Audi insight ride: changing the work culture
Audi e-tron: Power consumption (combined*) in kWh/100 km: 24.3–22.0 (NEDC) | 26.1–21.7 (WLTP)CO₂ emissions (combined*) in g/km: 0
Information on fuel/power consumption and CO₂ emissions with ranges depending on the selected equipment of the vehicle.
Audi e-tron: Power consumption (combined*) in kWh/100 km: 24.3–22.0 (NEDC) | 26.1–21.7 (WLTP)CO₂ emissions (combined*) in g/km: 0
Information on fuel/power consumption and CO₂ emissions with ranges depending on the selected equipment of the vehicle.
Stop 1
Meeting Anke Wendelken, founder of Audi’s network of Zusammenarbeit 2.0 guides (z20guides for short), we ask: Working from home presents certain challenges for cooperation. How is Audi dealing with these?
“If you’re working from home permanently, you can’t simply turn to the person sitting next to you and ask for help with an IT problem, as you would if you were in the office. That’s why, with the z20guides, we have created a very modern form of cooperation to support employees. We’re dismantling silos and promoting collegial support with this network. The focus is not only on dealing more effectively with the existing IT tools, but on establishing a new type of cooperation throughout the company. Almost 300 people throughout the whole Audi Group act as daily helpers, assisting their colleagues with queries and problems, regardless of hierarchies and hurdles. The helpers are drawn from a wide variety of business units and receive regular training for their duties. The guides also have a get-together twice a month to share their experiences.”
Stop 2
Heinrich Eibel is a talent manager in Audi IT focusing on IT qualifications. Our question to him: Everyone is talking about the digital transformation. How does Audi specifically remove barriers for employees who want to explore a new professional direction?
“Specific examples are our ‘digital.shift’ and ‘digital.future’ initiatives. The six to 18-month qualification programs are intended to build up IT skills in the company in order to strengthen strategic areas of future focus and support the digital transformation. Audi employees are approached specifically and prepared to take over an activity in the Audi IT Department. It really doesn’t just depend on paper qualifications here. First and foremost, employees must be enthusiastic about new subjects and brave enough to immerse themselves in another world professionally. The concept of lifelong learning is widely talked about, but we don’t just pay lip service to it, we live it.”
Stop 3
We stop by Sabine Maaßen, Member of Audi’s Board of Management for HR and Organization. We want to know from her whether the upheaval is really as sweeping as everyone claims.
“Yes, we are indeed in the biggest transformation in our history. Because it’s not just about new products, but about a realignment of the whole organization. Our entire environment is changing: the framework of laws and regulations in which we operate, our technologies, our processes, our customers, and their requirements. And, above all, it affects the people who work for us, because the transformation requires new skills and new perspectives. It calls into question tried and tested structures. It ensures that certain functions that have long been success factors are no longer required in this form. Our technological road map is very clearly aligned with electromobility and digitalization. This gives the employees in our company a high degree of orientation. However, it is very important to me that we always work out change together and that no one is left alone. That’s because our colleagues make up Audi, they are the most important element in this process. We need an attitude fueled by courage, openness, and determination, and I sense that our workforce is ready for this.”
Stop 4
Sören Gall is an Audi employee who has experienced transformation at first hand. We ask him what the process felt like.
“I began my vocational training as an electronics technician for automation technology with Audi in Neckarsulm in 2009. I subsequently started a bachelor’s degree in production and process management. During my internship semester, I worked at Audi in the start-up and analysis center, then in the maintenance department. Even during this activity, I had daily contact with SAP applications. It was a good basis for my further qualification in the field of SAP in-house consulting and SAP system integrity: in my former department I was often the contact for my colleagues for questions about SAP in day-to-day business anyway. That has encouraged me to continue to educate myself from being a user to a designer of IT solutions.
The path of transformation also means repeatedly leaving your comfort zone and being open to new things. It calls for a high degree of initiative, discipline, and independence. At the same time, though, there is great support from the department, HR, the Works Council and Audi Academy as well as regular feedback discussions. It feels very appreciative.”
Stop 5
We visit Thomas Hasenbank, Head of Recruitment, HR Advisory Center, Audi Academy. Our question to him: How are you supporting employees in the transformation?
“As a hub of operational excellence consisting of recruitment, the HR advisory center and Audi Academy, we not only advise and support Audi employees during all their stages of life – from joining Audi, through their personal and professional development to retirement – but also, of course, especially during transformation. That is why we’re already continuously aligning our trainee programs and vocational training to the company’s areas of future focus. We make our employees fit for the future through individual and tailor-made development paths and in so doing shape the transformation of Audi’s personnel. Qualification programs, such as the ‘digital shift’ in Neckarsulm or the ‘digital future’ in Ingolstadt, are just the beginning – as the operational excellence hub in the HR department, we recruit, advise and qualify ‘Vorsprung’.”
Stop 6
Finally, we visit the HR department of Audi Neckarsulm and ask HR Director, Stefanie Ulrich, what criteria she uses to select employees for the ‘digital shift.’
“Our recruitment concept is rather unconventional. We didn’t take the traditional approach of looking at our employees’ careers, but instead looked at who has an affinity for IT. We searched for people in the direct vicinity would bring passion and potential for digitalization and IT subjects, regardless of their qualifications. At the same time, the training team and the IT Department identified the competencies that are required. These requirements were then compared with the applications and defined on the basis of the qualification concept. Many participants have already completed an apprenticeship with Audi: half of them in electrical engineering, the others in body construction, warehouse logistics, production engineering, toolmaking and mechanical engineering. Digital Shift enables these colleagues to develop further in white-collar jobs.
The Audi brand is positioning itself for the future, with courage and determination, with the willingness to change and with a clear awareness of its own DNA. This requires unconventional measures and a workforce that is open to new ways of thinking and working.”
