Deutsche Lufthansa AG

Deutsche Lufthansa AG

Winning Year: 2010
Industry: Transportation Services
Location: Hesse, Germany
URL: www.lufthansa.com
Employees: 81,331; Percentage over 50: 21.5%

Highlights of 2010 Winning Strategies

Lufthansa offers multiple flexible work arrangements including part-time schedules, job sharing and telecommuting. Employees with caregiving responsibilities also benefit from individualized elder care solutions offered through the company's Family Service. Preventative health measures are a top priority for Lufthansa, and the company emphasizes engagement in individual health through a variety of means, including counseling services for employees facing personal challenges or crises. The company is committed to continuous learning and training and maintains several methods, such as e-learning, to allow employees to take advantage of such opportunities. Lufthansa supports several research projects dedicated to assessing the effects of demographic change on the workplace.


Additional policies and practices:

Lifelong Learning and Training: For all staff, two forms of training programs are accessible; Corporate College, which is generally skill-oriented, and decentralized training units, which are job-related trainings.

Lufthansa founded the first Corporate University in Germany in 1998, the Lufthansa School of Business, which offers courses on interdisciplinary topics, different kinds of off-the-job training, and customized programs for executives. Several self-directed learning programs (web-based training) allow employees to choose the most convenient time to learn.

Lufthansa maintains partnerships with renowned business schools to facilitate executive learning. In 2009, Lufthansa was honored by the European Foundation for Management Development for the General Management Program by winning in the category "Partnership in Learning and Development".

Lufthansa operates a program known as Wissensstaffette to facilitate the handover of knowledge. Wissensstaffette is an advice service which works to identify and structure the existing knowledge of a predecessor, the knowledge-giver, and efficiently pass it along to the successor, the knowledge recipient. This specially crafted program ensures that critical knowledge is not lost as employees leave or retire. It also ensures a smooth transition period and a shorter adjustment period for the successor.

Lufthansa sets a high-value on E-Learning as an efficient and flexible tool for knowledge and information transfer. E-Learning is particularly useful in pilot, IT, and technical staff training. E-Teaming is an additional tool group employees can utilize to communicate and cooperate regardless of location.


Flexible Work Arrangements: Lufthansa offers a wide variety of flexible working arrangements to accommodate individual needs. Part-time options, sabbaticals, job sharing, and flex-time are just some of the working arrangements offered.

Flextime is a particularly important option for Lufthansa and employees operating in a difficult economic climate. Lufthansa may reduce working hours for employees, but is able to keep staff on in their current role. Over 3,000 Lufthansa employees currently work on a partial retirement agreement, offering flexibility to older workers seeking to transition to full retirement. Early retirement is also available.

Lufthansa offers a variety of child-care and elder-care solutions. An external consulting and finder service helps Lufthansa employees locate individual child-care solutions. In the main operational cities child-care and emergency care are available to employees.

For elder care, experts are available to give advice concerning care models and financing options. In 2001, Lufthansa created the option for employees to take up to 364 days for the care of relatives. The company is committed to finding individual solutions that balance the employee's needs and the company's needs.

JobChange, an internal placement agency, is available to assist Lufthansa employees losing their previous positions. The program helps employees locate internal job alternatives that match their skill set. Working from home is also an option open to responsible staff members.

Lufthansa makes a concerted effort to reduce atypical working hours. The company goes above and beyond local legislation to ensure employees are properly compensated for their extra efforts. For example, employees recording 112 hours of night shifts are entitled to an additional holiday, and employees subject to atypical workloads can take unpaid leaves of absences.

Health Promotion and Protection: Preventive health measures are a top priority for the Lufthansa Group. Comprehensive information on health issues is available both on the Group's intranet and in internal print media.

The company provides ergonomic furniture to all employees. Most offices have height adjustable desks, along with ergonomically adjustable chairs.

General health promotion and protection programs are available to all employees, but Lufthansa also offers special programs for certain departments or interests. For example, there is a "Health Week" specifically for administrative staff held once a year in Frankfurt, or "Lufthanseaten laufen," a day aiming to promote the sport of running.

Special health-focus days are held throughout the year to target specific issue areas, such as prevention checks for cancer or cardiovascular diseases. Skin screenings are conducted for cabin crews, who may be more at risk. Vaccinations, examinations and free flu shots are offered. Regular lectures and seminars are held to discuss a variety of health topics from smoking cessation to performance at any age. Emphasis is also placed on the importance of nutrition. Since 2006, when Lufthansa launched LZ Catering, employees have been able to enjoy light, carefully prepared meals and snacks.

Safety is also an important part of Lufthansa's commitment to its employees. All important job-safety activities are coordinated in cooperation with physicians, social counselors and the responsible business segments. Efforts are continuously underway to identify and assess emerging hazards in the workplace. Measures are taken to decrease the number of workplace accidents and to detect risks of occupational diseases and other work-related hazards.
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