Social commitment
We are aware of our responsible role as a major employer and contractor in the city of Hannover and surrounding region, and we strive to award contracts locally where possible so as to foster businesses based here.
Social commitment is also something that Hannover Re takes very seriously, and the assumption of social responsibility constitutes a core element of our corporate culture. In the year under review, for example, we funded the building of a new daycare centre on our premises in Hannover. It is our hope that this facility will make it easier for working mothers and fathers to re-enter professional life and, what is more, to better combine the joys of parenting with their career. A maximum of 30 infants will be looked after at the nursery by trained childcare nurses. The staff at Hannover Re have taken up this offer of childcare very eagerly, as reflected in the fact that all 30 places for 2009 have already been filled. A society has been founded by Hannover Re employees – "Hannover ReKids e.V." – to support this institution. Going forward, Hannover Re will continue to cover the maintenance and operating costs for the daycare centre.
Yet our assistance is not limited to Germany alone, but is instead geographically wide-ranging. A variety of projects around the world are run under the auspices of individual subsidiaries and branch offices that collect donations for social causes through various staff activities. In Florida, for example, our subsidiary's workforce supports the "New Hope for Kids" campaign: children and their families who find themselves in difficult life situations are assisted with cash donations or other forms of aid.
In Africa, too, Hannover Re has been active for a number of years, inter alia in the project "Food for homeless children": twice a week employees at our South African subsidiary donate food to a centre for homeless children.
These are just two examples of Hannover Re's social commitment on the international level. Back in Hannover we launched a Christmas tree campaign this year – inspired by the South African model: in this way, staff at Hannover Re helped to realise the dreams of children at a local children's home during the Christmas season.