A New Lease on Life for Toys and People Alike
A “win–win situation” is when something has multiple benefits at once. The Toys Company – a DEKRA Academy project – creates a potentially record-breaking “win–win–win–win situation.” At this practice enterprise, longterm unemployed people restore donated toys and then sell them in a store, benefiting participants, customers, society at large, and the environment.
If they had not met Karen Roth-Hanke at the Toys Company Friedrichshafen more than three years ago, the future would not look so bright for the two trainees Julia and Stefan. But now that they have started their apprenticeships as office management professionals, the picture now looks very different. “Thanks to the personal conversations and coaching sessions, I was able to emerge from my personal ‘black hole’ and develop realistic prospects for my life,” says 56-year-old Stefan. Julia, 30, adds: “At the start, I was extremely reserved, almost shy. I have made huge progress in this regard. I am now ready for something new!”
Practice enterprise teaches basic business skills
When they began receiving longterm unemployment benefit, the two received an offer from their case manager at the German Federal Employment Agency to take part in a program by the name of “DEKRA Toys Company.” The program is based on the smart concept of a practice enterprise, which operates under the real-life conditions of a commercial company. The business model involves collecting and repairing damaged toys and children’s clothing, and then selling them at affordable prices to socially disadvantaged people. This is a positive cycle in its own right – and sustainable, too. The actual objective, however, is to help longterm unemployed people get used to structured daily routines again and to teach them basic business knowledge. As part of the program, they spend time in various departments of the company, e.g., the warehouse, sales, and the workshop.
The Toy Company: It's colorful here
We visited the premises of the Toys Company in an industrial estate in Friedrichshafen, close to the airport and multiple ZF production facilities. On the third floor of an unremarkable building, a set of double doors leads to the company’s reception, where the receptionist – also a participant of the program – takes us to manager Karen Roth-Hanke’s office. She is currently in a meeting with her boss, Wolfgang Leißa, Head of DEKRA Academy Ulm. While we wait, we decide to have a look around. The place is bright and colorful: board games, jigsaws, cuddly toys, wooden toys, chessboards, and nine men’s morris boards are stacked to the ceiling on the games sales floor. In the adjacent “boutique,” there are clothes for children and young people – all carefully arranged and labeled with their serial numbers and prices.
Points instead of euros
Here, the prices are not shown in euros and cents, but in points. Only social welfare recipients, with a corresponding certificate from the job center, are eligible to shop here. This data, along with the number of children in the family, is held in each customer’s file at the Toys Company. Each child has 40 points a month, which can be used to make purchases; a board game, for instance, costs between three and five points, whereas a children’s winter jacket costs between five and eight points. “Our more than 200 customers can enjoy a slice of normality when they pick up something nice for their kids here,” points out Roth-Hanke.
Trainings at the DEKRA Academy
In the training room opposite, a handful of participants are sitting at computer workstations and taking part in various courses, e. g., German language courses and online application training. There is an atmosphere of silent concentration. Julia tells us that she didn’t feel particularly comfortable here at first, as she found speaking to customers difficult. She was happiest handling administrative tasks, where she could work on her own. “But the contact with the other participants and the personal conversations with Ms. Roth-Hanke helped me hugely and gave me more self-confidence.” Having completed high school, she started an apprenticeship in graphic design, but then had to drop out to look after her grandparents. And without a vocational qualification, she was unable to find her way back into the world of work. She tells us that she had already taken part in numerous programs, but things didn’t “click” until she started at the Toys Company. Her current training as an office management professional, at the DEKRA Academy in Weingarten, is just right for her. “My dream would be to find something in this field.”
A second life for the toy
We find Stefan in his favorite place, in the workshop. He is attempting to breathe new life into a toy robot, with only partial success. “Hmm, there has to be a way to get to the battery compartment,” he mumbles, completely absorbed by his work. This kind of manual work comes naturally to Stefan, who loves to quietly tinker away. After finishing high school, he quit a printer’s apprenticeship due to parental pressure. “But it was clear to me on day one that it wasn’t up my alley,” he reveals. He then completed his mandatory military service and worked as a forklift truck driver at ZF. Here, the rising workload, a host of different demands, and the increasing pressure put paid to this career path. He set up his own business, which didn’t work out. The 56-year-old received social welfare and, due to long-term unemployment, was moved to the basic income variant (“Hartz IV”).
Fun at work
Unlike with many of his other training programs, he took to the Toys Company like a duck to water. “With many of the other programs, I didn’t know how I was going to get through the day. Here, I find myself wondering: ‘What, break time already?” He is full of praise for Karen Roth-Hanke, who, for him, was more than just a training instructor, but also a coach and advisor. “She encouraged me to take the next step, and I am very grateful to her for that.” She has made it her mission to not only teach skills and knowledge, but also attaches great importance to the personal development of her charges. Among other things, she also offers painting classes and yoga. “We just push the workbenches in the workshop to one side to make space,” she explains with a smile.
When all the cogs fit together
When the Toys Company closes at 3 p.m., she also finds time for one-on-one conversations and coaching sessions for program participants. Head of Academy Wolfgang Leißa is full of admiration for the success stories of Stefan and Julia. “Of course, not all participants make this transition, but I see tremendous motivation among the participants – and also on the part of the highly dedicated job center case managers, who have accompanied us in this unorthodox approach. And it’s extremely rewarding when, in cases like these, everything clicks into place and we can help people achieve.”
“And it’s extremely rewarding when, in cases like these, everything clicks into place and we can help people achieve.”
Head of DEKRA Academy Wolfgang Leißa