VW China company day reveals people first focus

Volkswagen Group China President and CEO Jochem Heizmann delivers the opening speech at the company day event on March 11, 2013 in Beijing. [Photo/Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Volkswagen Group China held its first large scale company day on March 11 in Beijing, and President and CEO Jochem Heizmann was in person to show those in attendance for the orientation the company's People First strategy.

"This is the first time the company invited all of its China employees to get together in Beijing, and we also invited some representatives from other entities," said the 61-year-old CEO Heizmann in an exclusive interview with China Daily website.

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Having ten of its latest cars, trucks and motorcycles displayed, along with child safety seats, financial services and its sports car division, were also featured at the venue. The German group's company day event functions on several different communication levels including such things as information sharing and giving advice on soliciting.

More than 2,000 people attended the employee company day with some even traveling to Beijing for the event, according to Xu Ying Volkswagen China Manager of Media Relations.

The company used to host a Family Day event every year beinning in 2011 for all of its entities. But this year, some time before Family Day, the company day also included strategic information about the VW Group worldwide and directly communicated among its top management team and employees.

One part of company day included car presentations and local employees introduced the group's latest car models and shared their driving experiences by telling personal stories about what makes their car so special.

For the employees attending, the messages on the brand, products, and their goals, is conveyed, which allows the work force to know more about each other and to get to know the entire group, Heizmann explained.

"It is important to us that our employees like what they are doing and are interested in the brands. This makes sure we have highly motivated and skilled people working for Volkswagen Group China, the best of the best," said Heizmann.

The employee is one of the three pillars at Volkswagen China's Ren Wei Ben - People First – a strategy unveiled in November 2013.

The company usually provides education opportunities including training, and continued learning programs to develop employee quality and offers various possibilities for employee careers.

"Our employees are the most important asset for our future success. The people, not the equipment, are responsible for the success," said Heizmann.

The People First strategy, announced during the Guangzhou Auto Show in 2013, is based on three pillars: employees, customers and society.

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