Volkswagen Opinion Barometer with Highest Participation to Date

WOLFSBURG, GERMANY - July 21, 2011: The Volkswagen opinion barometer, the Group-wide employee survey, achieved its highest participation rate ever this year with responses from 89 percent of the employees surveyed. The rate last year was 87 percent, while 78 percent of the employees invited to participate in the first opinion barometer back in 2008 already took advantage of this opportunity to share their opinions.

Commenting in Wolfsburg today, Dr. Horst Neumann, the Board member of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft responsible for Human Resources, said: "Apart from the survey’s unusually high acceptance, the results also showed the best satisfaction levels yet among our employees. The opinion barometer gives everyone the opportunity to express their views frankly." He added that was also a characteristic of an attractive employer and went on to say the next step was to discuss the results in the teams and implement improvements. This year, the focus is on further improving communication and information within the teams.

Over 336,000 Volkswagen employees in 22 countries all over the world were invited to take part in the fourth opinion barometer, with Volkswagen Group Rus and Volkswagen India participating for the first time. Under the survey, which is anonymous, employees gave their responses to questions in the categories of information and communication, quality and working organization, collaboration, and job satisfaction and results talks. There are eleven questions in total which are repeated each year, thereby highlighting and drawing on developments over a longer period.