Siemens Ltd., China - Siemens Caring Hands - Employee Volunteering

Background to the casestudy

Initial situation

Nowadays, CSR becomes a vital factor to company Image and indirectly influences Customers’ Loyalty. The Chinese Government considers enterprises not only profit producers but also social responsibilities takers. Therefore, CSR in China is essential for doing business there. The current economy and natural imbalance in China has gradually motivated companies to engage in CSR activities to contribute to the society. For example, the development of healthcare solutions for rural China is of key importance for China. Since rural healthcare improvement has become one of the top priorities of the Chinese Government, Siemens as a leading global healthcare solution provider, with its strengths and competences in this field lends a helping hand to reach this important goal. Siemens kicked off USD 10 million (7,73 Mio. Euro) rural healthcare project and started its roll-out in China.

In this project, Siemens will equip the county-level hospital with a full range of appropriate diagnostic imaging equipment – including ultrasound, X-ray and CT. Since medical experience is crucial in the healthcare delivery process, Siemens will meanwhile provide relevant medical and application training to support the education of the physicians in the hospital. Beside that, the company will also install water treatment equipment to prevent health threats to the environment from the hospital's wastewater. With all these contributions, the county-level hospital will be modeled into a Rural Center of Medical Excellence.

Relationship to core business

We use the technique and Know-How from our core business and have also volunteerism with our employees, which are indirect from the core business.

Siemens’s early corporate citizenship activities in China can be traced back to the 1930ies, when Mr. John Rabe, then Siemens business representative in Nanjing and Chairman of the Nanjing International Safety Zone, provided humanitarian aid and shelter for over 250,000 Chinese refugees at Siemens’ property in Nanjing during the “Nanjing Massacre”

Intension of corporate citizenship

Description of the issue

Siemens Caring Hands - Employee Volunteering

An international team of over 50 Siemens volunteers visited Lianhe School in a poverty-stricken mountainous area of eastern Guandong Province in late September on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the "Enlightening the Future" program, and set up a library with over 2,000 books, a lab with 12 PCs.

"Love Circulation" was specially launched on the 5th anniversary of the "Enlightening the Future" program to involve those young people already helped by Siemens in the "Enlightening the Future" program. As a Siemens corporate citizenship program, it is aimed to supporting the education of the young generation in remote areas of China. Since its launch in 2002 in Guangdong Province, the program has been warmly embraced by our employees with active volunteering and also won full recognition from the local people and the government.

Migrant workers' children at Tenglong School in Beijing Chaoyang District will remember March 1st as a happy day, as they received 18 new blackboards and stationery from Siemens employees. Some outstanding students even got their wish realized by getting their tuition-fee paid or receiving a gift they've been longing for. The money was raised at a charity evening on February 8 by commercial staffs who are members of the Commercial Networking Community. This is a group of around 60 selected commercials led by Ms. Jill Lee and the commercial heads of the Business Groups and Corporate Departments. A total of RMB 85 000 (9 525 Euro) was raised by the community members through auctioning and donation, which led to the establishment of an education fund. The Commercial Community seeks to continue such fund-raising and community support activities to provide more education opportunities. Established in 2004, Tenglong School has around 800 students and most of their parents are migrant laborers in the capital city.

Target group

Our target groups for all CSR activates under two of our aforementioned umbrella programs range from people in the poverty-stricken and disaster affected regions, Siemens Stakeholders, Society in general as well as Employees.

Implementation

Strategy

A strong commitment to good Corporate Citizenship is a core value of Siemens that is based on the recognition that the company’s activities have a wider impact on the society in which it operates, and that developments in society in turn impact the company’s ability to pursue its business successfully. Siemens therefore actively manages the economic, social and environment impact of its activities, and realizes long-term benefits by working with local communities, government organizations and other key stakeholders.

Challenges

As a result of the political and social climate of the Chinese society, it has become crucial for multinational companies to become involved in CSR projects in compliance with local government’s CSR initiatives, i.e. Chinese government environmental protection initiatives and energy saving schemes. Therefore, the company has been activity seeking any potential opportunity arisen in this area to tackle the increasingly concerned social and global environmental problems.

Achievement

Lessons learned

Balance of different parties’ interest both internally and externally. I.e. how to consolidate efforts and provide most needed assistance to the needy group. We tried to understand and meet different needs of interest groups.