Among the line-up of fantastic speakers of the Diversity Week at BSH is Maria Wünn who works in Site Communications in Traunreut, Germany and is a passionate stadium moderator and referee in biathlon. We savored the chance to talk with Maria about diversity in sports in comparison to diversity in the corporate world and what the people from these two worlds can learn from each other.

From the excitement of a new project to the pride after its successful implementation – colleagues at BSH are united by universal emotions despite their diverse backgrounds and experiences. Gülçin Öztürk, Head of Factory Controlling in Turkey, honors that as a value in her approach towards Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). After her colleagues nominated her as a Diversity Champion, we talked to Gülçin about the importance of embracing a positive, welcoming team spirit and about how diverse approaches towards DEI should be part of a DEI culture.

Over hill and dale through Germany – Alex Berger, Cost value stream engineer at BSH Germany at the Traunreut site, did not want to wait until his retirement to make this extraordinary journey happen. He took up BSH’s offer of a three-month sabbatical and talks about his experiences before, during and after his hiking tour with his wife Maggi.

Managing diverse teams consisting of different ages, genders, backgrounds and orientations is not an easy task. Ground values like Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (short: DEI) are therefore crucial to ensure that employees can rise to their full potential. Gabriel Schumacher, Head of Purchasing, Planning and Logistics in France, tackles this every day in his position. As one of the nominees in the BSH “Nominate Your Diversity Champion” campaign, he shares the keys to fostering DEI at workplaces further and talks about a real-life example on how to include colleagues with disabilities.

Finding common ground and a mutual understanding in a multicultural and diverse team comes with its own challenges and struggles. For our BSH campaign “Nominate Your Diversity Champion”, we highlight those who actively try to overcome boundaries and foster Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the workplace. This particular nomination included not only one role model and colleague, but a whole team. The Global Product Development Laundry Care Technology-Team consists of sixteen employees working at the BSH factory in Nanjing, China: They are between twenty-one to forty-nine years old, with five different nationalities and practice five different religions. Today some of them share their thoughts on different working dynamics, varied cultural norms and how they overcome challenges that come with being in a diverse team.

Traveling the world sounds already exciting as it is. But, Luca Holzhauser, Project Lead (Product Family Refrigeration, Development) in Giengen an der Brenz, Germany, took it one step further. He took the opportunity of a sabbatical at BSH and traveled through the beautiful Middle East by bicycle. Today he wants to share his motivations for taking the sabbatical and how he experienced the process from planning the journey to coming back home.

To create and ensure a safe and healthy work environment for everyone, it is crucial to strive for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (short: DEI). The BSH campaign “Nominate Your Diversity Champion” was launched to highlight the people and colleagues that actively foster these values and who put in the work to make change happen. One of these people is Violeta Kameri, who is Coach for NEW WORK & WOMEN and leading the culture development at BSH Region Europe. Today, we want to share her thoughts on her perceptions of DEI, on questioning and overcoming boundaries and the importance of challenging one’s own mindset.

The BSH campaign “Nominate Your Diversity Champion” was launched to raise the awareness for all of the different initiatives that foster Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (short: DEI) in different departments and countries – and the people behind these activities. Today, we present you a conversation with one of the nominees David Dysinger, Head of US Development, about the value of true allyship and sustainable change towards thriving diverse teams.

BSH recently launched a campaign to find colleagues that actively push and foster Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (short: DEI) at their workplace. They have been elected by their colleagues for their outstanding contributions to DEI at BSH to make these values a lived reality.

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.

The employee network aims to increase awareness in the company for how important it is for LGBT*IQ employees to be able to be authentic in the workplace without having to fear professional disadvantages. Learn more!

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.

Ayhan Oran has achieved what many dream of. He worked his way up from the assembly line to the executive level at BSH. In the interview, you can learn how he did it and what he would like to share with others.

This year’s Diversity Week took place from 9-13 November – 100% virtually.

Parental leave as a career downer? Not at BSH! Read Torsten's exciting story and his advice on parental leave in this interview…

Susanne Trojer, who heads the technology department within our region Europe, recounts her sabbatical experiences in the past year and explains how one can benefit from a professional break even when in a management position.

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.

In our sixth interview from China Wang Ning (汪宁) told us why he chose BSH, what his hobbies are and what his name actually means. Find out here.

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.

At the age of 26 Christine Haas started her first permanent job with BSH. Six years on she has lived and worked in two countries and has learned not only about new cultures but also about herself.

Jürgen Pejak – a technical editor at BSH in Giengen – returned to work after 10 months’ parental leave. Find out more about his experience and his advice to other fathers.

Before the birth of his son, BSH marketing consultant Joerg Schudrowitz had to decide whether and for how long he wanted to take parental leave. For most fathers his choice is still unusual – but Schudrowitz has never regretted it.

A cultural melting pot: Meet a BSH team in California that brings together different nationalities, backgrounds, skills and ideas.

Talentify is our Corporate Talent Program which aims to put motivated employees in the driver seat for their own personal and professional development. Meet two BSH colleagues involved in the program to learn more.

How we built a space for BSH women to exchange views on important topics

Two colleagues, six months, a ten-hour time difference and a distance of 16,000km – here we tell the story of the international collaboration which brought the Kitchen Inspirator to Australia.

Benedikt Huber – a German athletics champion for 800m, and engineer at our Traunreut site, shares his secrets for balancing his sporting career with his professional life at BSH.

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.

In the 11 years that Fang has worked at BSH, she has held a number of positions – in different departments and countries.

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.”

Charlotte lives very much in the here and now. But her mind travels to the future when she is at work. In her job as project leader Global Digital Transition (GDT), she is part of a team that develops ideas for the home of tomorrow.

Visiting people in their homes to find out how they live their lives is a multi-faceted experience that ranges from uplifting to emotional. Sebastian knows every variation, as this is what he does for a living.