Corporate Social Responsibility

We depend upon sustainable management, through which a combination of economic, ecological and social factors forms the basis of all our actions.

Economic sustainability

Since its founding in 1934, KÖTTER Services has been an owner-managed family business. The company’s subsequent independence from financial investors and shareholders forms the core of our long-term strategy and frees us from short-term profit expectations.

This then creates the basis for the way in which our business relationships are planned. Long-term partnerships with our customers and suppliers, which are founded on mutual trust, are the stable base upon which our group of companies can thrive. Open communication is of particular importance.

Our employees are the pillars of our services. For this reason, staff development and motivation are key factors in our appreciation of you.

Our sustainable strategy also includes a willingness to innovate and invest if we identify market opportunities that fit with our core competencies. Active participation in professional associations also ensures a valuable contribution in this regard.

Environmental sustainability

As a family business, we see ourselves as responsible for passing on the world’s environment intact to future generations. For us, this means ensuring the following:

• The training and sensitisation of our employees on the topic of environmental protection
• The use of low-consumption and low-emission vehicles, in order to reduce energy consumption and pollutant emissions
• The testing,evaluation and optimisation of the environmental impact of our service and products

Each and every one of our nationwide sites is committed to making an active contribution to our environment and implementing our environmental guidelines .

Social sustainability

For decades, we have lent our support to social and charitable initiatives as well as other regional cultural institutions and sports clubs. We do so with an awareness and belief that our financial support not only serves the common good, but also affords many people the opportunity to achieve their personal goals and make small dreams come true.

In April 2019, we signed a Diversity Charter to set an example in the fight against discrimination, both within our society and the world of work. This employer initiative is supported by the Federal Chancellor, Angela Merkel. In order to lend this gesture even more weight, we have also launched a Social Day, in which the thoughts of our young professionals and tomorrow’s experts are listened to closely. In addition, we have introduced employee training on the topic and are also planning further projects.

In order to promote moral courage within our society, we created the “muTiger” foundation in 2011 together with the regional transport association “Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr”.

As a member of the “Initiativkreis Ruhr” collective, we are committed to the sustainable promotion of culture, education and the economy in the Ruhr region. After all, the region's future sustainability and competitive ability must be safeguarded.

As a member of the JOBLINGE initiative, we support disadvantaged young people entering the world of work, and we also assist young refugees throughout their integration process. Several young adults have already started training with us as a result of this initiative.

Both as a supporter of the Witten / Herdecke private university, in particular as part of the foundation “Wittener Institute for Family Businesses (WIFU)” and the foundation “Stiftung Universitätsmedizin Essen”, we are making every effort to promote science and education for future generations.

But we do not simply support the education of young talent outside of our company. We are also continuing to drive forward our vocational training activities. Over the past ten years, we have successfully trained more than 1.000 young adults and continue to employ roughly 90% of those who have completed their training in our group of companies.