How do you make a daunting, time-consuming, labor-intensive task less intimidating—and more fun? Turn it into a paint party! Ok, so this may not be the solution for every task–agreed. But when it came to painting walls in our new space, it was spot on.

Music drifts through the air at a construction site on a partly cloudy day in August. People equipped with paint brushes, safety glasses, and caps bustle around, eager to bring paint onto the raw walls. Their usual afternoons are spent in the Muttenz and Pratteln offices, writing e-mails, attending meetings or producing waxes at BU Additives’ production plant in Muttenz. Who are these generous superheroes who gave their time to help beautify our space? Clariant, my friends, an innovative leader in the specialty chemical industry. Our heartfelt thanks goes out to them to ‘Walk the Talk’; for not only donating their time and sweat, but also the paint supplies. Also did Clariant’s customer Karl Bubenhofer AG provide some of the paint! Woo hoo!

34 employees gathered for two afternoons of painting at our new community, event and coworking space at Basel, Dreispitz. It was Clariant’s first official volunteering activity in Switzerland. “I was delighted to see so many people participating,” says Matthias Saxer, Country Head Switzerland. “People’s time is valuable so I am pleased that so many colleagues made the time to take part in this first official volunteering activity in Switzerland.”

This project was organized in the frame of Clariant’s corporate citizenship volunteering activities to contribute to the community engagement efforts and give a helping hand to the local communities in which they operate. “I had a lot of fun and enjoyed networking with colleagues from other departments,” says Ramona Hierholzer, Learning and Analytics Expert CSRA. “Connecting this with supporting a good cause made it even more fun.”

“Supporting Impact Hub Basel is a good example how we drive people engagement on sustainability”, says Lynette Chung, Head of Sustainability& Advocacy. “We want to enable our employees to make a sustainability contribution to the communities in which we operate, and we can even do this together with our business partners to enhance the impact.”

 

We are so grateful and happy to have this story to tell as part of our #SpaceRebuildingJourney! It was a wonderful way to make the work go quickly, to share jokes and stories, sing along ot music and bond over a common goal; this brings people together in a special way. There is nothing else left to say then, THANK YOU!

Impact Hub Basel