"Life means community" -
about the cooperation with the DIAKONIEWERKSTÄTTEN Rhein-Neckar
of the Gemeindediakonie Mannheim

Over 12 years ago we have been working together with the neighboring Vogelstang factory of the Gemeindediakonie in Mannheim. Every year, employees at the workplace sort and pack around 100,000 of our filters. The cooperation creates tasks and opportunities and promotes the integrative use of people with disabilities in working life.
Support can be very different, be it in one of the factories, in placement on the primary labor market or in residential care. Every person is unique and is considered and supported individually.

The factory at the Vogelstang site has been doing this for almost 40 years. Here, 28 employees and 170 people with mild to severe disabilities work together. These employees work in areas such as metal or wood processing, packaging or landscaping – always adapted to their abilities. Clever and supportive aids such as failure patterns, counting aids or parts templates are used in almost every department. This makes many processes fun for those involved.

During a visit to the factory on June 7, 2024, we were able to see how much the employees value their tasks and celebrate their successes. We were particularly impressed by the fact that deviations or errors are quickly identified, which keeps waste to a minimum and increases employee motivation.

This not only makes us happy, but also the employees of the Gemeindediakonie Mannheim. "We have two salaries – one in our bank account and one in our hearts," explains Johanna Meyer, pedagogical manager of the Vogelstang factory, with a smile. This is because at the Gemeindediakonie Mannheim attention is not only paid to technical implementation and feasibility, but the educational components are also considered, with the focus always on people.

"The unique dual leadership," emphasizes Jens Seidel, Head of Sales at DIAKONIEWERKSTÄTTEN Rhein-Neckar, "with both a technical and a pedagogical manager, allows all processes in the workshops to be viewed from different perspectives and joint decisions to be made on this basis." Johanna Meyer adds: "Our job is to create the measures in integration assistance. So, it's not unusual for someone to start in the workshop and then move into permanent employment after a while. We try to support everyone in finding the right vocation." To ensure this, the groups work on a 1:12 basis. There is also a workshop council in the factory, which represents the needs of the employees in a similar way to a works council.

"We can be really proud of the cooperation," Oliver Niemann concludes the visit, "the variety of possibilities and good consultation, as well as the cooperation between customer and workshop are really impressive. We will see how we can expand our collaboration with DIAKONIEWERKSTÄTTEN Rhein-Neckar even further."