COR is not an abstract entity. It’s a living, breathing organism made up of more than 200 employees. Even though it’s easy to lose sight of at times, each one of us makes a contribution to the life of our company each and every day. Together, we can work much more effectively to make sure that COR thrives and grows, is constantly developing and is more successful tomorrow than today. As a company, we do this by encouraging and helping our employees to develop their skills and expertise.
Our team
We offer our dedicated employees a company health management system and long-term prospects. The fact that our employees have spent an average of around 16 years with us is testimony to our success.
COR has an in-house wage agreement and has legally recognised other collective bargaining agreements for the German wood and plastic industry as part of an agreement recognising the collective bargaining tariffs. We also work together closely with our Works Council.
Showing respect, being helpful and working as equals are three of the values that we embrace when interacting with others – regardless of their seniority, origin, skin colour, gender or religion. We also help our employees to balance their work and family life commitments with arrangements for remote working, flexitime and part-time models. And our new employees can look forward to a structured onboarding process. Everyone enjoys equal treatment and opportunities at COR.
| Information about our workforce | 31.12.2022 | 31.12.2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Number of employees | 220 | 234 |
| Women | 90 (41%) | 92 (39%) |
| Men | 130 (59%) | 142 (61%) |
| Trainees | 9 | 10 |
| People with disabilities | 9 | 7 |
| Full-time | 179 (81%) | 192 (82%) |
| Part-time | 41 (19%) | 42 (18%) |
| Average number of years with the company | 16 y | 16 y |
| Average age | 47 y | 47 y |
| Annual leave in days | 30 | 30 |
| People taking parental leave | 4 | 2 |
| New hires | 14 | 26 |
| People who left the company | 9 | 12 |
Education and training
TRAINING
Our trainees experience close supervision and learning opportunities. Along with internal lessons and external trips, they also take part in a wide variety of regional career fairs. Once their training is over, each trainee is offered a guaranteed one-year position with our company. The training ratio – i.e. the proportion of trainees to permanent employees – remained consistently at 4% in 2022 and 2023.
The dedication shown by our trainees is reflected in the fact that they are repeatedly recognised as the best in their trade. In 2022, Jacqueline Duhme won the top ranking as best upholsterer in the region, state and country. Her colleague, Jule Billen, was also named best decorative seamstress and upholstery seamstress in the region, state and country in 2023. Congratulations to them both!
Continuing professional development
We don’t just invest in young talents. We also fund and support continuing professional development for our more experienced colleagues. Since our employees coordinate their continuing professional development activities with their superiors, the average number of hours spent in training is not documented centrally at the moment.
Data privacy training
In early 2023, around 130 employees received training in data privacy matters in eight two-hour training sessions.
COR co-founded the working group ‘Data privacy for SMEs in Rheda- Wiedenbrück’ together with Audit-NRW GmbH, Westag & Getalit AG and the city of Rheda-Wiedenbrück’s economic development department. The forum aims to offer specific support with data privacy in the business environment for local SMEs.
Working environment
Our employees enjoy a wide range of benefits that create attractive and healthy workplaces. These benefits include flexible working times and mobile working, part-time positions, reintegration into the workplace and flexitime. We also offer contributions to the company pension scheme and profit-sharing for employees.
With our newly designed canteen, we offer our employees hot, fresh and healthy meals in a pleasant atmosphere. There are two to three dishes to choose from every day, including one vegetarian option.
Our company’s health management system offers employees twicemonthly training sessions by trained physiotherapists. We also subsidise health-related training sessions provided by selected partners.
For employees wanting to report grievances, we set up an external reporting point in 2023 in line with Germany’s new Whistleblower Protection Act. Grievances can be reported via the data privacy page on our website cor.de. This external reporting point ensures anonymity and reviews any reports.
Our health and safety committee continually reviews and optimises the safety of our workplaces and processes. The desks of all of our administrative staff were exchanged for height-adjustable desks in 2021. The old desks were given away to any staff who wanted one, thus given a second chance at being useful.
Community involvement
We are also committed to community projects. Many of these issues are brought to our attention by COR employees who often manage these projects, too. In 2022/2023, we also supported a number of organisations, including charities, with donations amounting to €276,233. These organisations included Marta Herford gGmbH, Stiftung Studienfonds OWL, Jazz Club Rheda-Wiedenbrück, Gütersloher Tafel e.V., Fluthilfe Ahr e.V., Kloster Wiedenbrück, Musikschule für den Kreis Gütersloh e.V., STELP e.V., Sibilla Hospiz Böblingen e.V. and Förderverein Flora Rheda-Wiedenbrück.
