Audi 2007 Annual Report Download - page 148

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An Industrial Safety Award is given each year in recognition of exceptional achievements
by management and the workforce. In June 2007, the Board of Management and the General
Works Council presented awards and certificates in the three categories of “Accident-Free
Working,” “Progress in Reducing Accident Numbers” and “Industrial Safety Initiative.”
Labor and management at Audi have concluded a company agreement on industrial
safety. Its purpose is to ensure that industrial safety is always understood as a joint, all-
encompassing task. This principle applies to production operations as well as to the entire
value chain.
Employee profit-sharing
The success of a company is simultaneously also a reflection of what all employees have
contributed. AUDI AG has therefore been allocating a variable share of profits to its employ-
ees for many years. The previous profit-sharing arrangements were extended in 2005 when
the agreement called “Audi’s Future – Performance, Success, Sharing” went into effect. The
additional bonus is tied directly to the Audi Group’s operating result and thus reflects the
performance of the Company itself. Together with the previous profit share, AUDI AG em-
ployees received an average performance-based bonus of EUR 3,700 in 2007 for the preced-
ing fiscal year.
Efficient suggestions award program
The ongoing enhancement of products and working processes is one of the main pillars of
Audi’s huge success. The company-wide suggestions award program is playing an increas-
ingly pivotal role here – with a dual effect: It helps the Company become more efficient
while at the same time increasing employee motivation by putting their suggestions into
practice and awarding bonus payments.
The total amount saved thanks to employee suggestions reached a new record level of
around EUR 60 million in 2007. The number of suggestions assessed as having particular
merit (i.e. producing potential savings of over EUR 20,000) was higher than ever last year, as
were the actual savings per implemented suggestion. The participation rate showed a
marked increase by comparison with the year before.
In July 2007, the German Institute of Management awarded AUDI AG its prize for the best
suggestions award program in the car industry for the fourth time in a row.
Handling demographic change
AUDI AG’s strategic aim is to become the most successful automobile manufacturer in the
premium segment. As it progresses along that path, the average age of the workforce at
AUDI AG will rise to around 45 over the next five years due to demographic change. By then,
some 5,400 employees engaged in direct manufacturing activities – one in four – will be
over 50 years of age. Some time ago, the Company therefore seized the initiative to develop
an appropriate response to this development.
The interdisciplinary Audi Demographics Project seeks to shape the working conditions
for an aging workforce in such a way that, for example, persons over 60 years of age will still
be capable of performing such tasks as vehicle assembly. Audi is conducting a “Workplace
Structural Analysis” of its production operations. Each individual workplace is being ana-
lyzed and assessed in terms of physical strain potential. On the basis of these findings, ways
of further reducing this physical strain at the workplace are then identified and imple-
mented in order to make that workplace equally suited for employees of all ages.
This subject area also encompasses the development of age-appropriate working hour
models, including both models for the individual’s working life as well as special part-time
arrangements. Representative employee surveys are used as a basis for future working hour
arrangements.