Leverkusen | February 03, 2009: Chemion Logistik receives „International Certification for Workforce Reintegration Management”
Chemion Logistik has received the International Certification for its Workforce Reintegration Management from the German Institute of Quality Assurance in Prevention and Rehabilitation (IQPR). Chemion is the first company in the European chemical industry to be awarded this certificate furnishing the service provider with clear evidence that its Reintegration Management (ChEM) complies with legal requirements.
„To Chemion this certification is an important confirmation that we have put our ChEM initiative on a solid basis and that we are on the right tract with our campaigns aiming at bringing employees back into regular working life.“ Monika Gerlieb, Project Manager “Operational Healthcare Management” at Chemion, has a second reason to be happy about the positive results of the IQPR’s audit conducted in November last year. „The certificate also shows that ChEM is firmly rooted in the company and that both management and employee representatives provide unlimited support to the initiative.“
In November 2008, the Rhineland Regional Council had already distinguished Chemion for its exemplary Workforce Reintegration Management. This distinction carried an award of 10,000 Euros used for the certification process as well as the appreciation of ChEM as a role model for other companies.
The ChEM initiative was launched early in 2006 and embedded into Chemion’s operational healthcare management that is based on the pillars of prevention and dialogue, care and support as well as reintegration. In their audit report the IQPR auditors emphasized this integration of the Workforce Reintegration Management programme as particularly positive. The report lists further strong points. These are, among other things, data protection guarantee and data security, communication of program contents to company employees as well as the systematic support of those employees for whom the initiative is a chance to resume their professional activities after a period of disability. They are supported by four ChEM tutors who form part of the reintegration team and perform their co-ordination and intermediary functions in addition to their regular work at Chemion.
Andrea Kraus, who acts as a ChEM tutor in Leverkusen, also sees the certification as a valuable means to further improve the existing system. „We now know that our work for the Workforce Reintegration Management programme meets international quality standards and we can also see from the results where we can make our efforts even more efficient in sub-processes to be able to even more specifically support those concerned in cases of illness, loss of efficiency or disability.“ And the ChEM team has set itself an additional target: The Workforce Reintegration Management activities are to be integrated into Chemion’s quality management by the end of 2009, thus systematically embedding ChEM within Chemion’s business processes.
