Employee engagement and community
When our employees and their communities thrive, so do we. That’s why we empower our colleagues to give back to the communities and local organisations they care about the most.
Engaging globally with local communities
Our ambition is to enable communities to thrive and improve quality of life through our employee and community engagement programmes.
Installing pumps in water-deprived communities, donating learning materials to children in need, helping people with disabilities integrate into working societies – these are some of the initiatives we’re proud to be taking.
From our employees walking for water, to creating awareness about the water crisis in developing nations, to our senior leaders creating and advocating sustainable mindsets, we believe the key to sustainability engagement is to get engaged and to stay engaged, both as people and as a company, wherever we are in the world.
It’s a long-term commitment that we must all choose to make in our everyday lives.
Read on to discover some of the action we’re taking.
Water2Life
Water2Life is our employee-driven programme that brings clean water to people in need. Whilst we specialise in the water solutions, we partner with NGOs to use their specialist knowledge to support our projects.
Between 2010 and 2021 we provided better water access for over 60,000 people through Water2Life. By 2030, we want the programme to have reached the lives of 100,000 people.
Three days to make a world of difference
In Grundfos, we love the idea of giving back to our community, and we believe it should be possible for everyone. That’s why all Grundfos employees can get three days paid time off per year to do volunteer work. Grundfos have always had a strong focus on community involvement and want to enable all our employees to create the change they want to see in their community. As employees you can choose to do good within water, climate, or people – all matters close to our hearts.
It’s our ambition to reach 20% volunteer participation by 2025 and 50% by 2030 across Grundfos.
Grundfos North America raised DKK 734,500 through Walk for Water events held at various locations in 2018.
During 2019, the generous donation funded the installation of a water tower, off-grid solar inverter, and pump that provides reliable and safe water to Mvumi Hospital in the rural Dodoma district of Tanzania, with no onsite well and the only medical facility serving the 400,000 people living in the area.
In the hot, dry emirate of Dubai, they also walked the three-kilometre route, and Kostas Poulopoulos, Gulf Area Managing Director, was happy to see so many colleagues participate..
“I believe that truly solving water scarcity is a challenge that each and every one of us needs to take part in,” says Kostas. “We need to start with ourselves, with our employees, their families, and friends, encouraging them to recognise the problem and to start conserving precious water.”
Walk for Water has become very important to people in the Grundfos Illinois office. “It’s hard to fathom the fact that one-third of the world still lacks access to clean, safe water,” says Alyssa Phelps, Service Programme leader at Grundfos Americas. “The YCC office is happy and proud to donate our time to help others.”
Over in Houston, our office there hosted their second Walk for Water in 2019. Betty Nguyen, Associate HR Recruiter, joins Alyssa in her enthusiasm. “Many of our employees have had several experiences with hurricanes and inclement weather,” she says. “We definitely understand the importance of access to clean water, and are more than happy to do our part.”
Initiatives across the globe
Community engagement is about responding to local needs. Take a look at some of the many initiatives our colleagues have engaged in to make a difference throughout the world.
In Brazil: sharing is caring
In 2019, Grundfos Brazil colleagues donated 533kg of food collected from different departments to Anjos da Sopa (Soup Angels), a local charity feeding the homeless. “The impact is easy to understand, and those who participate always return with more energy and meaning,” says Tatiane Balbino, administrative assistant.
They admit that volunteering requires an investment of time, but agree that the end result is worth it. “It doesn’t matter what type of project you do. The important thing is to act! That’s Grundfos,” says Tatiane.
Rebuilding the Bahamas
Catastrophic damage displaced tens of thousands when Category 5 Hurricane Dorian made landfall in The Bahamas on September 1, 2019. The most affected area was the Abaco Islands. The island chain’s water supply was contaminated by saltwater.
Senior OEM Account Manager for Water Treatment, MacKenzie Christie, spent three weeks of her vacation time helping bring clean drinking water to people in Marsh Harbour, a small town on Great Abaco Island.
Working side by side with residents, eight hours a day, MacKenzie pulled in saltwater from the harbour. Using a reverse osmosis (RO) system, which is ideal for purifying water in areas with little to no fresh water sources, the project produced 8,000 gallons of clean drinking water per day using a system that can make 30,000 gallons at full capacity.
In Serbia it starts from the heart
Colleagues at our factory in Serbia have spent countless hours in service of young people in their community.
More than 100 computers that would otherwise have been thrown away were refurbished and donated to a local school, together with printers, toys, and school supplies. The initiative shows that service projects don’t have to be costly. With a little cleaning or repair, used items can often be brought back to life, bringing joy to someone in need.