Employee participation

Codetermination and employee participation are important pillars of our human resources strategy. Volkswagen aims to promote high levels of expertise and a strong sense of team spirit. This includes employees’ opinions, assessments and criticism being heard.

We brief our employees extensively on upcoming changes so as to involve them in strategic decision-making as early as possible. When shaping labor relations to embody cooperation and social peace, we are guided by universal human rights and the standards of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Building on these principles, we have agreed various charters and declarations with the European and Global Group Works Council which set out the principles of labor policy in the Volkswagen Group as well as employee rights.

Employee participation in the Company’s success through the issuance of treasury shares in the form of an employee share program is not currently offered.

By means of the opinion survey (Stimmungsbarometer), the Company regularly gathers information regarding employee satisfaction and also surveys employees on our corporate culture. Based on the results, follow-up processes are implemented in which measures are developed and executed. The 2022 opinion survey covered 159 companies in 49 countries. Of the 614,142 employees in the companies surveyed, 475,778 participated. This was a participation rate of 77%. The sentiment rating calculated from 22 questions is the main parameter of the opinion survey and is used to help determine Board of Management remuneration, among other things. It is calculated from the total of all the related answers in the survey and, in 2022, stood at 82.4 out of a possible total of 100 index points. The score achieved in 2022 was thus just above the previous year’s figure, which amounted to 82.3 points.

In addition, we also encourage employee involvement by means of Idea Management. Employees have the opportunity to put their creativity and knowledge to use by contributing their ideas for making improvements, thus contributing to streamlining workflows, further enhancing ergonomics in the workplace, reducing costs and continuously increasing efficiency. The system also provides monetary incentives by offering set rewards.