Volunteers and Foam Tales: both of Henkel’s programs received CSR Hungary awards

Csilla Gera, HR manager and Zsuzsanna Szak, business director, Henkel

At this year’s CSR Hungary awards ceremony, Henkel received three awards: on October 18, the company received the awards in the categories Best internal CSR solutions and Best CSR (Common issues – joint responsibility). Henkel earned the awards with the “Together for Tomorrow” employee volunteering program and with the Foam Tales for a better life initiative. Trade magazin joined the CSR Hungary competition for the 4th time this year to once again highlight two of the winning FMCG market applications, thereby supporting them in making them even more widely known. This year, among other things, they chose Henkel Magyarország Kft.’s “Let’s get together for tomorrow” employee volunteering program, as an exemplary community program for other companies to follow.

Employees as drivers of CSR

In the context of the Let’s get together for tomorrow initiative, which has been running since 1998, Henkel supports the voluntary charitable activities of its employees with financial contributions, product donations, paid leave or technical support. In the program that also operates successfully at the Hungarian subsidiary, many charitable initiatives have been implemented over the years: among other things, a birdhouse was built, a kindergarten playground was renovated, a music and creative space was created, tours and sports events, and camps were created. In the last two years alone, more than 60 charity programs were implemented by nearly 40 employees, which were supported by the company with more than 304 thousand euros, i.e. more than HUF 120 million.

Foam stories and cleaning products for kindergartens and preschoolers

During the pandemic, Henkel delivered 150,000 shower gels, shampoo, toothpaste, soap and detergent to more than 37,000 children, targeting the poorest parts of the country. The donation series, which started in the spring of 2020, ended in November 2021, the donations reached the affected people with the help of the adopt a preschool movement. The program for a better life with Foam Stories started with a storybook, in which the stories were included with the help of influencers. After the volumes were printed, donations were collected as part of an online promotion, and kindergartens throughout the country benefited from the support received in this way. Hair and body care products were used in many institutions to provide enough toiletry supplies for half a year or a whole year, in other places kindergarten costs were reduced with their help, so the money saved was used to purchase other equipment or even go on a trip. Later on, consumers could come across the storybooks attached to Schauma products.

“Commitment to sustainability and society is extremely important for Henkel, as well as involving our workshops in our sustainability-related activities. With our employee volunteering program, we have already reached hundreds of thousands of people over the years, having a positive impact on their micro and macro environment. We are very happy with the awards, this is a serious recognition for us, especially that we won them in a jubilee year, on the 35th anniversary of our entry into the market,” said Dr. Ágnes Fábián, Managing Director of Henkel Hungary.