Health Programs

In 2015, WACKER initiated the “Health Culture 2020” project in Germany, with the aim of improving the long-term health of its employees, ensuring that they remain fit for work and thus reducing days of work missed due to illness. The main emphasis of the project is to strengthen our employees’ sense of responsibility for their own health and to assist managers in stewardship of their resources and promoting healthy behavior in their employees. The project is now running under the slogan “Just Healthy” and comprises four modules: exercise, nutrition, state of health and prevention. Employees can avail themselves of programs relevant to each of these modules.

In 2015, Health Services continued the campaign for back health it had initiated in the previous year. This groupwide initiative aims to raise awareness and introduce prevention programs. Back problems are the leading cause of sick days at WACKER in Germany.

In 2016, a fourth Group campaign, entitled “Just Move It,” took off. Like its predecessors, it is a two-year program and aims at counteracting the main risk factor among staff – lack of exercise. This is aided by a wide-ranging exercise program, including such activities as running, climbing and dance courses, as well as cycling initiatives and “active breaks” at the plants. WACKER also encourages employees to participate in inter-company running events.

An influenza vaccination is offered once a year for all employees, at all sites around the world. This vaccination is free of charge and voluntary.

WACKER promotes substance abuse prevention. In general, alcohol is forbidden at work. All managerial staff members are required to attend training programs on the topic of substance abuse prevention. These programs aim to help them recognize employees who are at risk or are already addicted, and to assist them in seeking proper treatment. We also provide management with courses on detecting employees suffering from psychological stress and on alleviating the problem.

Due to its success, the “Fit for Your Shift” project has been expanded to include further target groups such as skilled manual workers and certified industrial forepersons. In this health program, participants are taught habits that can help them deal better with the pressures of shift work or manual labor in the long term. The program consists of four modules:

• A one-week stay at a rehabilitation clinic,
• A three-month program of training at the workplace,
• A six-month period during which workers continue the training on their own, and
• A final refresher weekend.

Evaluation of the program after three years showed a significant reduction in risk factors such as body weight and body mass index (BMI), and an improvement in the participants’ training level and quality of sleep. By the end of 2016, over 400 employees had taken part in Fit for Your Shift since the program began in 2013.

In 2015, we ran the “intensive rehabilitation” pilot project in collaboration with a clinic. It is aimed at employees with severe health issues, who are restricted in their work for orthopedic reasons. All participants experienced pain relief, the functioning of their joints improved and their impairments were lessened.

The number of recognized occupational diseases is very low at WACKER’s German sites. Respiratory diseases and cancer are the most frequent causes of illness; there are some isolated cases where previous exposure to asbestos has caused occupational diseases. Suspected cases of occupational diseases also center on these diseases. So far, WACKER has not evaluated groupwide figures concerning occupational diseases of its employees, because the criteria for the recognition of illnesses as occupational vary from country to country.