Porsche 2012 Annual Report Download - page 100

work. The areas of improvement that are agreed
upon are then implemented in the period before
the next survey. The opinion survey was conduct-
ed for the fifth time in 2012. A total of 102 loca-
tions and companies in 32 countries were included
in the survey. Of the over 378,000 employees
invited to participate, more than 342,000 took part.
Porsche Holding Salzburg, Volkswagen Osnabrück
GmbH and Volkswagen Group Japan K. K. took
part for the first time. The sentiment rating is a key
parameter for the opinion survey, in addition to the
level of employee participation. The Volkswagen
group also identified a positive trend here.
Another instrument for whose success the in-
volvement of employees has special significance is
the “Volkswagen Way”. This has been an integral
feature at Volkswagen for five years. It aims to
safeguard competitiveness and employment. It
focuses on a comprehensive improvement process
that aims to achieve continuous improvement in
productivity and efficiency, as well as quality, er-
gonomics, leadership and teamwork. The
“Volkswagen Way” is a durable instrument that
offers across-the-board, systematic and binding
solutions to problems using high standards and
drives improvements. Every employee’s participa-
tion allows Volkswagen to continuously improve
the workplaces, processes and structures in the
individual areas of the company. The Volkswagen
group’s other brands have similar efficiency en-
hancement programs. For example, during pro-
duction, a group-wide uniform production system
is used for all brands.
Volkswagen places tremendous value on facili-
tating the flow of ideas and improvement sugges-
tions from its employees into the work organization
and production process. The input of employees is
screened and evaluated by Volkswagen Ideas
Management, which is represented at all German
locations. The origin of the suggestion system at
the Volkswagen goes back to 1949. Since then,
involvement in the improvement of products and
processes has been a firm indicator of the creativity,
expertise and motivation of Volkswagen employees.
Ideas Management is an important leadership and
motivational instrument for line supervisors. The
Volkswagen group worked on systematically inte-
grating all of Volkswagen’s locations worldwide in
the reporting period.
In fiscal 2012, Volkswagen employees
throughout the group submitted a total of 536,532
improvement proposals, 12.9 percent more than in
the prior year (475,073). The implementation of
380,475 of these suggestions in the reporting
period significantly helped to improve the quality
of the Volkswagen group’s products and the effi-
ciency of its processes, and helped to reduce
costs in the group by a total of 358.1 million euro.
Employees who submitted ideas received bonuses
worth some 34.1 million euro in acknowledgment
of their creativity and contributions in shaping the
company. Ideas Management also helps work at
Volkswagen to be safer and more compatible with
good health. Occupational health and safety
measures are being continuously improved thanks
to successfully implemented ideas.
Preventive healthcare and occupational safety
in the Volkswagen group
Healthcare management at Volkswagen is much
more than classic preventive healthcare and occu-
pational safety. The holistic healthcare management
system that has been in place at Volkswagen for a
long time also comprises aspects of work organiza-
tion, ergonomics, management culture and pro-
spects for all individuals.
The “CheckUp”, a free, comprehensive medical
examination, was made available to all employees
at Audi in 2006 and at Volkswagen in 2010. This
now firmly established tool also helps to maintain
and improve employees’ health, fitness and perfor-
mance. The high level of diagnostic quality of the
check-ups is widely acknowledged by the employ-
ees: more than 42,000 Volkswagen check-ups and
more than 51,000 Audi check-ups have been per-
formed to date.
2The company
Group management report
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