational institutes. International expertise is also promoted through close co-operation between all 14 production sites. Our international company presence offers an enormous range of different skills, experience and qualifications. This is the basis for being able to act innovatively on the competitive market. Regular reciprocal visits by Jokey department heads to different locations promote the ongoing exchange of knowledge.

The individual Jokey locations are each responsible for the training of trainees, employees, specialists and managers.

Jokey Azubis beim Wettbewerb Sicherheit von Anfang an
Our apprentices in the apprentice competition “Safety from the word go!”

Measures and projects for the development of our employees

  • Implementation of our own learning management system
  • Regular employee appraisals to determine individual development needs
  • Group-wide training programmes on topics such as compliance, procurement, sales, circular economy and sustainability
  • Promotion of in-service training
  • Development of digital forms of learning: online training on topics such as occupational safety or compliance, hybrid training
  • initiatives and action formats: expert sessions to deepen sustainability topics (until 2023 Virtual Talk), Jokey Global Cleanup Day, Environment Day
  • Regular internal news ‘About Us’ on all topics relevant to employees
  • Our Eco4Us team is continuously developing innovative ideas for sustainability in Jokey’s day-to-day work and environment
  • Establishment, expansion and roll-out of our group-wide Jokey Academy (since autumn 2022) to bundle comprehensive training offers
Signet der Jokey Academy

Jokey as a fair partner

The Chief Compliance Officer, supported by the Compliance Assistant, is responsible for implementing the compliance guidelines throughout the group. To this end, the Jokey Group has installed a compliance management system that centrally defines strategic goals and measures for the group. Decentrally, the compliance officers on site act as multipliers, trusted representatives of the employees and competent points of contact.

Complaints and information regarding compliance can be reported by individuals in three different ways: by email, anonymously or with a sender’s address, via the 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 committees) for advice.

Whistleblower platform

In addition, our employees, customers, business partners, suppliers and stakeholders can use our whistleblower system to report violations of company guidelines, values and applicable law – including anonymously (whistleblowing). For this purpose, we have set up a redirect on our website to a platform developed in-house for whistleblowers and informants. We protect whistleblowers and informants and have procedures in place to ensure that reports are treated confidentially and appropriately.

Jokey-Bildmarke auf kunstvoller Collage mit den SDGS
Portrait Michael Schmitz

Do you have any questions?
We will be happy to help you.

Michael Schmitz
Sustainability Manager