Interview with the general managers of help alliance

Susanne Kotysch and Joachim Steinbach about the voluntary donations from staff and the objectives of the aid organisation

Employees can now join the so-called “Payroll Giving” scheme. What kind of support are you hoping to get from the colleagues?

Steinbach: Thanks to an initiative introduced by the HR department, employees now have the opportunity to support the work of help alliance easily and effectively. This helps us tremendously and we would like to express our thanks for this. After all, the global projects of help alliance are exclusively funded through donations.

Kotysch: Of course, we very much hope that many colleagues join the scheme. Because that’s what’s most important about Payroll Giving. Dr. Volkens and Mr Jennerke summed up the situation: It’s not necessarily the amount of the individual donation that’s the main thing, but rather the multiplying effect from the sum of participants. To paraphrase Neil Armstrong: a small step for the employee, a giant leap for help alliance.

Can you explain this?

Kotysch: In the first stage, more than 70000 colleagues from around 50 Lufthansa Group companies have the opportunity to join the Payroll Giving scheme – from July retired employees can also join. If everyone donates just a few cents or euros of their salary, then this can become a huge sum, which lets us do even more with our projects and opens up new prospects for many more children and adolescents.

Keyword projects. In the past, help alliance e.V. was quite diversified and active in many areas. What does the future of the gGmbH look like?

Kotysch: First of all, I would like to say that the project work that we have done over many years is truly exceptional. It is therefore one of our core goals to raise awareness of our commitment and our achievements generally within the group and in society. We want to generate enthusiasm – and we are confident that we will succeed.

Steinbach: The projects will have to have a tighter time schedule and budget in the future. This means, for example: We will bring projects that have reached their goal to an end rather than simply allowing them to carry on. And instead of dealing with a broad range of issues, we will focus on education.

Why this specific focus?

Kotysch: We believe that education is the key to a successful, healthy and self-determined life. This is also one of the so-called sustainable development goals of the United Nations – Quality Education. What’s more, we believe that this priority is an excellent match for our employees and our company. In this area, we can make the most difference with our expertise and our network of colleagues. Issues like entrepreneurship and migration/integration are also close to our heart.

What other priorities are there?

Steinbach: In addition to the focus based on the development goals of the UN, developing the opportunities for participation for the staff in the help alliance projects is at the top of our agenda. The employees continue to support “their” help alliance with passion and dedication. We also receive more and more enquiries from the global regions, from all societies. Colleagues want to contribute in their country in order to be seen as an employer and as a good corporate citizen. We want to support this. Thanks to the colleagues in the different regions, we can tackle the problems in the places where they arose. It is our task to prepare the projects for this and to find new ones that meet the requirements of corporate volunteering. These will be our future flagship projects.

Kotysch: The projects don’t just have a positive effect on people in need, they also broaden the horizons of our colleagues, making them very interesting for personnel development. help alliance is already involved in talent management. For example, a team from the current ProTeam generation will play an active part in the project in Thailand in October for the first time. We have also received strong support from the Explorers and StartTrainees for many years.

How do you channel this willingness to help? And how do the employees find out when and where they are needed?

Kotysch: Together with the current Explorers generation we are setting up a corporate volunteering platform, which will be launched in the middle of the year. This is a database that our employees can access via eBase. It lists all the projects for which we need support and that people can participate in. Employees looking to volunteer can specifically search for fields of activity and requirements profiles and apply directly.

Steinbach: We have just launched a call for action for our integration and migration projects in Germany in eBase. We initially need 100 volunteers looking to get involved. We will expand the platform gradually and for example include international missions – such as duringlayovers.

If you had three wishes for Help Alliance: what would they be?

Steinbach: First of all, I want lots of commitment at all levels. Secondly, I want continued financial support for our work to be able to help as many people as possible.

Kotysch: And our third wish: It would be wonderful if we had an A350 flying around the world as the brand ambassador of help alliance. As a symbol of our commitment, this would be a great way to show the world what we do.