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27.01.2012

Nabaltec AG: it's official: Nabaltec is Schwandorf's top employer

Nabaltec AG / Key word(s): Miscellaneous

27.01.2012 / 10:00

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Nabaltec AG: it's official: Nabaltec is Schwandorf's top employer

- Top Job benchmarking survey result: staff enjoy working at Nabaltec; 
- Wolfgang Clement presents the award

Schwandorf, 27 January 2012 - Top Job has been identifying and presenting
awards for outstanding human resource (HR) management at German
medium-sized firms for the past ten years. This anniversary year is already
the third time that Nabaltec AG has made it into the ranks of these
award-winning employers. The company, which also operates from a further
site in the Bavarian town of Kelheim, received the Top Job accolade from
project mentor Wolfgang Clement at a ceremony in Duisburg-Nord Industrial
Landscape Park.

Nabaltec takes a long-term view of its business even when times are tough,
which means that those with managerial responsibility think of their staff
first and foremost. The firm has not issued a single compulsory redundancy
in the past 17 years. How is that possible? The workforce exhibits
particularly strong solidarity during times of crisis, even agreeing to
take a pay cut in such circumstances. This helped the company - which
operates worldwide in the field of speciality chemicals and fire protection
products - to weather the recession: 'We are convinced that our employees
deliver their best performance if they know that their jobs are secure',
explained Paul Altmann, head of HR. Those who agreed to take a pay cut in
2009, for example, were partially compensated for this sacrifice when they
received a bonus once the economy started to recover last year. This builds
trust, according to Altmann.

A key prerequisite of this trust is the close collaboration between the
management board and the works council. One tangible result of this
partnership is that the company has so far been able to offer its 404
employees more than 50 different working-time models. This enables parents,
for example, to structure their working hours to suit the needs of their
family lives. The unanimous view expressed by members of staff to the HR
department was that they liked working for Nabaltec because it was a
family-friendly company that allowed them to work flexible hours so that
they could achieve the optimum work-life balance. By adopting this
approach, Nabaltec has sought to find a flexible way of aligning the
requirements of customer projects with the needs of its workforce. The
success of this strategy is illustrated by the fact that 100 per cent of
young mothers and fathers who go on parental leave return to the company
after such a career break.

Nabaltec had to pass a two-stage academic scrutiny process devised by the
Institute for Leadership and Human Resource Management at the University of
St. Gallen, Switzerland. The centrepiece of the survey led by Professor
Heike Bruch, the Institute's director, was an online questionnaire
completed by all members of staff. At the same time, the HR managers at the
firms participating in the study provided information on their work. Paul
Altmann was delighted with the results: 'This award is, of course, a
fantastic endorsement of our efforts and a huge vote of confidence on the
part of our workforce. What's more, this distinction will no doubt help us
to recruit high-quality talent to the firm'.

The 94 best SME employers have an average workforce of 359 people. Almost
one third of the firms awarded the Top Job accolade in 2012 are
family-owned businesses. The fact that these companies include 14 global
market leaders and 21 domestic market leaders proves that good employers
are also commercially successful. Consequently, more than half of the Top
Job award-winners pay their staff above the rates stipulated by
industry-wide collective bargaining agreements.

Further information on Nabaltec, the other prize-winning firms and the Top
Job project can be found at www.topjob.de.

Mentor 
The mentor for the project is Wolfgang Clement, former Federal Minister of
Economics. Top Job project gets under way in February 2012.

Project management 
Dr Heike Bruch has acted as academic head of the Top Job project since
2005. She is a professor and director at the Institute for Leadership and
Human Resource Management at the University of St. Gallen.

Organiser: compamedia GmbH - mentor of the best SMEs
compamedia GmbH was founded in 1993 and organises benchmarking projects for
small and medium-sized German firms. Working from its base in Überlingen on
Lake Constance in Germany, the firm's 20 employees organise and run its Top
Job, Top 100, Top Consultant and Ethics in Business nationwide benchmarking
competitions, which involves assisting and awarding prizes to firms that
achieve outstanding results in the fields of human resource management,
innovation, consulting and corporate social responsibility. The company
generated revenue of EUR2.1 million in 2010.

Partners
compamedia's partners are HRM.de, the PERSONAL HRM trade fair,
SchmidtColleg GmbH & Co. KG and Zukunft Personal HRM Expo. Its media
partner is the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

Background information about the project is available from
presse@compamedia.de. Pictures relating to Nabaltec AG can be obtained from
Gerlinde Graf at ggraf@nabaltec.de. Photographs of the awards ceremony will
be available in the Press section of www.topjob.de from Friday, 27 January
2012.


About Nabaltec AG:
Nabaltec AG, with registered office in Schwandorf, a chemicals business
which has received multiple awards for innovativeness, manufactures,
develops and distributes highly specialized products based on aluminum
hydroxide ('ATH') and aluminum oxide, as well as other raw materials, on an
industrial scale through its 'Functional Fillers' and 'Technical Ceramics'
divisions. The company's product range includes halogen-free flame
retardant fillers and eco-friendly additives for the plastics industry.
Flame retardant fillers are used e.g. in cables in tunnels, airports,
high-rise buildings and electronic devices, while additives replace
stabilizers containing heavy metals in PVC processing. Nabaltec also
produces base materials for use in technical ceramics, the refractory
industry and catalysis. Unlike halogenated flame retardant fillers, the
products manufactured by the company's 'Functional Fillers' division
contain no hazardous substances and do not require separate disposal.
Rather, the company's flame retardant fillers actually decrease the
development of fumes hazardous to human health and the environment in the
event of fire. Nabaltec maintains production sites in Germany and the US
and plans to continue to consolidate its market position by expanding
capacity, further optimizing processes and quality and making strategic
extensions to its product range. On the strength of its specialty products,
the company strives to attain the market leadership in each segment.

Contact:
Gerlinde Graf      
Nabaltec AG      
Phone: +49 9431 53-257    
Fax: +49 9431 53-241     
E-mail: ggraf@nabaltec.de     

Frank Ostermair
Better Orange IR & HV AG
Phone: +49 89 8896906-14
Fax: +49 89 8896906-66
E-mail: frank.ostermair@better-orange.de


End of Corporate News

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Language:    English                                                 
Company:     Nabaltec AG                                             
             Alustraße 50-52                                         
             92421 Schwandorf                                        
             Germany                                                 
Phone:       +49 9431 53-0                                           
Fax:         +49 9431 53-260                                         
E-mail:      info @nabaltec.de                                       
Internet:    www.nabaltec.de                                         
ISIN:        DE000A0KPPR7, DE000A1EWL99                              
WKN:         A0KPPR, A1EWL9                                          
Listed:      Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, München, Stuttgart;  
             Entry Standard in Frankfurt                             
 
 
End of News    DGAP News-Service  
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