A foundation of trust

VAUDE is a strong values-based company. Trust is one of our core values. We trust our employees and support, encourage and challenge them so that they have the motivation and ability to perform their best. This is how we enable growth and development on both sides.

Our culture of trust is based on the assumption that our employees value this trust, are committed to their work and will act accordingly. In concrete terms, this means that we assume that our employees will live up to the trust we place in them and that they will in turn have confidence in the company.

In order to provide better guidance regarding what appropriate behavior looks like in different contexts, we provide all employees with our “Wegweiser” Code of Conduct (which you can read about here). These guidelines were drawn up with employee representatives and are regularly updated. The Wegweiser also provides our employees with support and guidance regarding compliance with the law and ethical conduct (e.g. anti-corruption).

We understand the fundamental importance of trust for human development. Employees feel safe and comfortable when they experience trust, and they remain loyal to us so that their valuable skills and experience remain with the company long term.

We are aware of the fundamental importance of the issue of trust for a modern, innovative and sustainably oriented company. We can respond flexibly and quickly to new challenges and generate the best possible solutions together. Our success in linking a culture of trust with a modern, people-friendly and highly performance-enhancing working environment was honored in 2020 with the "New Work Award". The New Work Award has been presented annually since 2013 to companies that have developed and implemented innovative work concepts. This year, the eleven-member expert jury of the New Work Ideas Lab received over 360 applications. A total of almost 32,000 votes were received for the finalists.

We are aware of the many challenges that a successfully practiced culture of trust poses for us and that managers have an important role to play in this process. Therefore, we launched our organizational development and training program "Trust, Self-Efficacy and Innovation" back in 2014. The program has helped us raise the awareness of our managers to the special role they play in our company culture. It also provides us with a platform for offering all employees regular opportunities to take a hard look at the most important principles of this culture and what that means for everyday life at work. The fundamental idea is that our employees (and their primary contacts as well) have a framework for identifying potential conflicts at an early stage and addressing them constructively.

We allow our employees unrestricted access to most company departments and information, including new developments, company-owned work tools, etc. in order to support interdisciplinary understanding, cooperation and identification with VAUDE. We are aware that this also makes us vulnerable as an organization. We rely on our employees to live up to the trust placed in them. However, we also have the necessary means to identify serious breaches of trust and to be able to react appropriately. Severe violations are dealt with using the usual instruments of personnel law (warning, termination).

• All organizational changes such as new hires, internal job changes or the reorganization of departments are published on our social intranet "Camp".
• Every employee can actively shape company communications on our intranet. All content can be commented on and rated. In addition, all employees have the opportunity to create their own content and they take advantage of this opportunity regularly.
• Our quarterly exchange (which was originally reserved for managers) takes place every three months and has been open to all employees since 2019. We create maximum transparency by providing video recordings of the individual presentations and discussions, so that even those who are unable to attend due to their working hours, for example, can keep themselves informed by watching the videos. 
• The intranet is also where we, as required, post amendments to occupational health and safety laws that are automatically made available to us each year by the employer library.
  

The principle of trust-based working hours is also anchored at VAUDE. Around 170 employees (and rising) work without clocked hours. High flexibility in the allocation of working time promotes creativity, productivity and life balance of our employees (see also: Work and private life).