Our continuing education activities also give our employees a chance to exchange information and develop relationships. These training opportunities are available to all employees via our social intranet. These cover a broad spectrum: communicating our vision and values, technical and industry knowledge, business management content, self-management, communication and collaboration. Specific groups of employees can also take advantage of highly targeted, needs-specific training courses and advanced training for methodological skills. Current examples for 2023 include:
After the internal training sessions were conducted approximately 60% online last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2023 we increased the share of in-person training to around 80%. We now value face-to-face interaction more than ever, especially for issues that impact our working relationships. However, we continue to make situational decisions based on the participant group and content, determining whether digital or in-person delivery offers more advantages.
In this way, we want to sustainably strengthen our culture of trust and enable all employees to play an active, responsible role in shaping our organization. One important aspect is raising awareness of our own role in this context – for example, we rely very much on managers being role models and multipliers.
»Our positive understanding of human nature is an important pillar of our corporate culture. The ability to give and take as equals both requires and strengthens our mutual trust.«
See also Trust as the foundation
In 2023, we conducted a total of 16 in-house group training courses, some of which consisted of several modules that build on one another. A significant portion was accounted for by a comprehensive program designed for our over 60 executives, as well as an intensive training series for our sales field staff, key account managers, and country sales managers. In addition, 15 individual training measures (external training plus individual coaching) were carried out, resulting in around 350hours of paid training time. In total, around 4,466 hours of paid training time were completed in 2023, an average of 5,7 per person at VAUDE. Women completed an average of 5.1 hours, men 9.4 hours. The higher number of male participants – contrasting with previous years where women regularly logged more participation hours – can be attributed to the composition of our target groups for major training programs in 2023. For instance, in both our intensive training for sales field staff and our newly introduced 'German as a Foreign Language' course for the industrial sector, a majority of participants were male. As we annually prioritize new focuses, the distribution by gender and employee category (see below) can vary significantly from year to year.
** Employee categories:
Since 2021, the figures have included both in-house training courses conducted at VAUDE and external training courses for individuals, which VAUDE supports financially and by paying wages.
On the basis of individual agreements - and within the framework of the budgets reserved for each purpose – we finance these advanced training courses partially or in full and grant paid leave from work in some cases beyond the statutory entitlement to training time. In 2023, our employees completed a total of 12 external training sessions, averaging around 29 hours each. We estimate the paid time off during regular working hours to be about 350 hours. Due to the fact that many of our employees work with trust-based working hours, the proportion of paid training time to voluntary (or out of private interest) training time cannot always be precisely defined, which is why we often have to work with estimates.
Giving and receiving constructive feedback is firmly anchored in our understanding of good leadership; our culture of trust creates the foundation that we start from – the understanding that every person intuitively wants to do his or her best. When errors happen, we analyze the underlying conditions together and use the information to find ways to improve and avoid them in the future.
Once per year at the beginning of the new academic year, we have “Azubi-Tage” to prepare our trainees for their time together at VAUDE. For three days, our trainees gain experience outdoor recreation, get to know each other, participate in team building exercises and become familiar with the essence of the VAUDE Spirit that will accompany them throughout coming years.
During their training period at VAUDE, they regularly attend feedback sessions with our consultant for personnel development, where they cover issues of academic performance, work at VAUDE and commitment within the VAUDE Community.
In addition to the job-specific training content, VAUDE offers a extensive insight into the company's sustainability activities as part of the training. For example, trainees can regularly work on projects related to sustainability issues and thus make a special mark.
One of our trainees' joint projects is to set up and maintain their own Instagram channel, which they use to report on their day-to-day training or special experiences such as "trainee days," trips abroad, or special internal work assignments.
Since 2020, digital exchange has also proven its worth for our trainees. Video conferencing and mobile working to an appropriate extent supplement the irreplaceable personal contact with trainers and colleagues on site. In this way, our junior employees grow into the changed conditions of the hybrid working world and acquire the necessary skills.
GRI: | 103-1 |
GRI: | 103-2 |
GRI: | 404-1 |
GRI: | 404-2 |
GRI: | 404-3 |