SHT GmbH, the Social Enterprise
As a business run by a social enterprise, mutual appreciation and a willingness to work as a team play an extremely important role. We expect every employee to contribute in whatever way they can. A successful team thrives on different people with different backgrounds complementing each other so that individual strengths and weaknesses balance out positively. “One for all, all for one” is our motto.
The ECOINN Hotel am Campus is run by the non-profit social enterprise HoGa Tourist GmbH (SHT GmbH for short), based in Stuttgart. Its purpose is to create and secure jobs for people with disabilities. In legal terms this is known as a “Zweckbetrieb” (a tax-privileged business serving a charitable purpose), for which a successful hotel and conference business is an important prerequisite: the higher the occupancy, the more jobs, and above all secure jobs, can be created and maintained. That is why we are so pleased that you, our dear guests, visit us so often.
SHT was founded in 1974 and has made it its mission to support people in social hardship through practical “help for self-help”.
Training with Prospects
A current social project gives young people from countries with high youth unemployment the opportunity to train as hotel specialists in Germany’s dual vocational training system. In recent years these were young people from Spain and Croatia; three new hotel specialists successfully passed their final examinations in July. In the new 2019/20 training year, two trainees from Tajikistan and five from Albania joined us. This means ten young people are currently in training, eight more than would be usual for a “normal” hotel of our size. The funds we generate are used for projects like these.
As head of the training network founded in 2017, SHT has placed further young people from Croatia with other businesses. Like our own trainees, they are looked after by a dedicated support worker, for example with dealing with the authorities after arrival and, throughout the three years, with personal matters such as finding a doctor. For founding and leading the training network, SHT received the “Innovationspreis Ausbildung 2018” (Training Innovation Award) from the Stuttgart Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK).
ECOINN signs the “Charta der Vielfalt” (Diversity Charter) in Berlin
Esslingen, 13 June 2013
The association “Charta der Vielfalt e.V.” promotes diversity in society, particularly in associations, companies and institutions. Not only DAX companies take part: medium-sized and small firms and businesses, public authorities, universities and others have also signed the “Charta der Vielfalt”. They are all committed to equal treatment and respect for people regardless of origin or skin colour, age, gender, sexual orientation or disability.
The initiative is under the patronage of Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel, and the ECOINN Hotel am Campus has now also committed itself to its principles: on the occasion of the first Diversity Day, at the ceremony in Berlin on 12 June 2013, then hotel manager Thomas Puchan was personally presented with the certificate, signed by him and Minister of State Maria Böhmer, by Ms Böhmer and the Chair of the Diversity Charter, Ana-Christina Grohnert. Maria Böhmer praised the courage of the signatories and the example they set.
Mr Puchan, who managed the hotel from 2012 to 2020, had long put these ideas into practice: equal pay regardless of gender, equal opportunities and much more are practised out of conviction at the ECOINN, which is committed to acting sustainably not only in ecological matters.
