Social responsibility
Social responsibility at Geberit
Geberit assumes social responsibility. The social commitment should be linked to the core topics of water and basic sanitation and to the employees at the company’s sites worldwide. This approach contributes to the mission of achieving sustained improvement in the quality of people’s lives.
Projects with apprentices and students
Geberit has been carrying out social projects with its own apprentices since 2008. During their assignments in developing and newly industrialised countries, the young apprentices not only gain new intercultural, linguistic, professional and social competencies, but also often act as ambassadors for the company and its social commitment. The social projects make a tangible contribution to Goal 6 of the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations, which aims to give all humans access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation. In 2022, twelve Geberit apprentices from Germany, Austria and Switzerland travelled to Istanbul in Turkey as part of the social project. Accompanied by the local Geberit sales company, they helped renovate eight sanitary rooms and a total of 24 sanitary installations at a primary school for over 1,000 children in a suburb of the city.
As a long-standing member of the Swiss Water Partnership network, Geberit supported a newly launched competition for students and young professionals. As part of the “Youth Water Challenge”, participants drew up suggestions for projects that improve access to water, drinking water quality or hygiene. Nine of these projects were put into action. The Swiss Water Partnership network brings together around 70 organisations from the private sector, science, and public and charitable institutions, with the goal of improving access to water in disadvantaged countries and regions.
Globally engaged
As part of the partnership with the Swiss development organisation Helvetas, infrastructure projects were carried out in developing countries where Geberit employees went on volunteering assignments. Following a two-year interruption to these projects due to the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, 14 Polish employees travelled to Nepal in the reporting year. In a remote village in western Nepal, they laid water supply lines, secured wells and built water tanks under expert supervision. In doing so, they helped to ensure better access to clean drinking water for the villagers.
Despite the war in Ukraine, the local Geberit sales company continued its long-standing project for supporting the professional training of plumbers in the country. Geberit Ukraine is carrying out this project in collaboration with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Swiss foundation Swisscontact and the Ukrainian Ministry of Education. By the end of 2022, almost 3,000 young sanitary specialists (including 19 women) and 50 teachers were trained in 25 vocational schools. As part of this project, Geberit supported the Ukrainian vocational schools with additional material and equipment.
Sanitary equipment was also provided to the “L’Unique Foundation”. Established by a Swiss sanitary entrepreneur and based in Basel (CH), this foundation finances the construction and renovation of sanitary facilities at schools in Nepal and implements them on site.
As a basic principle, social projects are regularly supervised and evaluated by Geberit employees in the respective country or in partnership with non-governmental organisations – including after completion of the projects in question.
Integration and inclusion
The Geberit Group’s social commitment is rounded off by a multitude of other initiatives at a local level. At various sites in Europe, such as Germany, Austria, Poland, France and Switzerland, for example, assembly and packaging work is regularly awarded to workshops for people with disabilities. In the reporting year, this work amounted to around CHF 10 million and gave around 550 people meaningful work.
Donations and contributions
For an overview of donations and financial contributions, see Infrastructure investments and promoted services. All donations are neutral from a party political point of view. No donations were made to parties or politicians. This is ensured globally as part of the annual audit of the Code of Conduct.