Deutsche Post World Net and Deutsche BKK support the "Exercise and Health" campaign

"Becoming healthier step by step - 3,000 extra steps each day" (Schritt für Schritt gesund - Jeden Tag 3.000 Schritte extra) - that is the motto which Deutsche Post World Net and Deutsche BKK, Germany's largest company sickness benefit fund, announced on March 28 to indicate their support for the "Exercise and Health" campaign launched by the German Federal Ministry of Health. As part of this campaign, Deutsche Post World Net, together with Deutsche BKK, will be distributing 140,000 step counters to in-house postal staff.

The step counters act as motivation to get more exercise (at work) on a daily basis, the ideal being to take "3,000 extra steps each day" in line with the campaign's action motto. Ulla Schmidt, the Federal Minister of Health, Klaus Zumwinkel, Chairman of the Board of Management of Deutsche Post World Net and Ralf Sjuts, Chairman of the Board of Management of Deutsche BKK symbolically presented the first step counters to staff at Deutsche Post World Net.

Ms. Schmidt comments as follows: "I am delighted that we have found strong new supporters in Deutsche Post World Net and Deutsche BKK. Because, jointly, we can get more things moving. Our campaign's objectives - more exercise and health - are also in the natural interests of companies. Health-conscious staff are not only more satisfied, they are also more productive. 'Getting more things moving together' (Gemeinsam mehr bewegen) is therefore - in a double sense - a forward-looking resolution."

"Healthy staff are the foundation of any efficient company. This statement is all the more true of a service provider, where people and not machines constitute the key resource. Health management is therefore an issue of particular importance to us and involves making the work environment that we create for our staff more conducive to good health. We are delighted to be able to play our part in motivating our staff to adopt a healthy lifestyle by participating in the "Exercise and Health" campaign initiated by the Federal Ministry of Health," is how Mr. Zumwinkel explains Deutsche Post World Net's involvement.

Mr. Sjuts explains: "Becoming healthier step by step is a joint movement in various respects. By participating in this project, Deutsche BKK and Deutsche Post World Net are taking the next step in introducing active preventive healthcare in their sponsoring company. With the step counters, we would like to give our staff the motivation to engage in more exercise and help to improve the heath of staff. The first step we took along this path was the broadly based heart attack prevention campaign 'Heart Check at Work' (Herz Check im Betrieb). We are giving substance to our formally agreed Partnership for Health and Mobility. As a company sickness benefit fund, we are a system partner for health and help companies to achieve corporate goals and smooth the way for staff to take steps to improve their health. In addition, the Ministry of Health is sending out an important message as well because prevention is in safe hands in the corporate sector if health protection facilities and company sickness benefit funds work together in a sensible way."

Federal Minister of Health Ulla Schmidt initiated the "Exercise and Health" campaign last year. Since then, more than 100,000 citizens as well as numerous associations and institutions such as the German Sports Confederation (Deutscher Sportbund) and also prominent supporters, including Senta Berger, Jörg Pilawa, Kai Pflaume and Jeanette Biedermann, have taken up the motto "3,000 extra steps each day".