Corporate Citizenship

Social engagement is part of our sense of responsibility and firmly embedded in our corporate values.

Social engagement – or corporate citizenship – has always been an integral part of our sense of responsibility as a company. This is a tradition that dates back to our founder, Fritz Henkel, and is firmly embedded in our corporate values. Together with our employees, retirees, customers and consumers, Henkel and the Fritz Henkel Stiftung are able to support sustainable social projects around the world. They both support activities in the areas of social needs, education and science, fitness and health, arts and culture, and the environment.

Supporting Social Cause

Women Empowerment Initiative

Additional information can be found in our Sustainability Report.

Corporate Citizenship at Henkel in India

As mandated by Section 135‏(1) of Companies Act 2013, each Henkel entity in India ‏(Henkel Adhesives Technologies India Private Limited and Henkel Anand India Private Limited) earmarks at least two per cent of its average net profits made during the three immediately preceding financial years on corporate social responsibility ‏(CSR) activities during a fiscal. The CSR initiatives are governed by the respective Henkel entity’s CSR Policy.

It currently has three key CSR programs:

Henkel Edu-care: It is a program that focuses on providing infrastructure support to needy government/ municipal schools located close to our plants/ offices. In 2017, two new social interventions were added to this program; namely, Digital Education initiative and Researchers’ world ‏(Forscherwelt).
Henkel Lighting Lives: The objective of this program is to set-up solar panel grids in villages to meet power needs of the community.
Skill Development: To generate a means of livelihood for youth from under privileged and socio– economically backward backgrounds, Henkel Anand has opened a Plumbing Training Centre at Gurugram in partnership with Kohler India. Some of the other skill development training it runs include Electrician Training Program; vocational skills training programs—tailoring, fashion designing, basic & advanced beauty courses, basic & advanced computer courses, nursery teachers’ training and para nursing training, among others.

Henkel India CSR Initiatives

Empowering Smiles, Enhancing Livelihoods

The team teaches lessons on the basics of general hygiene – including how to brush your teeth properly.

Corporate Volunteering

As part of our corporate engagement, we support our employees and retirees in their social volunteering activities in the communities where they operate, in an effort to support social initiatives and public institutions worldwide.

By establishing Corporate Volunteering ‏(MIT Initiative) in 1998, Henkel became one of the first German companies to include the voluntary social engagement of its employees and retirees as a significant element of its corporate social responsibility policy. By supporting their employees’ social engagement, Henkel sees important benefits. Better teamwork, greater motivation in their job and closer identification with their employer are just some of the positive results that volunteers report. Furthermore, the volunteers play a pivotal role as a link between Henkel and its social environment.

girl holding sustainability teaching materials

Social Partnerships

As part of our corporate engagement, we enter into social partnerships in the communities where Henkel operates, in an effort to support social initiatives and public institutions.

Education is a basic prerequisite for both personal individual development and for society. It is for this reason that education initiatives are among the priorities of our corporate engagement. In cooperation with the Fritz Henkel Stiftung we are concerned with realizing ideas and programs that provide answers to societal problems and challenges. A particular focus of our work are young people - children, youths and young adults. In addition, we support sports clubs, hospitals, kindergartens, schools and universities, charity organizations, and cultural events. We do not support political parties.

Henkel’s sustainability ambassadors: To anchor our understanding of sustainability even more firmly within the company, we want to train all of our employees and encourage them to become sustainability ambassadors

Promoting equal opportunity: Henkel and the “Fritz Henkel Stiftung” are working with the “Teach First Deutschland” educational initiative to increase educational equality. One of the goals is to improve the education and job opportunities for young people regardless of their social background. “Teach First Deutschland” is one of the national partner organizations of the global “Teach For All” network.

Brand Engagement

In addition to Henkel’s corporate engagement aligned with our Sustainability Strategy, our brands also enter social partnerships worldwide.

Our partners and our people are key to driving sustainability along our social partnership activities and in all areas of life. In co-operation with the Fritz Henkel Stiftung our brands support them with products and expertise. They make the difference through their commitment, skills and knowledge, both in their daily business actions and in our communities, where they contribute to sustainability.

Emergency Aid

After natural disasters, Henkel responds quickly and unbureaucratically, providing aid through our foundation, the Fritz Henkel Stiftung, wherever it is needed in the world. In providing this assistance, we take care to ensure that 100 percent of all third-parties donations are passed on to the people affected.

Additional Information

Forscherwelt in Henkel India, schoolgirls in a chemical lab making experiments.

Forscherwelt – A Henkel Initiative

How to encourage children to take up science? Start them young! “There is so much in this world to discover. That’s why curiosity, having the courage to ask questions and having fun in finding out are what lie at the roots of our “Forscherwelt” initiative – igniting children’s interest in the sciences.”

‏(Dr. Simone Bagel-Trah, Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board and the Shareholders’ Committee of Henkel)

Sustainability Publications

Archive of our annual Sustainability Reports, available from 1992 until today on henkel.com.

Fritz Henkel Stiftung

In January 2011, Henkel established the Fritz Henkel Stiftung. This foundation serves as the umbrella for our social engagement. It has close ties to the company and underscores Henkel’s long term commitment to social involvement that goes beyond its direct business interests.