Donations in place of Christmas parties – OGE helps in times of crisis

"The board discussed how we should deal with the question of Christmas parties and the budget earmarked for these events in times of Corona," says Jörg Bergmann, OGE’s CEO. "We quickly agreed that we should not look for alternative formats this year and instead think of those who are suffering more from Covid-19 than most of us, especially during the Christmas season. That is why we decided to donate the money to groups that are particularly affected by the pandemic."

The main aim was to support a range of different groups including young and old people but we also wanted to help charities and organisations working in Essen or in the vicinity of our field sites. We started with the recipients of our “last few cents” campaign and added a few charities to that list. As part of this campaign, which has been running for more than ten years, around half of the OGE workforce donate the net cent amounts – and since last year also net euro amounts – of their monthly payslips to charitable causes. These cent amounts are collected every month and then topped up by the company at the end of the year. In this way, OGE helps organisations and charities from across different areas with their work and supports broad community involvement.

The organisations supported by the "Christmas parcels from next door" campaign organised by the OGE works council were also on the list of recipients.