BMW 2005 Annual Report Download - page 28

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opportunities provided by new technologies to im-
prove its human resources management. The ob-
jective is to ensure that employees and
manage-
ment staff receive an efficient service and competent
advice from members of the human resources de-
partment and a swift response to their enquiries.
At the same time, the EHR programme ensures
that management is provided with relevant informa-
tion, thus enabling them to perform their manage-
ment duties.
The roll-out of the employee portal “MyNet-
work” was completed in 2005 as part of the EHR
programme. “MyNetwork” gives staff access to
web-based applications i.e. personalised informa-
tion relating to personnel issues and online serv-
ices. Approximately 80,000 members of staff were
using the portal by the end of 2005 which, together
with the large volume of transactions generated,
bears out that this process improvement has been
fully accepted.
New potential for flexibility created
In conjunction with an agreement with the General
Works Council and the IG Metall, a further instru-
ment
has been established to enable personnel ca-
pacities to be managed flexibly, both at short notice
and in line with requirements. These so-called “Pro-
ject Time” arrangements enable a defined number of
selected employees in Bavaria to extend their work-
ing
hours, over and above the collectively bargained
tariff agreement, from 35 to 40 hours per week for a
limited period.This is particularly designed to cover
additional staffing requirements for projects of strate-
gic importance. In 2005, the BMW Group also imple-
mented further measures to create flexibility between
the Group’s various locations with the aim of sup-
porting product start-ups on a targeted basis and
managing staffing requirements from plant to plant.
“Today for Tomorrow” project launched
The BMW Group attaches great importance to as-
sessing the foreseeable effects of demographic
changes on operations; it has therefore devised a
comprehensive plan of action, focusing on five main
issues, which was presented to the public in autumn
2005. The plan’s main objective is to safeguard the
future viability of the Group; this is to be achieved
on the one hand by ensuring that the workforce has
the appropriate set of skills and, on the other hand,
by being able to offer appropriate retirement models
on a targeted basis. The five main points of empha-
sis are:
– adaptation of the working environment to suit
future needs:
Physical strain and damage can be avoided to a
large extent by providing ergonomically designed
working areas in offices and production areas. As
an example, in conjunction with the production
start-up of the new BMW 3 Series, more than euro
25 million has been invested to order to create op-
timum ergonomic workplaces in the Munich plant.
– health-care provision
– training
– increasing executive management’s and em-
ployees’ awareness of changes taking place in
society and the company and of each individual’s
responsibility to make one’s own provisions for
the future.
– individual employee working lifetime models:
The aim is to be in a position where the BMW Group
can offer its employees retirement programmes
which meet the needs of both employee and
employer. Future financial scope is already being
created by means of reallocating parts of the
BMW profit share scheme.
BMW Group apprentices at 31 December
6,000
5,500
5,000
4,500
4,000
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
01
3,829
02
4,199
03
4,306
04
4,464
05
4,464