Diversity Conference — Volkswagen Group committed to diversity of workforce

The Volkswagen Group continues the structural, personnel and cultural transformation of the company. This includes strengthening the diversity of the workforce. Diversity man-agers from all group brands and companies have met at the Bentley plant in Crewe for the first Group Diversity Conference. The conference focused on the exchange of best practice examples and diversity in the regions.

Dr. Karlheinz Blessing, Member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Group responsible for Human Resources, Organization and IT, says: “Volkswagen stands for diversity, fairness, tolerance and equality of opportunity because we are convinced that diversity is essential for innovative power, creativity and performance.

Diversity also safeguards the competitiveness of Volkswagen. In practical terms, diversity at Volkswagen means teams consisting of men and women, young and old people, employees of various professions with qualifications in a variety of disciplines – in brief: dedicated female and male employees from throughout the world.

At the conference, Elke Heitmüller, Head of Diversity of the Volkswagen Group, presented the future orientation of diversity management within the Group. Other topics included best practice examples from brands and locations as well as the development of a diversity knowledge and competence network.

The Volkswagen Group has included the strengthening of diversity in its Group “TOGETHER 2025” strategy. The strategy serves as a guideline for all brands and companies. As a group active throughout the world, Volkswagen benefits from its international positioning. For example, companies from the USA or South Africa can contribute their decades of experience in creating awareness of unconscious bias. In Europe, companies have comprehensive experience with gender-based quotas.