Club Management
Bayer 04 is not only one of the largest football clubs in Germany, but also a medium-sized business enterprise with a commitment to its home town of Leverkusen and Bayer AG. This also goes hand in hand with a high standard of integrity and compliance. The club is committed to fair play – both on and off the pitch. After all, Bayer 04 is an attractive employer brand with some 350 staff at present. Fair competition is therefore not only practised on the pitch, but also in the procurement and selection of partners and service providers. The club consistently focuses on innovation and progress and continuously engages in close dialogue with its stakeholders as a basis for its own actions.
Topics
Leadership and culture
B04 stands for a family-like atmosphere and a transparent club policy, both internally and externally. Transparent management culture is the motto. This means involving employees in all important issues, holding regular staff meetings, but also engaging in an open exchange with the outside world and involving fans, for example with regard to the jersey or catering offers within the framework of various discussion formats. On the one hand, this togetherness promotes the positioning of B04 as an attractive employer brand and, on the other hand, is the basis of the work "for the dream of our fans".
Stakeholders
Fan dialogue, partner exchange and communication on one level links Bayer 04 with a holistic lead stakeholder dialogue with the aim of hand-in-hand progress for a common direction for the club and its future. Bayer 04 is in constant dialogue with all its stakeholders including fans, sponsors, local authority and associations. That is the only way a successful partnership is possible and thereby effective for the smooth running of matchday operations. The dialogue is particular in the form of a completed material analysis, the base of all the sustainability efforts of Bayer 04.
Sustainability and innovation
Sustainability is also a topic of innovation for Bayer 04. To make football more sustainable, new ways and solutions are needed, especially digital ones. Bayer 04 pioneered the eTicket, which saves a huge amount of paper for printed tickets. The same applies to digital receipts issued by the stadium catering services. The print media circulation has also been greatly reduced, with the club now relying on digital channels and solutions. Innovative technology for more sustainable turf management, composting facilities for recycling green waste and food waste, or the latest artificial turf technology are emblematic of an innovative approach to sustainability transformation.
Compliance and Code of Conduct
Compliance at Bayer 04 is a question of attitude: reliability, honesty, credibility and integrity are part of the corporate philosophy. The highest standards of fair competition apply at Bayer 04. As a subsidiary of Bayer AG, strict compliance guidelines apply at Bayer 04, something all employees are reminded of through regular training. This also applies to sports: all licensed, women's and youth players undergo regular training and workshops on various topics, including: fair play, anti-doping, anti-discrimination and bullying prevention. B04 also publicly positions itself against any form of discrimination and lives this internally as well as externally.
Supply chain management
Bayer 04 strives to deal responsibly with fan articles and internally used products. A clean supply chain is the basis for the club's actions. Among other things, Bayer 04 does not tolerate child labour in the entire supply chain (in accordance with ILO Convention 182) and demands social and fair standards at the production sites. The club has its products produced as locally as possible, preferably in Europe. Some of Bayer 04's fan merchandise bears various fair trade labels or common environmental labels. The club is working to gradually increase the proportion of sustainably certified fan merchandise. At the production sites, Bayer 04 demands socially responsible and fair standards. When shipping its packages from the warehouse, Bayer 04 relies exclusively on DHL Go Green, DHL's climate-neutral shipping service.
News
"Better than winning the lottery": Bayer 04 HILFT day at Leverkusen children’s day-care centre
Time to roll up the sleeves and do some good again: At what was now the eighth edition of the BAYER 04 HILFT Day, staff and players once again dedicated an entire day to a good cause this year. Following last year's efforts at NaturGut Ophoven, this time the Bayer 04 team restored the outdoor area of a Leverkusen children's day-care centre with great support from Lebenshilfe-Werkstätten Leverkusen and club partner Coca-Cola.
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Tapsoba sets up foundation in Burkina Faso
Commitment under the Cross: Werkself player Edmond Tapsoba has set up the 'Fondation Edmond Tapsoba' in his home country Burkina Faso. The defender's foundation, based in Ouagadougou, aims to provide sustainable support to a wide range of people in different circumstances. The focus of the measures is on disadvantaged children, older people, the homeless, victims of violence, people with serious illness, refugees and people with disabilities.
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Bayer 04 is Wiesdorf: School workshop with Tah on racism
Whether at school, in grassroots sports or at the football stadium – racism and discrimination of all kinds are still prevalent in our society. For this reason, Bayer 04 has been organising preventative school workshops on the subject of racism for many years. This week, one of these workshops took place at the Lise-Meitner-Gymnasium not far from the BayArena as part of the Wiesdorf district matchday - and with a prominent guest: Werkself star Jonathan Tah worked intensively with the pupils on the topic. The German champion and international also spoke about his personal experiences with racism.
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International Women's Day: Stadium announcer Pitti Dahl – the woman with the mic
She was the first female stadium announcer in the Bundesliga and the only one for a long time: Petra 'Pitti' Dahl has been the voice at the BayArena home games since 2009. She was born in Leverkusen and also works in the marketing department at Bayer 04. In an interview with bayer04.de, she talks on this special day about her role as a woman at a football stadium, the relevance of diversity at a football club and the significance of International Women's Day for her.
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