14.09.2024 | Interviews
Firefighter, marketing specialist – and, together with his team, proud winner of the ‘Helping Hand’ award from the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Homeland (BMI): In today’s interview, Niklas Rückborn tells us why his employer Dräger has launched a campaign for voluntary work, the idea that convinced the jury of the award in the ‘Support for Volunteering’ category and why supporting voluntary work is definitely worthwhile for companies.
Mr Rückborn, how did you get involved in the fire service?
I was a founding member of the children’s fire brigade at the age of nine. After that, I joined the youth fire brigade and then the active fire brigade at the age of 16 – a ‘second life’, so to speak. I am currently a breathing apparatus wearer, machine operator and member of a nationwide special unit for forest and vegetation firefighting. Professionally, I work in marketing for the fire service and authorities at Dräger in Lübeck. With more than 16,000 employees worldwide, we manufacture medical and safety technology products – for example for hospitals and rescue services, for mining and industry or for the fire service.
What idea convinced the jury of the sponsorship award?
I need to expand a little on that: In the fire service sector, a lot revolves around the ‘Interschutz’. The world’s leading trade fair for the fire, rescue and civil protection sectors takes place every five years. In the two years leading up to this major event, the focus was clearly on our new products, which we presented during the trade fair. However, we don’t just want to launch our products on the market, we also want to support our customers in their daily operations. We are aware of the current and sometimes worrying situation surrounding the fire service.
What exactly do you mean?
For example, there are problems with recruiting new members in the volunteer fire brigades, but also the frequent lack of financial resources for their own image video shoot to recruit new members. At the same time, there is increasing violence against firefighters. All of this has prompted us to set up a campaign. It is intended to put the firefighters in the spotlight. Our main aim was to draw the public’s attention to the important role of the fire brigades, the voluntary work, and at the same time to provide a platform on which the fire brigades can present themselves and promote their work.
And what have you specifically done in your company?
To coincide with the start of ‘Interschutz’ on 20 June 2022, we launched the campaign ‘Dräger is looking for you! Your passion in the spotlight!’ campaign. Its core idea: to put the fire service and its members in the spotlight by showcasing their passion and commitment. We launched a landing page and asked the volunteers two questions: ‘Why are you in the fire service?’ and ‘What is your passion?’. They were able to submit their answers along with a photo and enter the lottery pot.
The response to the campaign was also impressive, wasn’t it?
Yes, the campaign ran for a total of nine months, until February 2023, during which time 151 entries were received.
Who took first place – and with which story?
There were many great submissions. First place went to the Grömitz volunteer fire brigade. They submitted a great story about their release from the compulsory fire brigade.
What does ‘compulsory fire brigade’ mean?
If a volunteer fire brigade is not formed due to a lack of members – and fire protection cannot be guaranteed as a result – citizens are obliged to serve in the fire brigade. However, the Grömitz fire brigade has managed to free itself from this compulsory fire brigade relatively quickly, with great cohesion and various campaigns to recruit members – which really deserves respect.
And what was the first prize?
A professional image video: In this, we recreated the history of the Grömitz fire brigade – from a postman dropping the ‘compulsory fire brigade commitment notice’ letter to the formation of a cool big squad. The video now has almost 40,000 views on YouTube and has also been reported in the local press. This has generated a lot of attention for the Grömitz fire brigade. This not only helps them with their public relations work. The comrades are naturally also proud of the result.
Was this a one-off project to support Dräger’s voluntary work or were there other campaigns?
A women’s group from the Marburg fire brigade also submitted a very impressive application for the campaign. We took this as an opportunity to address the topic of women in the fire service – and the associated prejudices. To this end, we made short videos for social media. We have also recently returned to the topic of promoting young talent. The ‘XXIV International Youth Fire Brigade Encounter’ took place in July. For this event, we set up a joint sponsorship programme together with a wide range of manufacturers.
Where do you see the advantages for companies of supporting voluntary work – even within their own organisation?
A commitment to society also has a positive effect on the corporate culture. After all, values such as empathy, community and solidarity are emphasised. And in my opinion, employers who support their employees’ voluntary work are repaid in many ways. Consider, for example, increased employee satisfaction and loyalty. In addition, voluntary activities offer valuable opportunities for team building and the development of leadership qualities. Overall, corporate support for volunteering can be a win-win situation that benefits both society and the company itself. It contributes to corporate social responsibility and strengthens the community.