Six months through the Middle East by bicycle

Whether it’s employees or consumers – the heart of our work is always about people. Without them, BSH wouldn’t be the company it is today.
That’s why in this section “People at BSH” we talk about colleagues who – be it in a professional or private environment – have made a contribution that made a difference.Working with a disability is a challenge and sometimes even impossible for people in many corporations. Lack of safe equipment and awareness hinders their inclusion. BSH Spain committed to bettering the situation and providing safer working spaces for the colleagues with disabilities. We asked Jesús Fernandez Tapias, Head of HR at BSH Spain, about the measures that were taken so far and the ones that are yet to come to foster Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
In 2021, BSH Turkey launched the WE Power Internship Program, an online event to empower female engineering students and support diversity in the workplace, particularly in core engineering areas where female representation is relatively low. The full-day event attracted over 5000 applications and provided 100 attendees from 17 universities with interactive workshops and informative speeches. We talked with the project lead, Sinem Bitik, about the program’s initiation, its success, and the next steps that are planned for fostering gender diversity at BSH.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (short: DEI) are not only plain values at BSH, but lived reality. This is especially obvious when speaking to our “Diversity Champions” about their experiences and the way they foster DEI at their workplace. Our Diversity Champions have recently been elected by their colleagues due to their outstanding contribution to DEI at BSH.
There is hardly anyone at BSH who knows better about agile collaboration in self-organized teams than Şebnem Balaban, who works as Agile and Transformation Coach in our global HR department. In an interview, we asked her to share her experiences with agile collaboration and give tips for colleagues who are interested in learning how to practice it.
In 2021, the first edition of the BSH Running Challenge in the BSH Region Europe took place. The main goal was to challenge our employees in all locations to stay healthy by leaving their home offices in these Covid-19 times and combine it with a greater cause: Collecting donations to help people in need. And that’s how it worked:
Carlos Sanchez Albir (Projekt Lead in Customer Service at BSH) and Claudia Strauch (Global L&D Application Manager at BSH), recently received their nomination as PROUTVoices at the PROUT AT WORK-Foundation. In an interview, we asked them, what this honor means to them and why they decided to fight for diversity, equity and inclusion at the workplace.
6 months of travel despite permanent employment? No problem at BSH! Rebecca Berger, HR Officer at BSH, took up the offer of a sabbatical and visited numerous countries with her camping bus. In this interview, she tells us why she decided to take a sabbatical, what experiences she had, and how important the support of her colleagues was for her.
Rodolfo Alvarez-Fernandez, Innovation Project Manager at BSH, works in an intercultural diverse team on a daily basis and talked about the advantages and disadvantages at this year’s BSH Diversity Week. In an interview we asked Rodolfo to share his experiences with intercultural diverse environments.
Marc Hantscher, BSH’s Executive Vice President, Head of Global OEM, was recently nominated as PROUT Executive at the PROUT AT WORK-Foundation. In an interview, we asked Hantscher to share his insights about the situation of LGBTQI+ employees, and about the impact good team leadership can have in fostering diversity, equity and inclusion.
BSH fosters employee networks to increase awareness of the most pressing social topics at the workplace. Women’s Equality Day is the perfect occasion to introduce the network “WOMENforBSH”. We asked its members about the importance of their engagement for diversity, equity and inclusion within the company, about the formation of the network and their goals for the upcoming years.
Learning about diversity and inclusion from peers, exchanging experiences, and growing together as teams – these were but a few goals of BSH’s Diversity Week in July. This virtual event was organized by colleagues for colleagues who wanted to change their work environment for the better.
Diverse workforces – sounds great! But what if our socialization makes it difficult for us to build a diverse and inclusive circle of friends and colleagues? Why doesn't a diversity mindset lead to an inclusive work environment on its own? These questions were raised during the session “Is Diversity Inclusive Enough?” at the BSH Diversity Week. We asked the session’s organizers for their insights.
First impressions, clichés, and prejudices: Science speaks of unconscious bias - unconscious thought patterns - and everyone has them. They help in complex situations and everyday moments and offer orientation - also in decision-making. During BSH Diversity Week 2021, Marion Weissenbach (Corporate Human Resources), organized a talk together with diversity expert Hans Jablonski about how diversity can boost transformation. One aspect of this was the question how we can deal with unconscious thought patterns correctly to strengthen openness towards and appreciation of others.
End of June 2021, BSH launched a virtual event to share and develop new ideas around the topics of diversity, organised by colleagues for colleagues. During the so-called Diversity Week all participants had opportunities to bring in their perspectives to provide a better work environment for all people regardless of their differences. In anticipation of the event, the organisers of the Diversity Week talked with Ayfer Flora who works as Global Category Manager in Global Purchasing at our site in Giengen and asked her to share her insights about creating a team spirit that encourages out-of-the-box ideas and new solutions.
Florian Oberkofler's career started in his parents' confectionery and led him to BSH to become the Head of Business to Consumer for small Home Appliances in Germany. How did he take on this exciting career path? In an interview, he tells us why his professions are not as different as they seem at first glance, about the courage to change and what benefits come from his varied experiences.
At BSH we are always trying to foster cultural growth and change for a better work environment. One program that helps to do exactly that, is called MOVE. Launched in April 2017, MOVE was designed to spread knowledge, ideas and set the ground for cultural change all across BSH. Violeta Kameri is a member of our transformation team and a so called "culture change enabler" within the MOVEment. We spoke to her about her job, MOVE and its exciting "Train-The-Trainer" approach.
Whether it’s gender, nationality, culture, age or sexual orientation and identity – our differences are what makes us stronger as a community. At BSH, diversity is one of our core values. We strongly believe, that an open-minded environment and a diverse mix of employees is a key factor to a company’s success.
As part of the "Broaden your Perspective" initiative for talent program members, Hermien Marais made the move from Johannesburg to Munich. With her husband and their two girls, they got through what was a challenging start – but were awarded with three months to remember.
Here on Stories we regularly introduce inspiring women at BSH. Today, we meet Burçin Girit, Head of Corporate Communications Region Turkey, Middle East, Africa & CIS, and mother of two sons.
When Buse Alpay was in high school it looked like she would be taking a rather traditional career choice. Yet it didn’t take long before her life took the first surprising turn. Today, Buse is a successful BSH customer service technician in Turkey – still not a very common task for a woman.
The letters CIP play an important role in BSH’s manufacturing in Traunreut. They stand for “Continuous Improvement Process,” and describe the way in which quality is assured there: in small, ongoing steps. As a CIP metalworker, Sabrina is responsible for the complete manufacturing. “I make sure that my colleagues’ work on the production line runs smoothly,” she explains.
“My job is very much like that of a translator.” That’s how Lukas describes his tasks as a Brand Strategist for the BSH home appliances brand Bosch. “I translate consumer insights into product innovations and business strategies. Whatever the product, I find out exactly what our consumers need – and I make sure that this is what Bosch appliances deliver.”
Min has been living in Munich for two years now. But he has been with BSH a lot longer. Straight after graduation from Hefei University of Technology in his native country China, he joined the company there. Min had been in his job for four years when the opportunity came up to relocate to the BSH home base in Europe.
An international trainee program at BSH gives graduates the chance to understand the company in depth. Sebastian is one of them. He has been assigned to various departments throughout the company in order to learn everything he needs to know for a successful start in the home appliance business.
Right after leaving university, Robin joined BSH as a trainee. Having a background in finance, statistics and econometrics, he specialized in raw materials purchasing from the start and has accumulated profound expertise in the nearly ten years he spent at BSH so far. In his current position as Project Manager Supply Chain Management, Robin is responsible for purchasing production materials.
Dominik operates in prefabrication at the BSH site in Traunreut. He sets up big machines in preproduction. “I operate equipment with a press force of 400 metric tons”, he explains. “I am responsible for the quality of both large and small components and for correcting minor faults.“
“I create training for people who teach others how to use certain tools or methods. I am not the trainer, but I create everything trainers need to get their message across.” That’s the answer you’ll hear when you ask Christina about her job. Or, if she were to explain to her little nephew what she does for a living: “I get paid for painting all day long.”
BSH Hausgeräte GmbH, with a total turnover of some EUR 15.6 billion and 62,000 employees in 2022, is a global leader in the home appliance industry. The company’s brand portfolio includes eleven well-known appliance brands like Bosch, Siemens, Gaggenau and Neff as well as the ecosystem brand Home Connect and service brands like Kitchen Stories. BSH produces at 40 factories and is represented in some 50 countries. BSH is a Bosch Group company.