SPAR gives a helping hand by a health protection guide made with the involvement of experts to its more than 13 000 employees in order to protect their health. The guide provides advice to be considered and basic practical tasks.

„SPAR Hungary, as one of the largest employers of the country, helps its more than 13 000 employees in the period of pandemic as well. In order to protect the health of our employees, we provide continuously from the first days of the spread of coronavirus masks, gloves and disinfectants and we also pay the attention to precise information in connection with the pandemic. We send to all of our employees our guide called „To protect our health”, which contains the most important information. Doctors and specialists in mental hygiene participated in the compilation of the guide in order to guarantee the authenticity of its content” – said Márk Maczelka, Head of Communication at SPAR.

The safety of employees is essentially important to the retail chain also during the period of coronavirus-epidemic, for which it took and will take all measures that can be expected. Beyond providing protective equipment – masks, gloves, disinfectants – the company has installed plexiglass to the cashdesks against breath, separated the shifts from each other in its production plants, multiplied the number of daily cleanings and disinfections, moreover, where it was possible, it provided the opportunity of work in home office regarding employees in the centre. Parallel to the practical protection, precise and professional information is similarly important. The 32-page guide „To protect our health – useful advice during an epidemic” was made with the involvement of experts specialized in the field of epidemic, doctors and specialists in mental hygiene by relying on facts and authentic research results.

The clear informational guide contains all of the necessary information from the basic information about the coronavirus, through the most important things to do in case of a possible infection, until the most essential tasks of health protection.

Our newest member is ALD Automotive Hungary. The managing director of the company, founded in 2002, is Olena Tymofiyiva, its sales revenue in 2019 was 27 billion HUF with 102 employees.

ALD Automotive is the subsidiary of Societé Générale Group dealing with leasing and fleet management. Its experiences and reputation make it one of the leading companies in the sector. The team of ALD Automotive offers cost effective solutions to its customers, while fully observing the requirements of environment protection.

As of their Move 2025 strategic plan, they want to be the global leader in sustainable mobility solutions, and will place people and corporate social responsibility at the heart of the business model. Their sustainability approach for CSR, includes shaping the future of sustainable mobility, being a committed and responsible employer by raising the share of women in management bodies to 35%, implementing, and reducing the company’s internal environmental footprint by 30% by 2025 from 2019 levels.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic they have ensured all employees have the option to work from home if needed, based on current regulations and advisory. They trained 1 certified first-aid provider colleague for every 10 colleagues. As in Code of Conduct, wage equality is provided for all employees at ALD Automotive Hungary, they have retired and disabled employees and all measures are taken for their comfort at work.

Since 2018 ALD Automotive Hungary is evaluated by Ecovadis every year, assessing CSR and sustainable procurement. This result places their company among the top 25 percent of companies assessed by EcoVadis. ALD Automotive surveys all entities every year and prepares the Planétic report including: evaluation of office buildings, energy consumption, paper usage, transport of employees, waste management, water consumption.

They would like to become a member to have an opportunity to get recent updates related to sustainability initiatives, environmental and social projects in the country, to be able to share ALD Automotive knowledge and background, as well as network and participate in common projects.

The store has committed itself to popularize health-conscious lifestyle and the diet supporting it. The initiative called „Less sugar – more vitality! doubled by now the 50 tonnes of sugar quantity reduction which was reached in the starting year, in 2019.

„Food products supporting healthy lifestyle and diet are getting an increasing role in the SPAR product range. Satisfying the needs of our customers, we offer even more salt- and sugar-reduced, free from preservatives and additives food products appropriate for a special diet. Besides our continuously increasing and renewable selection of products, we support with the help of SPAR Lifestyle programme our customers to create their healthy lifestyle. It is especially important that the 50 tonnes of sugar reduction reached by our programme, „Less sugar – more vitality!” started for two years, has been doubled: the quantity of added sugar in our own-brand products being domestically developed or deriving from international purchase was reduced by 97 tonnes by the end of 2020” – said Márk Maczelka, Head of Communication at SPAR.

In 2019, SPAR Hungary decided to reduce the quantity of sugar used for the production of its own-brand products, which are sold in its stores. The fast 100 tonnes of added sugar reduction in the affected product groups being in its product range – among which we can find beverages, juices, energy drinks, syrups, ice cream, sweet cereal and dairy produces, muesli and cereal bars, ketchups and biscuits – is a significant result, which contributes to the creation of a diet supporting healthy lifestyle.

At Dreher Breweries we are proud of our nearly 170-year history, the Dreher heritage: building on local communities with a strategy of adaptation in mind, our company has passed on the tradition of brewing across generations and it permeates our operations to this day. Thanks to this heritage, people not only buy beer with Dreher, but also a piece of history, a way of thinking and a philosophy. All of this has repercussions on our staff members, who are proud of the Dreher heritage and of the Dreher team. That’s why we often emphasize that at Dreher we brew experiences, not only beer.

Our goal is to continue to build on this special heritage even in the 21^st century, part of which is to pay close attention to the diversity and tolerance that have become integral parts of our modern corporate culture and strategy. For us, this is important from several aspects, as it means not only gender equality, but also the creation of appropriate and recognized jobs for up to four different generations. We are proud that there is no discrimination within the company with regard to gender, age, nationality or anything else, and we support the strengthening of an inclusive culture.

In addition, together with several international companies and Asahi Europe and International, the CEO of Dreher Breweries signed in March the commitment entitled “The LEAD Network Pledge 2020”, which, in line with our 2030 sustainability commitments, aims to create gender balance and promote diversity in the workplace.

Éva Kreiter, HR Director of Dreher Breweries and Gábor Békefi, CEO of Dreher Breweries hold the signed commitment

The commitment, which can be read HERE, was signed by Gábor Békefi, CEO of Dreher Breweries, accompanied by the following quote:

“Since 1854, diversity and inclusion have been firmly anchored in our history and corporate culture. Though we were given a multi-generational team as a legacy, generational, gender and knowledge diversity has become the fundament of our modern corporate culture and people strategy. We believe that different views from different colleagues deliver a rich flow of ideas and a variety of approaches to drive innovation and create an inclusive and future-proof workplace.”

This time, the exciting Hungaricool products can get to the shelves from the TV screen. The Among Sharks business show goes on on RTL Klub. This year, the Hungaricool by SPAR product competition also joins to the show, the winners of which with their new, marketable products can reach the shelves of INTERSPAR hypermarkets as well.

In the popular business show of RTL Klub, internationally recognized investors, the Sharks are waiting for entrepreneurs who would like to challenge, revive their business or present their creative product. To this year’s season of the show joins the Hungaricool by SPAR competition, in the framework of which the producers who enter the show and successfully qualify themselves in the first round also can enter the competition of the store chain with their products of food industry or other products being able to be sold in hypermarkets.

„It is a high priority for SPAR Hungary to support the domestic products and their producers.  The purpose of our Hungaricool by SPAR product competition started last year was to find domestic small entrepreneurs producing high quality products of food industry and to give them an opportunity to introduce themselves in such way that helps the development of their brand, business. Our competition continues this year as well, this time we joined to one of the most popular business shows and extended the scope of competition categories into which entry are allowed. In this way together, we can give more opportunities to the new products because besides the appearance on national television in prime time, the winners of Hungaricool can appear on the shelves of INTERSPAR stores” – said Márk Maczelka, Head of Communication at SPAR.

The commercial channel and SPAR Hungary encourage the owners of new imaginative products using specific solutions in ingredients, production and/or packaging, can be found in the Hungarian market but possibly cannot be available in retail network to apply to the show and by this to get an opportunity to participate in the Hungaricool by SPAR competition.

Information is available about the details of Hungaricool by SPAR and the method of the application on the following website: www.hungaricool.hu