“If you have the opportunity, help others!” – As Christmas is approaching, social responsibility is becoming even more important to many civilians and companies, too. Miklós Szabó, founder and owner of Tranzit Group has shared his thoughts about helping others.
Social responsibility is present not only in foreign multinational companies that have settled in Hungary, but also in many large domestic companies. First of all, please define what exactly this term covers in your understanding?
We began to appreciate the term “social responsibility” mainly after the regime change, with the rise of private property, since previously for a long time the “caring state” performed this task. Thank God, I feel that more and more people in the private sector know the content of this as their own. And what is the content of this? In my opinion, if you have the opportunity, help others! This obviously requires where someone came from and what kind of environment they socialized in, as I also experienced in the old system that if someone needed help, we helped each other. In fact, we still do that today, only in a big way. We believe that wealth is not immune from social problems. We are part of it, we have something to do with it. During the 33 years of the Tranzit Group’s existence, we always took advantage of the opportunity to give as much as we could where it was needed. At first, this charity work was not organized, but later we had to realize that adhoc help was not efficient enough. Many people ask for a variety of things, so it was appropriate to mark a specific area that we would like to support. This is how we primarily chose children’s institutions. Especially for healthcare and institutions dealing with disabled children. We help through foundations that guarantee that the donation goes to the best place. Just like them, we believe that the question is not why this is good for me, but that it will be better for all of us if we do what we can do. We think long-term, because we believe that this is the only way the help we provide can be truly effective.
Advent is not only a time of waiting, but also of reckoning. When you look back at the year behind us, how satisfied are you with what the two pans on the scale show? After all, the year the company closes obviously also frames their charitable opportunities…
Our lives have been completely turned upside down in the past three years: it started in 2021 with the COVID, then in 2022 the war came upon us, and then the departure energy and feed prices. All of this has affected this year as well. Our only luck was that the consumer market accepted the skyrocketing prices, although this also fueled the pace of monetary deterioration. (If there is no demand, there is no price increase.) That is why a significant number of the economic organizations were able to close the year 2022 with good results. This started to correct back in 2023, crop and energy prices fell, only wage costs are rising. Let me note: rightfully so! The sector will also end this year successfully, even though bird flu has been around our necks for years. While our company group will also close a successful year, I must say that our social responsibility is not in proportion to the company’s results this year. It means, if the result is smaller, it is customary to donate less, but we do not follow this path. Both as a company and as individuals, we take part in helping others.
Do you agree with the approach that providing a livelihood to nearly 2,000 people in disadvantaged parts of the country is in itself a form of social responsibility?
We have a total of more than 70 locations in six eastern Hungarian counties. Employing such a large number of employees is an incredibly large expense, which is why we are particularly proud of the fact that we do not have anyone employed on minimum wage. We have a fundamental responsibility to be able to give these people work and a decent living. Unfortunately, the fluctuation is also significant. At the Tranzit Group, we offer our employees a career path model. We know for a fact that competitive salary and a good benefits package are now viewed as a basis by employees, but aspects such as the environmental policy pursued by the company, how comfortable the working conditions are, what kind of team you have to work in, or, how the company supports the professional development of its employees. All of this is essential for our nearly 2,000 colleagues to find their calculations and ensure their long-term livelihood. By the way, this is our well-understood common interest…
Attila Petneházi
– The author is an employee of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry –
(pixabay)
