Companies commit to good work: Initiative für Beschäftigung!

“We need to find energetic individuals, develop good ideas, and join forces to tackle unemployment effectively and create new employment opportunities.” According to its founders, this is the core idea of the Initiative für Beschäftigung! (IfB!) [initiative for employment]. In 1998, BASF, Bertelsmann and the industrial trade union Bergbau, Chemie, Energie launched something that, with the help of IFOK, quickly became the biggest concerted campaign in German business.

Throughout Germany, companies, associations, trade unions, municipalities, and many others were won over by the idea of creating jobs, and securing and shaping employment, locally in joint projects. In 19 regional networks, more than 400 companies, in more than 300 projects, found that they were able to change things. IFOK’s role of coordinator and concept developer made an important contribution to the fact that 10 years later, the initiative has become one of the most important networks for job market issues. The Initiative für Beschäftigung! has become established as a platform for business dialogue. Regular conferences with the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the joint competition “Beschäftigung gestalten – Unternehmen zeigen Verantwortung” [create employment – companies show responsibility] are fixed elements of long-term dialogue between business and politics. IfB!’s experience impressively demonstrates that you can change more with a few positive examples than with mere demands. IFOK helps the Initiative für Beschäftigung! to:

• Identify and develop tailored and innovative solutions for practice
• Promote and support the implementation and enhancement of innovative developments at local level
• Organise the exchange of ideas and information between regions to communicate, disseminate, and implement these solutions and communicate the results to government and the public

In a project entitled “Zukunftsfähigkeit von Unternehmen: Potenziale entdecken und entwickeln” [company sustainability: discover and develop potential], the IfB! has developed successful best-practice models for helping young people into training and a career, job market fitness and employability, employment opportunities in a demographic change, and achieving a good work-life balance.