SHE Stand Down: How we foster a safety culture in the Americas

Our aim with this programme was to encourage the use of the Engagement Board, which was introduced across Mondi Group in 2022. Engagement Board is a process that helps our leaders engage with their teams and talk about workplace controls, psychological elements and cultural dynamics.  

The idea of the SHE Stand Down campaign is that all the Mondi sites in the Americas stop production for 1.5 hours, once a month and during the same week, and run Engagement Board sessions to openly discuss safety and health issues, such as incidents in Mondi plants. This week is already planned in the production schedule of all sites, and everyone is expected to join, supported by the SHE Coordinators, Plant Managers and Managing Directors. 

The initial challenge was that some colleagues were not getting actively involved. We overcame this by building trust with them, showing and proving that this is a platform for them to speak freely and honestly with the management. We also changed our approach from telling to listening, and this helped a lot in gaining trust and confidence among employees. We promote the use of this tool not only for safety, but also for different topics as a way to connect better with our people. 

Our goal with this campaign is to create a culture of safety and health in all our plants in the Americas, where every employee feels responsible and committed to their own safety and well-being and that of their colleagues. We want our people to know that Mondi cares about them and that they can count on the support and listening of their leaders.