Porsche 2011 Annual Report Download - page 84

The focus of Volkswagen’s vocational training
is on the professional development of the participants.
They also benefit from a series of supplementary
programs and opportunities. These include the coop-
eration between Volkswagen vocational training and
the “Youth Start-Ups” high-tech and business start-up
competition and organization of the “ProTalent” and
“ProMechanic” competitions.
Volkswagen vocational trainees have a more
than twenty-year tradition of involvement with the
Auschwitz memorial site, which is run in cooperation
with the International Auschwitz Council. Four times a
year, the trainees from Volkswagen and Polish young
people travel to Auschwitz for two weeks in each case
in order to work on maintaining the memorial. Nearly
2,000 young people from Germany and Poland have
participated in the program so far.
Since 2006, on completion of their training,
young people at the start of their career have had the
opportunity to take part in the “Wanderjahre” (Years
Abroad) program, spending twelve months at one of
the group’s international locations. So far, over 270
young employees of the Volkswagen group have taken
this opportunity. Today, 23 group companies in 16
different countries participate in this program.
Every year, the group board of management
and the world works council present the “Best Ap-
prentice Award” to the company’s best trainees. This
year’s prize for the best apprentice was awarded for
the eleventh time at the end of November 2011 in
Stuttgart. 27 vocational trainees from twelve coun-
tries accepted the honor.
Training programs at the Volkswagen group’s
international locations
Training and qualification opportunities for
employees also continue to expand at the Volks-
wagen group’s international locations. Dual vocational
training and education now exists at 35 sites abroad
and is in development at an additional 23 sites. In the
Kaluga plant at Volkswagen Group Rus, for example,
the second year of vocational training began in 2011
and three additional training professions have been
introduced. Likewise, the “Volkswagen India Acad-
emy” in Pune, opened at the end of 2010, was able
to expand in the past year. A three-year vocational
training program for mechatronics in accordance
with the dual system has been introduced there. In
the future, more than 100 vocational trainees who
have been trained at state Industrial Training Insti-
tutes as welders, painters, fitters, electricians, tool
and machine mechanics, vehicle mechanics, or
automation specialists will be guided through a year-
long practical training each year. The training acad-
emy opened in 2010 at the US site in Chattanooga
has expanded its capacity to coincide with the start
of operations at the factory there in May 2011.
Proven personal development instruments of the
Volkswagen group such as the Management Assess-
ment Center and basic leadership qualification train-
ing have been transferred to Chattanooga. In addition
to the existing training center in Nanjing, Shanghai
Volkswagen in China began construction of a training
center in spring 2011 for the plant in Yizheng. The
new site in Foshan is currently also being equipped
with a training center.
Prospects for university graduates
Volkswagen offers the StartUp Direct trainee
program to young university graduates who have
recently joined the company. Over a two-year period,
participants in the program not only work in their own
department and familiarize themselves with the com-
pany, but also attend supplementary training seminars.
The program additionally includes multiple-week
placements in production and sales as well as an
optional foreign placement. University graduates with
an international focus can alternatively enter the
StartUp Cross program. This program includes a
three-month international placement during its 18-
month period. Over 1,400 trainees gained their first
Volkswagen experience in one of these two programs
since their launch in 2008.
GROUP MANAGEMENT REPORT84