Dirk Baumann, the Director of Matzen & Timm in Norderstedt, took time out to report on his experience of using disabled employees. His audience were members of the expert forum 'Chefsache Inklusion im Norden', an undertaking designed to promote managerial involvement in inclusion strategies, specifically in the north of Germany.
Matzen & Timm has been collaborating since 2011 with an external work group of the Hamburg-based Elbe-Werkstätten, which provides employment and training to disabled people. "We are more than satisfied with the way the project has turned out and have only positive things to say about it," explains Baumann. In early April, the Bundesverband Deutscher Berufsförderungswerke, a Federal organisation that has the task of sponsoring vocational training, invited participants to the event in the north.
The venue was the Airbus plant in Hamburg-Finkenwerder, where the representatives of various sectors and businesses together with network partners met to get things off to a flying start. Baumann comments: "This was a particularly fruitful meeting because the subject was not simply discussed from a theoretical point of view but practical and concrete approaches for achieving inclusion were proposed."