Engaged with society through long-term partnerships
We care for our people, our company and the world around us. That’s what a family company should do. This is why we engage in long-term partnerships and organize activities that have value for our employees and associates, but also for society. It’s how we show our commitment to and responsibility for society.
We are one of the most sustainable companies in the Netherlands. Every year our carbon emissions are decreasing. As of 2018, Pon is carbon neutral in the Netherlands.
Safety is a truly important value for Pon. Top management ensures safety is always on the agenda. All our companies have special Safety Officers.
Move to Help
A positive contribution to a strong community.
Move to Help, a global program, allows Pon employees to do voluntary work during office hours. We also contribute by offering our products, according to our core value ‘Care & Act Responsibly’. You will find Move to Help at Pon businesses in the Netherlands, USA and Norway.
Mobility for good causes
Realizing effective transportation.
Pon has a mobility fund. Through it, we support social projects in the Netherlands by deploying mobility in the widest sense of the word. We provide help in what we’re good at realizing effective transportation. This includes supporting activities by the National Foundation for the Elderly (Nationaal Ouderenfonds), sponsoring holiday camps for children with cancer, or fund-raising events, such as the Maarten van der Weijden eleven-city swim. All of this takes the form of occasional or temporary support, enabling us to help as many organizations as possible – nationally and locally.
For further information about Move to Help, please contact sponsoring@pon.com.
Youth and education
Equal opportunities for everyone.
Pon is committed to developing talent. Equal opportunities and good education are an integral part of that. This is why we support a range of organizations that contribute to this. Through our long-term partnership with the young people’s charity JINC, we help children growing up amid unemployment and with few role models to take their first step toward the labor market. We also support various initiatives that focus on sparking children and young people’s interest in technology, such as Skills Heroes. This helps give children the opportunities they deserve and ensures that the technology sector can continue to attract talent.
NOC*NSF
Parallels between Pon and elite sport.
The life of a sportsman or woman is all about determination, discipline and delivery. Continually pushing yourself to achieve even better results. Pon identifies with this elite sports mentality and ambition. Hardly surprising then, that Pon connects with Dutch sport through its partnership with the Dutch Olympic Committee/Dutch Sports Federation. For more than 30 years, we have supported sport and have been following the performance of TeamNL at the Olympic Games. Especially for Dutch Olympians, Royal Gazelle is developing the Oranje Gazelle, enabling athletes to move around the Olympic village with ease.
Team Jumbo-Visma
Innovation, sharing knowledge, talent development and joining forces.
It is only natural that Pon has an affinity with cycling because of the top brands within their cycling portfolio. Cervélo is a partner of Team Jumbo-Visma. ŠKODA and Swapfiets are involved in major cycling competitions like the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, the Vuelta a España and the UCI Road World Championships. They supply cars and bikes to the teams. The ŠKODA support vehicles have built-in equipment that registers data on cyclists. This can help cyclists improve their performance.
Rijksmuseum – Dutch national museum
Supporting the cultural sector is a good fit with our family business.
The original sketch of the Volkswagen Transporter van by Ben Pon Senior is on show in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Since 2013 Pon is a sponsor of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. This means Pon contributes to exhibitions, purchases and restorations of 20th century art objects.
Back in the day Ben Pon Senior came up with the idea for a van that could carry as much load as the weight of the van itself. When visiting the Volkswagen factory in Germany, he gave advice on this type of van based on a sketch he had made in his note book. His original sketch is on show in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Volkswagen did, in fact, manufacture Ben Pon’s van, which is widely known as the iconic Volkswagen T1 Bulli hippie-van. Since then Volkswagen has produced millions of Volkswagen Transporter vans. They also recently launched the first electric edition.
Ambassadors
With a passion to achieve.
What do all Pon ambassadors have in common? They all have a passion to achieve, whatever their talent.
At Pon we admire perseverance, discipline and achievement. This is why we support sporting talents like golf pros Joost Luiten and Johannes Veerman, sprinter Churandy Martina and mountain biker Danny MacAskill.
Since 2014 Pon supports the world-renowned, piano playing brothers Lucas and Arthur Jussen. They use their Volkswagen ID.4 to drive to their concerts. Lucas and Arthur perform all over the world, together but also alone. They have already performed for the Dutch Royal Family and were the main act during the free 2018 Prinsengracht Concert in Amsterdam – a classical concert performed on a pontoon.
Safety
To always work in a safe environment.
We ensure that we deliver our view regarding safety: ‘get home safely, everyone and every day’. Every Pon company has their own safety policy and Safety Officers who are responsible for everyone’s safety whilst at work. Centrally developed efforts regarding safety are coordinated and safety procedures and regulations, including incident analysis and awareness-raising programs regarding safety, are actively promoted.
Pon employees have the right to stop working on any project, if there are any safety issues. Pon’s top management and management of all Pon businesses are actively involved. Safety is a standard item on each management agenda. Managers promote safety anywhere, and lead by example.