Performance knows no limits

Bertelsmann’s efforts are geared toward offsetting any professional, economic and social disadvantages that people may suffer due to a disability.

In his most recent book, “Global Lessons,” Reinhard Mohn wrote: “Our great untapped future reserves of strength are to be found in human motivation and identification.” In this same spirit, we are convinced that people can contribute best if they are able to develop freely - regardless of any disability. As Hartmut Ostrowski, Chairman and CEO of Bertelsmann AG, emphasized: “The fact that people with disabilities have the opportunity at our company to devote themselves to their duties as a matter of course, enables them to fully contribute their capabilities and motivation - for the benefit of Bertelsmann.”

Achieving more together

For this reason, we seek to create conditions that give disabled people equal opportunities for self-development. Among other things, we have developed creative, innovative aids for employees with disabilities, like “Lisa” - a system that alerts hearing-impaired employees to incoming e-mails by means of vibration and light signals; a standing wheelchair that allows wheelchair-bound employees to reach high shelves; and the “shuttle car,” which lets them drive their wheelchair through the hatch right up to the steering wheel. In a report published in 2005, the EU Commission’s Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities made special mention of 19 companies, including Bertelsmann AG, for their innovative and inventive approach to integrating people with disabilities. ”Some companies, like Bertelsmann,” says the report, ”have developed unique practical methods that facilitate work and life in general, and which benefit people with disabilities in their work environment, but which are also made available to society at large.”