When the Special Olympics start in Berlin on 17 June, 100 employees will be there as corporate volunteers. Franziska Halstrick and Charlotte Ehl find out why and how REWE Group is getting involved in the Olympics for athletes with disabilities and what the volunteers can expect in Berlin.
one: How is REWE involved in the Special Olympics?
Franziska Halstrick : REWE is one of the premium partners of the Special Olympics World Games 2023 and is supporting the sporting event in three main areas: REWE Region East is supplying food for around 20,000 people, together with Aktion Mensch we are organising an inclusive picnic in Berlin during the event - and then there are our corporate volunteers.
Happy cyclists 2022 | © LOC
one: What are corporate volunteers?
Franziska Halstrick: They are 100 employees from Retail D, logistics, stores and administration from all over Germany who have volunteered to support the Special Olympics. They are all involved in handball and will look after the athletes, support them during the games or accompany them to the award ceremonies.
one: Why is REWE involved in the Special Olympics, an inclusive, international sporting event?
Charlotte Ehl: Diversity is an integral part of our corporate culture. And this culture is supported first and foremost by our many committed employees. People with disabilities are still often marginalised in society and are confronted with prejudice on a daily basis. As a large company, we see it as one of our social responsibilities to actively promote diversity and specifically the topic of inclusion and to sensitise our employees to this. The Special Olympics offer us the opportunity to come into contact with people with intellectual and multiple disabilities, to break down prejudices, in short, to broaden our horizons and to educate ourselves in many ways.
Tennis is a discipline of the Special Olympics © LOC/camera4
Franziska Halstrick: As a company, we also want to promote social commitment and have therefore decided to make volunteering possible during working hours. This not only helps the athletes, but also the employees themselves. After all, it has been proven that volunteering together not only improves the working atmosphere, but also increases job satisfaction and productivity.
Charlotte Ehl: And last but not least, we naturally want to position ourselves as an attractive employer with such an offer and attract people with and without disabilities to our company.
one: Who organised the corporate volunteering?
Franziska Halstrick: A small organisational team from HR Development..
Charlotte Ehl:... in great cooperation with very different departments, such as Sustainability, Corporate Communications and Employer Branding, as well as in coordination with Marketing & Partnerships as the initiator of the partnership between REWE and the Special Olympics.
one: How did the employees react to your call to apply as a volunteer?
Franziska Halstrick : Very positively across the board, and from the entire organisation. We are particularly pleased that this project appealed not only to administrative staff, but also to our employees in stores and logistics.
Charlotte Ehl: Our only regret is that some of the applications only reached us after the application deadline - because it was very much word of mouth. We would do it differently next time and definitely publicise it even more.
one: What criteria did you use to select the volunteers?
Franziska Halstrick: The only criterion was to meet the deadline mentioned by Charlotte. All employees from Retail D and retailers were able to take part. Our aim was to achieve a balance between volunteers from the store, logistics and administration.
Charlotte Ehl: As there were more applications than places, we simply drew lots within these three areas of work: The volunteers are divided into a quarter each of market and logistics employees and 50 per cent from administration. The unequal ratio is due to the clear majority of applications from administration.
one: What are you from the organisation team particularly looking forward to?
Charlotte Ehl : Finally meeting the volunteers in person, whom we have been supporting organisationally for several months but have generally only spoken to virtually. It will certainly be great to get to know colleagues from all over Germany and get involved together.
Franziska Halstrick: I'm looking forward to an unforgettable time: there will be a colourful programme in Berlin, the city will be full, there will be numerous events, festivals, celebrations and everyone will be cheering. The whole country is looking forward to the Special Olympics. So my tip is to find out whether your city is also a host town, i.e. hosting a delegation from a participating country, and, if so, what kind of programme there is - the Special Olympics are not just taking place in Berlin.
Franziska Halstrick, Head of HR Development Retail Germany, and Charlotte Ehl, HR Development Expert, are part of the team organising REWE Group's corporate volunteering at the Special Olympics.
Opening Special Olympics 2022 | © LOC/Sarah Rauch
The Special Olympics is the world's largest inclusive sporting event. Over 7,000 athletes and more than 300,000 spectators will be guests at the Berlin Olympic Stadium from 17 to 25 June 2023. Athletes with intellectual and multiple disabilities will compete in 26 sports, including badminton, handball, golf, sailing, judo, tennis and rhythmic gymnastics. Around 20,000 volunteers will be needed to organise this sporting event, of which around 2,000 will come through corporate volunteering, i.e. company volunteering opportunities that promote employee engagement.
100 of these volunteers will come from the REWE Group and support the games on site for three days at a time. Their tasks are varied: from looking after the athletes and providing visitor services to accompanying the award ceremonies. REWE is also a premium partner of the Special Olympics.
one will accompany the corporate volunteers to Berlin and report on the Special Olympics.
Both German and English comments appear here.
Hello from the north of Timmendorfer Strand. I will also be supporting the award ceremonies as a corporate volunteer. For me as an honorary volunteer it is a matter of course to help. Getting to know new things drives me. Whether it's colleagues across Germany, the city of Berlin or the inclusion work of our organisation. In addition to many positive impressions, I hope to take home a lot of joy and valuable activities. The previous training courses and online meetings have already made an impression. See you in Berlin.