Employees

Excellent performance, the success that comes from it and participation in its rewards are at the heart of Volkswagen’s human resources strategy. Only a top team can deliver the excellence that is necessary for Volkswagen to become number one in international automotive production. This human resource policy maxim applies throughout the Group.

As of December 31, 2012, the Volkswagen Group, including the Chinese joint ventures, employed 549,763 people, 9.5% more than at the end of fiscal year 2011 (501,956). Significant factors in this increase, in addition to volume-related growth, were the consolidation of Porsche with 17,502 employees and of motorcycle manufacturer Ducati with 1,197 employees. The distribution between Group employees in Germany and those abroad shifted slightly in the past year: at the end of 2011, 44.8% of employees still worked in Germany, while on the reporting date, this was 45.4%.

Volkswagen AG, Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH, AUDI AG and Volkswagen Financial Services AG alone took over a total of 3,301 temporary employees into the core workforce in 2011. In addition, 1,591 temporary employees were employed in permanent jobs in these Group companies in 2012.

Starting a career at Volkswagen is possible in two ways: via vocational training at the Company and being recruited as a university graduate.

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EMPLOYEE BREAKDOWN as of December 31, 2012
		2012		2011		2010		2009		2008
1 Production locations excluding Scania, MAN and Porsche. 2 Production locations excluding Scania, MAN and Porsche (also excluding Audi Brussels in 2009); frequency of accidents = number of accidents at work x 1 million/number of hours worked.
Vocational trainees in the Group		16,714		15,021		10,545		9,846		9,884
Industrial		12,508		11,249		7,799		7,439		7,498
Commercial		4,206		3,772		2,746		2,407		2,386
Passive stage of partial retirement		7,804		4,488		4,778		7,070		8,841
Group’s active employees		525,245		482,447		384,058		351,584		351,203
Total headcount		549,763		501,956		399,381		368,500		369,928
Europe		410,427		378,030		290,159		278,779		284,962
America		63,193		58,072		54,571		48,529		48,867
Africa		6,461		6,602		6,546		5,608		6,194
Asia		68,704		58,540		47,607		35,123		29,423
Australia		978		712		498		461		482
Percentage of female employees in the Group		15.2		14.7		14.2		14.2		14.0
Absences1 (in %)		3.2		3.4		3.3		2.5		3.0
Number of accidents at work2		1,728		1,806		1,855		1,865		1,819
Frequency of accidents2		2.9		3.2		3.6		4.0		4.0