TÜV NORD GROUP  | CORPORATE REPORT

Corporate Responsibility

It was in 2018 that the TÜV NORD GROUP first provided comprehensive information on the economic, environmental and social impact of its business activities. As in 2019, we are once again publishing our Corporate Responsibility Progress Report this year. This refers to our Corporate Responsibility Strategy in the areas of responsible value creation, staff orientation, environmental and societal orientation. We also disclose the extent to which we have achieved the objectives of our CR Roadmap 2020.

The present “Corporate Responsibility” chapter consists of excerpts from the 2020 progress report, which is published in a separate document.

Our Corporate Responsibility strategy

THE CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY STRATEGY OF THE TÜV NORD GROUP

Sustainability and responsibility are the driving force behind the entrepreneurial vision of the TÜV NORD GROUP, and these qualities are firmly embedded in our DNA. Our long-term Group-wide Corporate Responsibility Strategy is at the heart of all our activities. It was developed in 2018 and defines how we at the TÜV NORD GROUP seek to understand and fulfil our responsibility. Our integrated management system has proved its worth in the implementation of our CR Strategy, which is why we continued to fully adhere to it in 2020. This enabled us to continue to im­plement our strategy step by step at the level of both business units and Group companies. On the following pages, we use extracts to report fully and transparently from our Roadmap 2020. In doing so, we look at what has been done to achieve our objectives and the status quo at the end of the roadmap period from 2018 to 2020. An important success factor in achieving our goals this year was once again the involvement of the six bu­siness units and their companies.

Current challenges and relevant influencing factors will require us to manage our sustainable actions even more effectively and with greater focus in the future. At the beginning of 2020, we further underscored the importance of sustainability in the Group’s mission statement by defining sustainability as one of six guiding values of the TÜV NORD GROUP.

The Group's clear position regarding sustainable value creation is also reflected in the new Group strategy. Sustainability is a major thrust of our “Strategy2025”. In October 2020, the new strategy was presented by members of the Board of Management and the Group Executive Committee at a web conference to which all employees of the Group were invited.

In April 2020, the CR Steering Committee critically assessed the CR Strategy and CR Roadmap 2020 (> see Corporate Responsibility Progress Report 2019) and the self-selected targets and ­confirmed them for 2020 without further adjustments. In May 2020, the CR Steering Committee started to develop a new CR Strategy for 2025 and the first related CR Roadmap (2021 to 2023). A second CR Roadmap will then be introduced to cover the period from 2024 to 2025. This development was at an advanced stage by the end of 2020. The new CR Strategy 2025 and the associated first CR Roadmap 2023 are expected to enter into force in the first quarter of 2021. We will provide detailed information on this process in our next Corporate Responsibility Report.

ALIGNMENT WITH THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGs) OF THE UNITED NATIONS

Our strategic orientation is not limited solely to megatrends: since 2018 we have also been increasingly aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2020, we paid particularly close attention to the transformative potential of the SDGs for our own digitalisation projects, innovations, services and business activities and anchored this potential as an objective for our “Sustainable Product & Service Portfolio” in the new Group strategy.

In 2020, for the first time, we subjected the innovation projects of all the German business units and companies in the Group to a review based on the sustainability criteria. In the process, their impact on the SDGs was also determined in a structured way (> for the ­result see table in the chapter “Our Roadmap in 2020”). From now on, each innovation project will be reviewed at one of the first decision-making points in the innovation process to determine how the innovation will contribute to sustainable development. The members of staff responsible will record which SDG indicators will benefit from an innovation, and how strongly, and to what extent it will support the implementation of the Group’s CR Roadmap.

Starting In 2021, we are also going to roll out the evaluation of our service portfolio and the determination of the impact of our services on the SDGs in a structured way. In this way, we aim to ­ensure that we will contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals with not only our new services but our entire business activities. Based on the results of this extended evaluation process, a structured, semi-quantitative evaluation of the relevant SDG contributions of our value creation will also be carried out in the future. Our further aim will then be to manage the impact of our sustainable actions as a company in a more strategically and operationally targeted manner.

MANAGEMENT AT ALL LEVELS

The Group’s CR Steering Committee met eight times in 2020. It includes CR coordinators as representatives of the business units and functional divisions of the TÜV NORD GROUP. These coordinate all CR-related activities in their respective business units or divisions with the management group as well as coordinating the implementation of the CR Roadmap and, in 2020, played a significant part in shaping the new CR Strategy 2025 and the CR Roadmap 2023.

In the 2020 reporting year, we also intensified cooperation on CR topics between all the levels of the hierarchy. We laid the foundation for this intensified cooperation at the beginning of 2020 with a meeting between the Group’s CR manager, the CR coordinators of the business units and the management representatives of the German Group companies. Approaches to effective forms of cooperation were developed to improve the integration and implementation of our strategic CR guidelines into our processes and activities.

INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED

In April 2019, we discussed our first Corporate Responsibility Report with selected representatives of client companies, ap­proval-issuing authorities, university agencies and NGOs. In October 2020, we continued this direct dialogue with our stakeholders at a stakeholder event. The online event was held under the banner “Sus­tainability opens up new paths to a common future”. The aim was to present key aspects of our CR Strategy 2025 and to engage in dialogue about them with external experts who have relations with TÜV NORD GROUP. More than 60 decision-makers from companies, organisations and our Group discussed issues such as innovations and services, human rights, supply chain law and climate protection. Courtesy of this dialogue with our stake­holders, we gathered some valuable feedback for our CR Strategy 2025.

In 2020, we also used our various formats, such as management meetings, on-board events and corporate audits, to engage in dialogue with our internal stakeholders on CR topics. In 2020, at international meetings, we also filled In the foreign companies in the TÜV NORD GROUP about our CR topics, for the first time actively involving them in the further development of our CR activities via the International Quality Conference 2020. The Management Conference in December 2020 also played an important role here. Under the headline “Leading and Prevailing in Challenging Times”, 125 top executives from the Group met for a two-day online event. At this themed event, the Chairman of the Board of Management Dr. Dirk Stenkamp addressed the topics of Corporate Responsibility from the perspective of the Group's “Strategy2025”. Prof. Stefan Schaltegger (University of Lüneburg) contributed with a keynote speech under the heading of “Sustainability as Key Driver of Market Transformation – Developing Business Cases for Sustainability”.

Our Roadmap 2020

We developed and coordinated the CR Roadmap of the TÜV NORD GROUP in a comprehensive process in 2018. At the beginning of the reporting year, we established that it would be possible to continue to use our roadmap as guidance for 2020 without further adjustments. This forms the basis of all our actions and activities relating to Corporate Responsibility and includes an overarching and specific self-determined goal for each of the fields of action that we set out to achieve by the end of 2020.

The objectives and measures of our CR Roadmap with the 2020 timeframe served as guidance for three years for all the employees of the Group in questions of Corporate Responsibility. We are already successfully managing their implementation in Germany through the Group's central CR management team and with the aid of the CR coordinators of the business units and the functional divisions of the holding company.

The TÜV NORD GROUP is also perceived from the outside as a values-oriented and sustainable company: In 2020, we achieved EcoVadis Gold status, placing us in the top five percent of com­panies rated by EcoVadis with regard to sustainability.

At the end of 2020, we assess the extent to which we have achieved our CR Roadmap 2020 targets. Our meta-objectives per field of action and where we are on the path to achieving them at the end of the current roadmap period are set out below.

“Our achievement of economic success considers the interests of both human beings and nature.”

NEWS ON THE MANAGEMENT APPROACH, TOPICS AND CONTROL

The positioning of the TÜV NORD GROUP on sustainability-oriented value creation was most clearly demonstrated in 2020 by the inclusion of the sustainability dimension as a key thrust in the new Group strategy. The commitment to sustainability-oriented value creation anchored in the strategy is also reflected in the sub-strate­gies of our six business units, each of which has set its own objectives, to be achieved by 2025, on the subject of the “Sustainable Product & Service Portfolio”. Sustainability is thus deeply rooted at a strategic level in our value creation.

In 2020, we focused intensely on the transformative potential of the SDGs for our own digitalisation projects, innovations, ser­vices and business activities. In the first Group-wide evaluation of innovation projects in the second half of 2020, we recorded which SDG subordinate goals and indicators were benefiting from an ­innovation, and how strongly, and to what extent this innovation was supporting the implementation of the Group’s CR Roadmap.

From 2021, we are also going to roll out the evaluation of our service portfolio and the determination of the impact of our services on the SDGs in a structured way. In this way, we aim to enable a broad and structured evaluation of the specific contributions of our value creation to sustainable development in the short to medium term and also to manage our sustainable impact as a company in a more targeted manner.

The digital transformation within the Group, which was already well advanced in 2019, was able to mitigate some of the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the TÜV NORD GROUP. At the same time, this exceptional situation accelerated, as did the introduction of new digital solutions such as remote audits and online campuses, which are playing their part in securing and even expanding our value creation and thereby increasing the resilience of our company.

BECOMING A SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRY THROUGH RESPONSIBLE VALUE CREATION

SDG 9 has already been identified in the 2019 Progress Report as the key UN global goal in the “Responsible value creation” field of action. Through its business activities (outer part), the TÜV NORD GROUP has a direct impact (inner part) that will in the long term reap benefits for SDG 9 (centre of the circle).

In the “Responsible Value Creation” field of action, our particular focus is on our responsible and sustainable actions as a company. With our services and internal activities, we have the opportunity to make the impact of our company and even our customer companies more sus­tain­able in economic, environmental and societal terms. In particular, we support the path to the following six United Nations Sustainable De­vel­opment Goals (SDGs): We promote Quality Education (SDG 4), Afford­able and Clean Energy (SDG 7), Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG 8), Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12) and Climate Action (SDG 13).

However, the biggest contribution we are making to sustainable devel­opment is in respect of SDG 9 “Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure”.
(> see the 2019 Progress Report)

We are having an impact, for example, with our services on the transition to digital business processes. But our products related to a sustainable energy supply or the promotion of environmentally sound innovations are also paving the way to more sustainability in this area.

We made particular progress in 2020 in assessing the sustainability of our innovations.
(> see also roadmap in this chapter)

Highlights of 2020

“Responsible value creation” field of action

CERA 4 IN 1 BRINGS TRANSPARENCY INTO THE SUSTAINABLE EXTRACTION OF NATURAL RESOURCES

Consumers are increasingly paying attention to sustainability, not only in food, but also in smartphones, laptops and electric cars. In the process, they are usually guided by certificates. However, the certification landscape for natural resources is still patchy at present. This is exactly what “CERA 4in1” wants to change: The certification system initiated by the TÜV NORD GROUP is the first process to enable a comprehensive assessment of envi­ron­men­tal, social and economic sustainability along the entire mineral resource value chain.

Since 2017, DMT (the leading company in the Engineering and Natural Resources business unit) has been driving the development in partnership with TÜV NORD CERT, the Dutch University of Leiden, the Austrian University of Leoben as well as the Swedish research institution RISE (“The Research Institute of Sweden”) and LTU Business, with the financial support of EIT. The first standards are currently being tested in international pilot projects. There is already enormous interest in the business community: Siemens, Volkswagen, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and many other companies are actively involved in the development of CERA 4in1.

SUPPORTING THE ENERGY TRANSITION THROUGH SUSTAINABLE USE OF DEEP GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

At the beginning of 2020, DMT carried out a seismic exploration programme to the southeast of Munich. The aim was to find sources and potential for use of environmentally friendly geothermal energy from deep underground strata. The company used a special, environmentally friendly process in which sound waves are generated on the earth's surface and sent down into the ground. The underground rocks reflected the sound waves differently, and the differences were recorded using geophones (underground microphones). A 3D image of the subsoil was then produced, which yielded precise information about its thermal water-bearing formations.

IMPROVING SAFETY FOR THE SMART CITY

Cities and municipalities are going smart. The cybersecurity and trustworthiness of digitised infrastructures are an essential prerequisite. And these are exactly what the IT business unit sets out to provide. TÜViT SeCom is currently working together with BearingPoint on an order from the Federal Office for Information Security. The commission concerns supporting municipalities in the building of secure and reliable IoT infrastructures to ensure that smart cities and regions are good places to live. The work does not just concern administrative services: areas such as transport, energy supply and education are also increasingly going digital. For this purpose, the colleagues developed a recording methodology that identifies possible security vulnerabilities and forms the basis for recommendations for action.

“Our employees are at the heart of our company and the key to our long-term success.”

NEWS ON THE MANAGEMENT APPROACH, TOPICS AND CONTROL

We continued to work in 2020 to provide the best possible working conditions for our staff. In 2020, for example, all executives were called upon to communicate the Group's management guidelines in their area of responsibility and to enter into an active dialogue with their employees.

We have systematically expanded the range of digital training opportunities to further support our most important resource, our employees.

In this way, the TÜV NORD GROUP managed to meet the staff’s learning needs using digital means, the pandemic having reduced classroom trainings to a handful.

In addition, in 2020 we expanded the diversity management of TÜV NORD GROUP by creating a new position and started reporting key figures on diversity in the HR Controlling Standard Report. With this focus and the continuous improvement of the employer brand, the HR division is supporting the entire TÜV NORD GROUP in the fulfilment of its corporate responsibilities.

FOCUSING ON THE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF EMPLOYEES

SDG 3 has already been identified in the 2019 Progress Report as the central UN global goal in the “Staff orientation” field of action. Through its business activities (outer part), the TÜV NORD GROUP is giving rise to direct effects (inner part) that will pay back into SDG 3 (centre of the circle) in the long term.

Supporting our employees is at the heart of the “Staff orientation” field of action. With our internal activities, we are contributing to Quality Education (SDG 4), Gender Equality (SDG 5), Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG 8) and Reduced Inequalities (SDG 10).

In this field of action, the focus is on the themes in SDG 3, Good Health and Well-being.
(> see the 2019 Progress Report)

We are of course leading the way in the health and safety of our own employees, in particular by implementing an OHM. During the 2020 pandemic, we attached great importance to educational work on health for our employees, service providers and customers.

We are also contributing to the health of the working environment and promoting the cause of safety in our society with a wide range of services, such as our domestic water tests, vehicle safety inspections and the certification of medical devices as well as management systems in the field of occupational health and safety, including for our customers.

Highlights of 2020

“Staff orientation” field of action

MORE SUCCESS THROUGH NEW WORK

To achieve success in a digitalised world of work, TÜV NORD Mobilität is turning to innovative working models that combine existing approaches with new methods. In addition to the training of additional digital experts, a further focus is on the agile management method known as SCRUM. With the help of SCRUM, it was possible to develop a portal for the preparation of claims and value assessments, with which the company can process customer requests and requirements much more quickly. The platform proved to be very helpful especially during the coronavirus crisis, as customers were able to submit their requests digitally. The experience of SCRUM has been consistently positive: Flexible ways of working increase employee and customer satisfaction, facilitate interaction with stakeholders and promote improved value creation.

ACTIVELY PROMOTING MENTAL HEALTH

In order to get an overview of mental health problems in the workplace, the TÜV NORD GROUP carried out an online employee survey in 2020. In a short questionnaire, individual factors such as work content, organisation and social relationships were specifically addressed in terms of their potential for mental health issues. The survey is helping in the development of prevention and occupational safety and health: illnesses can thus proactively be avoided or their severity and consequences reduced. The evaluation was carried out via an independent external service provider; the findings will be used for the future design of the workplace.

FAMILY-CONSCIOUS MANAGEMENT CULTURE REINFORCED

The TÜV NORD GROUP has been working for many years to ensure that employees can reconcile work and family life. Executives have a special responsibility in this regard: They act as contact persons for their team and are in the position to offer staff members individual leeway. At the same time, they can themselves exemplify a healthy balance between work and leisure. To allow them to embody this role model even more fully, this year the Group launched a webinar series in the “HR4Business” context. As well as general encouragement, colleagues are shown particularly successful examples from the Group. Together, we considered how to further underpin our family-aware corporate culture. The first three dates took place in 2020 and the seminar series will continue in 2021.

“Climate protection and the preservation of the basic support systems for our way of life are among the greatest challenges of our time, and we will either rise to them together or not at all.”

NEWS ON THE MANAGEMENT APPROACH, TOPICS AND CONTROL

We see the protection of the climate and the environment as the most important challenge of our time. In 2020, we continued to work to enhance our positive influence on the environment and to reduce the negative impact of our business. With the aim of sending an even clearer signal of our intentions in environmental and climate protection, we have committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030. This means that the CO₂e emissions in the Group which result from business-related travel, the use of real estate (scope 1 and 2) and the consumption of essential resources in the company (Scope 2, paper), will be set to zero throughout the Group. As an intermediate step, we have set ourselves the target of reducing CO₂e emissions by 7.5% per year by 2025, that means, to 55% compared to 2019. In our implementation of this target, we will follow the principle of “Avoid, reduce, offset”:

• We are avoiding generating emissions within the company, for example, by developing new ways of providing services.
• We are reducing our own emissions, for example, by increasing the energy efficiency of our buildings.
• We are offsetting emissions within the company which we cannot avoid or reduce.

We are currently developing further measures, such as a mobility concept, to achieve our new climate target. Various measures are already being implemented. For example, our main sites have been using green electricity for several years. Our energy-efficient new building in Essen will be completed as planned in 2021. In 2020, we also decided to build an extensive charging infrastructure at our main locations in 2021, each of which is to be given 40 charging points for electric and hybrid vehicles belonging to employees and guests. In addition, site-flexible work is now possible for our employees starting this year, which also means that we expect our CO₂e emissions to go down.

Protecting the environment and the climate is a task that we can only solve together. As a service provider, we are also supporting our customers in their efforts to make their companies more energy-efficient and thereby to save CO₂e. In doing so, we are offering them expert assistance with a wide range of environmental protection issues.

EFFECTIVE MEASURES FOR CLIMATE PROTECTION

SDG 13 has already been identified in the 2019 Progress Report as the central UN global goal in the “Environmental orientation” field of action. Through its business activities (outside), the TÜV NORD GROUP is giving rise to direct effects (inner part of the circle) that will count toward the fulfilment of SDG 13 (centre of the circle) in the long term.

Our services and internal activities in the “Environmental orientation” field of action are contributing to ecological development in many ways. We are helping to make energy affordable and clean (SDG 7) and pro­moting greater sustainability in industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), in cities and municipalities (SDG 11) and in responsible consumption and production (SDG 12).

At the heart of the field of action is the aspiration to curb the warming of our planet and to limit what will in some places be the catastrophic effects of anthropogenic climate change (SDG 13).
(> see the 2019 Progress Report)

Our diverse services for sustainable energy supply, the consistent detec­tion and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from business trips and the increased use of digitalised business processes have the aim of further significantly increasing our contribution to climate protection.

We made particular progress in our internal climate protection activities in 2020 by adopting a programme on climate protection and carbon neutrality by 2030.
(> see also roadmap in this chapter)

Highlights of 2020

“Environmental orientation” field of action

LEADING THE WAY IN FLOATING OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY

In 2020, TÜV NORD was one of the world’s first certification bodies to gain the qualification for the evaluation of floating offshore wind farms. These make the use of wind energy possible in locations where the ocean is too deep for wind turbines to be anchored in the seabed. Due to their lack of a solid foundation, floating wind farms will also protect the flora and fauna of coastal areas. The International Energy Agency estimates that the world’s best offshore wind sites could meet almost all of the world’s electricity needs by 2040 on their own. With our accreditation by German accreditation agency DAkkS, we are further expanding our expertise in the field of offshore wind.

ACTIVELY PROMOTING AWARENESS OF SUSTAINABILITY

Air, water, energy, soil: the responsible use of these resources is of fundamental importance to operational success. A lack of awareness can easily lead to environmental scandals that can damage the reputation and endanger the very existence of companies. The TÜV NORD Akademie offers clarity with its “Environment and Energy” seminar programme. It offers our customers the necessary knowledge to set up an environmental management system for their operations and sets out the current regulations and laws for companies. In 2020, in more than 450 events with almost 5,000 participants, we were able to actively contribute to the promotion of sustainable thinking and action.

PHOTOVOLTAIC MODULES FOR A SUCCESSFUL ENERGY TRANSITION

In the photovoltaic (PV) laboratory of TÜV NORD China, the sun shines at the push of a button. With a solar simulator, test engi­neers irradiate PV modules to measure their output power. The high-tech modules form the key components in solar power systems and, as they convert solar energy into electricity, are thus an important element for a successful energy transition. In 2020, the team of ten tested 4,846 PV modules – 10% more than in 2019. In addition, the technical facilities of the PV laboratory were ex­panded in 2020, with the effect that larger solar modules can now also be tested. 

“To be truly meaningful, individual human development must take place in the context of society.”

NEWS ON THE MANAGEMENT APPROACH, TOPICS AND CONTROL

We at the TÜV NORD GROUP, we see ourselves as an integral part of society. So that we could better understand the expectations of our stakeholder groups and set the course for even closer cooperation, we continued our dialogue with them in the context of an online event. Under the banner “Sustainability opens the way to a common future”, we discussed issues such as innovations and services, human rights and climate protection with more than 60 decision-makers from companies, organisations and our Group. We also gained some valuable feedback on the design of our new CR 2025 strategy, which is expected to come into force in 2021.

In 2020, we placed particular emphasis on respect for and pro­tection of human rights in the corporate context. In a workshop with representatives of all the relevant business areas, we suc­ceeded in raising participant awareness on this issue by swapping ideas and reviewing our internal processes with regard to the recording and evaluation of human rights risks. To meet the requirements of the National Action Plan for Economics and Human Rights (NAP) and a future law of due diligence, we have worked with our colleagues to develop solutions where necessary. For example, we have revised our Code of Conduct and drafted a Declaration of Principles on Respect for Human Rights, to be published in early 2021.

PROMOTING SUSTAINABILITY IN SOCIETY THROUGH TARGETED PARTNERSHIPS

SDG 17 has already been identified in the 2019 Progress Report as the key UN global goal in the “Societal orientation” field of action. Through its business activities (outer part), the TÜV NORD GROUP is giving rise to direct effects (inner part) that will pay back into SDG 17 (centre of the circle) in the long term.

In the “Societal orientation” field of action, we are pooling those of our activities which have an impact on society. In this way, we are making a positive contribution to Quality Education (SDG 4), Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (SDG 9), Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11), and to Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (SDG 16).

In this field of action, we are focusing in particular on our participation in committees and associations and on supporting technology-based environmentally and socially oriented projects and initiatives.
(> see the 2019 Progress Report)

We are using our knowledge and resources to work with selected partners and social actors to promote sustainable development, especially through the opportunities offered by technology. We are in particular making a determined contribution to SDG 17, “Partnerships for the Goals”.

We made particular progress in 2020 on human rights by reviewing and expanding our existing risk process. We also drew up a Declaration of Principles on Respect for Human Rights.
(> see also roadmap in this chapter)

Highlights of 2020

“Social orientation” field of action

PROGRESS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST NUCLEAR WASTE

Our many years of experience in mining and our expertise in auto­mation and process technology persuaded Germany’s company for radioactive waste disposal, the BGE, to commission DMT with a further step in the process of recovering intermediate radioactive waste from the Asse II mine. After a successful feasibility study in 2009, DMT is now specifying the control technology and the equipment needed for the retrieval. The new design is a major step towards sustainability: Only if the waste is successfully recovered can people and the environment be protected from the consequences of nuclear residues in the long term. DMT is now active worldwide in the disposal of nuclear waste.

“GREEN BUTTON” LAYS THE FOUNDATION FOR SUSTAINABLY PRODUCED TEXTILES

Since 2020, sustainably produced textiles have been certified in the Industrial Services business unit in accordance with the ­specifications of the German textile seal known as the “Grüner Knopf”, or “Green Button”. This state-sponsored seal of approval was developed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the German Society for International Cooperation. TÜV NORD CERT assisted in the development of the criteria and is now one of five bodies offering certification according to the criteria for the award of the Green Button textile seal. The Green Button is seen as a blueprint for a future due diligence law which has already been the subject of much discussion.

WORK IN SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS BROADENS HORIZONS

In 2020, the TÜV NORD GROUP participated in the “Changing Sides” programme on a trial basis. Under this scheme, executives spend a week working at a social institution, for example a drug counselling centre, a housing group for disabled people, a refugee shelter or a hospice or palliative care unit. The aim is to strengthen social skills and promote personal resilience. Axel Dreckschmidt, Managing Director of the TÜV NORD Akademie, launched the scheme in February 2020 by spending five days helping out with the Caritas homeless charity. The development portfolio for our executives now includes the possibility of getting to grips with our own value system by “changing sides” and, notwithstanding their financial responsibility, getting the chance to view their leadership role also from an unfamiliar perspective for a change.