People & Society

We value people and treat them with respect. We enable and empower our employees and we ensure safe working conditions. Beyond that, we take responsibility to contribute to a better quality of life for everyone.

Our employees

Our employees are fundamental for achieving our goals. They are the key to our success. We engage and empower our employees to make the most of their talents and their jobs. We create an environment in which our diverse talents can contribute in the best possible way. We promote a culture in which different ways of thinking and working can develop optimally.

Health & Safety

We never compromise on safety. We act responsibly and value the health and safety of people above all else. We also work every day to protect the environment.

We commit ourselves to the principles of Responsible Care® and continuously improve the efficiency of our production plants to save resources.

Social Engagement

The neighborhood around our sites plays an important role in our success. We can conduct our business successfully only if we have the trust and the support of our neighbors. For this reason, we take our role as a reliable partner and an attractive employer seriously and implement diverse social responsibility projects in our communities.

Responsible mica sourcing

It is our responsibility to manage our entire supply chain carefully. We pay special attention to responsible sourcing. One example is mica sourcing.

BASF uses raw mica as well as mica-based effect pigments. For the majority of our demand we use mica from our own mine in Hartwell, U.S., and some of our businesses source exclusively from this mine.Third party suppliers are requested to source mica in accordance with internationally recognized standards which, amongst others, exclude child labor.

As member of the Responsible Mica Initiative (RMI), BASF actively contributes to ban child labor in the mica business. The initiative aims at eradicating child labor and unacceptable working conditions in the Indian mica supply chain.

Training and education programs

Empowering the next generation of refinish painters

The refinish business would not exist without refinish painters, so we work to show off the refinish business and attract new people to the refinish industry. We also support high, sustainable refinish standards in our core of diverse training and development programs.

Whether it’s STAMPP, the R-M Best Painter Contest or the global WorldSkills competition, we empower the next generation of refinish painters and enhance their skills on the global stage that benefits local markets.

STAMPP stands for STimulate and revAMp the Paint Profession. Launched in 2008, it is an internationally standardized one-year training for new automotive refinishing technicians, partnering with more than 100 vocational schools and body shops.
Started in 1950, WorldSkills Competitions are the gold standard of excellence in vocational skills. In May 2020, BASF Coatings renewed its global sponsorship of WorldSkills to continue its long-standing commitment to developing new talent in the automotive refinish industry. The mission of WorldSkills is to raise the profile and recognition of skilled people and show how important skills are in achieving economic growth and personal success. The competition inspires competitors to reach new heights, while giving them the training and skills needed to turn their passion into a profession.
Focusing on training and opportunities to grow expertise in the industry, the R-M International Best Painter Contest is the automotive refinish brand’s own unique competition. Since 1999, R-M has hosted the contest for up-and-coming spray painters to promote the profession as an attractive career and honor the most talented spray painter.

Building bridges into skilled work

Without training, you can’t get a job. Without a job, the range of prospects might get slim. To broaden the individual range of prospects for job opportunities, BASF Coatings not only offers a wide variety of vocational trainings, but is also involved in projects with regional partners to build bridges between schools and professional training sites early in a person’s career.

Some examples: With the program “Brücke zum Beruf” (a bridge into skilled work), BASF Coatings is offering a one-year internship for young people who could not enter a vocational training program. “Schule – und dann?” (School – what’s next?) is a project established by the Wirtschaftsförderung Münster GmbH (Münster business promotion organization), giving school students from Münster the opportunity to spend one afternoon at the BASF site learning about the know-how required for various professions. In addition, the business network “Industry in Münster” (BASF Coatings is a member) offers a job orientation tool on its website. Here, school students can find out more about their interests and talents. Furthermore, they can find personal contacts to get in touch with in case of any questions.

"Jugend forscht" (Youth Research) competition

What are gummy bears made of? How can waste be removed from bodies of water and metal be recovered from old computers? Every year, school students take on these and many other questions during the German “Jugend forscht” (Youth Research) competition. In Münster, we have supported the regional competition as a main sponsor since 2002 within the national framework. Young talents from the areas of science, technology, information and mathematics have the opportunity to realize their ideas, while connecting BASF with the bright minds of tomorrow.

Renovation of historic buildings

For many years, BASF Coatings’ Suvinil brand has been the market leader in Brazil, South America’s largest country. That success involves commitment to the community, which is why BASF Coatings has long promoted the preservation of Brazil’s cultural heritage.

The company has used the initiative Suvinil Color, Architecture & Memory for more than 20 years to support the renovation of important historic buildings, public sites and institutions. In 2008, for instance, the Museu de Arte São Paulo (MASP) underwent extensive renovation. Its exterior walls were painted with Suvinil’s “Red MASP” color, which emphasizes the extraordinary architecture of the entire building. One year later, BASF Brazil teamed up with Brazilian graffiti artist Rui Amaral to renovate the Buraco da Paulista pedestrian tunnel on Paulista Avenue, one of the most famous streets in São Paulo. And in 2010, the mountain town of Campos de Jordão, one of Brazil’s most famous attractions and tourist destinations, received a new entrance painted with Suvinil products.

Museum of Lacquer Art

At our Museum of Lacquer Art, everything is devoted to the origins and the wide-ranging applications of lacquer and designing surfaces with it. The institution represents BASF's cultural engagement in Münster and is home to a globally unique art collection of over 2,000 objects from East Asia, Europe and the Islamic world from two millennia. In its varied special exhibits, the museum highlights historic and contemporary aspects of lacquer art. The museum also regularly hosts jazz and classical concerts as well as an educational program.

Visit our Museum of Laquer Art

Connected to care

When the working day is over, many of our employees are active in diverse volunteer projects. To promote and honor this voluntary engagement, BASF Coatings has an internal competition called “Connected to Care”. In 2020, the winner projects two of our employees are engaged in were “Music changes the world” and “Hospiz macht Schule”.

The project “Music changes the world” at the Eichendorff School in Münster is about creating an orchestra consisting of children of different origins, cultures, native languages and other special features. Their common language is the music, their common goal is to start a piece of music together, to let it sound together and to finish it together. The project focuses on the experience of being heard and listening to each other, having a permanent place and being missed when absent. The Eichendorff School is a very colorful and diverse elementary school, in which every means of communication beyond the German language is welcome – making music together connects everyone with one another. For many of the children it is the first time in their lives having this kind of positive experiences as in rehearsals or performances.

The project “Hospiz macht Schule” launched in 2005 by the Federal Hospice Academy is committed to introduce children to dealing with grief and the loss of a loved one. During a five-day project week, the participating children – and thus indirectly also their families – are introduced to the topics of dying, death and mourning as essential parts of life and experience consolation in difficult situations. In small groups and as a class, they develop the content in a wide variety of ways: there is painting, singing, dancing and reading together, diseases are mimicked, sunflowers are planted and a doctor is interviewed. The week ends with a visit to a cemetery and an afternoon with the parents, during which the children present their group work.