Audi 2014 Annual Report Download - page 150

BASIS OF THE AUDI GROUP
STRATEGY
150 >>
The Audi brand achieved distinctions on several counts in the
international design competition Automotive Brand Contest.
The new Audi TT was voted “Innovation of the Year,” while the
Matrix LED headlights on the Audi A8 received the title of
“Best of Best.” The Audi A3 Sedan also received an award for
its design (www.german-design-council.de/en/design-awards/
automotive-brand-contest/2014/online-exhibition/exterior-
premium-brand.html; www.german-design-council.de/
en/design-awards/automotive-brand-contest/2014/online-
exhibition/best-of-best.html).
Further awards for our products and design are
presented under the goal “Top image position and
customer mix” on page 149.
You can read about other awards for our engines
and technologies such as the Audi connect services
in the “Research and development” section on
pages 157 ff.
Research and development activities reached a total of
EUR 4,316 (3,966) million in the past fiscal year. This
represents 8.0 (8.0) percent of revenue.
// ATTRACTIVE EMPLOYER WORLDWIDE
In order to become the leading premium automobile brand
worldwide, the Audi Group also needs to be an attractive em-
ployer worldwide. Only then will our Company be able to attract
the best and most able employees with the most expertise and
commitment. A varied and challenging work environment and
good development prospects, coupled with job security and
commensurate, attractive pay, are all major factors. We regu-
larly conduct in-house surveys in order to gauge the satisfaction
of our workforce and to ensure that we keep them satisfied in
the future as well.
Further information on employee attractiveness can
be found under “Employees” on pages 186 ff.
Especially in light of our growing internationalization, we want
to be ranked among the top employers particularly in those
regions where we have our main locations. Various national
and international rankings have already regularly confirmed
the Audi Group’s attractiveness as an employer.
In the attractiveness survey “Best Employer 2014” by the news
magazine FOCUS and the social network for professionals
XING, Audi was named overall winner as well as topping the
“Automobile/Major Corporations” category. The poll was carried
out among 19,000 employees of 2,000 businesses in 22 dif-
ferent industries. The willingness of the employees to recom-
mend their own company was a major weighting factor when
the survey results were evaluated (FOCUS-SPEZIAL special issue
Employers, 2/2014, January 28, 2014).
We once again achieved top honors in the latest employer rank-
ings compiled by the highly regarded consultancy institute
Universum. These show that Audi is yet again the most pre-
ferred employer for both career starters and young, experi-
enced engineers. The Company also defended its top position
in the survey among professionally experienced economists. In
the IT category, the brand with the Four Rings has moved up to
second place, taking a huge leap of 14 places in the scientists’
ranking (WirtschaftsWoche, issue 18/2014, p. 70–76, and
issue 49/2014, p. 82–85).
In Hungary, AUDI HUNGARIA MOTOR Kft., GyƉr, was voted the
country’s most attractive employer for the sixth year in a row.
This was the outcome of a reputation analysis carried out by the
international student organization AIESEC in collaboration with
the management consultants Aon Hewitt. Some 7,700 partici-
pants from 13 different industries and over 240 Hungarian
companies were interviewed for this study. (www.budapester.hu/
2014/03/17/fuer-deutsche-firmen-zu-arbeiten-ist-in/ – link
only available in German).
In 2014, AUDI BRUSSELS S.A./N.V., Brussels (Belgium), also won
an award for its human resources work and good progress in
the human resources area, capturing the title “HR Ambassador
of the Year.” The award is presented each year by the Belgian
network “D.E.N.K.-HR.” Its panel of experts brings together
representatives of federations, universities and trade maga-
zines (www.hr-gala.be/actua/detail.phtml?id=94).