Working healthy makes us more successful

Landshut, 31. January 2014. – Promoting health in the workplace is again on an upward trend: almost 3,000 companies in Bavaria, with almost 1.1 million employees in total, have used the services of AOK Bayern for workplace health management (BGM) since 2012.

The management in Landshut assigned this task to the Dräxlmaier Group. Now, the automotive manufacturer has been certified by AOK Bayern for its exemplary health management. Dräxlmaier is the second company in the city and county of Landshut to receive the BGM certification from AOK.

“We would like to give you our thanks for the excellent cooperation, and we are very proud of the award,” said Roland Polte during the certificate award presentation at the AOK-Geschäftsstelle in Landshut.  “But it really signifies that with our ‘betterworkplace’ program we are meeting the high quality requirements for workplace health management,” continued the Director for Human Resources and Site Management at the Dräxlmaier Group. The overall positive internal response also shows that Dräxlmaier is on the right path with “betterworkplace” and with the wide range of courses and events that are offered to the employees.

“Especially noteworthy in this regard are the accomplishments of the Dräxlmaier Group in the area of ergonomics and relaxation, in the setup of more health- and safety-oriented workstations, as well as anchoring health management in the corporate goals,” as Richard Kirmaier, Director of the AOK Landshut, explained the main reasons for the award.

In order to obtain certification, the Dräxlmaier Group formed a specific “Health circle” in the form of a control committee. Its members include managers from the areas of health management, industrial safety, as well as a plant doctor and employees from the company’s Workers’ Council, and it met periodically. Since February 2013 there has been ergonomics training for the warehouse and packaging departments.  In addition, as part of a “betterworkplace” course, “back school” has been offered by the group, with relaxation techniques, as well as the setup of exercise breaks. In addition, there were various motivational presentations about the AOK flash relaxation on the program. There are additional programs still being planned, and these are supported by the AOK movement specialist Birgit Fuchs. In addition, there are additional “betterworkplace” activities planned at the Dräxlmaier Group sites in Landau a.d. Isar and Braunau am Inn in Upper Austria.

Background: Workplace health promotion emphasizes the relationship between work and health. Unfavorable working conditions can cause or aggravate adverse health effects. Every workplace has specific stresses and challenges: but whereas in earlier times these were due to hard physical work, today the increased workloads and high requirements for top-quality work lead to psychological stresses. These stresses can cause cardiovascular illnesses or psychosomatic disorders. Companies that invest in the health of their employees and in multifaceted prevention measures increase their productivity as a result, since in the long run satisfaction determines external service quality,” said Monika Högl, Coordinator for Occupational Health Management at AOK Landshut.