Time spent at work is also time spent living

• Our most recent biennial employee survey, the VAUDE Employment Barometer, conducted in December 2020 confirms above-average levels of satisfaction. 
• Transparency and participation are among the most important aspects of our corporate culture.
• We have a healthy fluctuation rate of 5.8 % counting marginal employees (4.8 % according to the formula of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations – without marginal employees.)
• We promote not only the professional development of our employees, but also their personal development.
• Our employees’ passion for sports and their physical needs can be optimally integrated into their work day with programs such as our company health and sports program "Auszeit".
• Our work spaces are designed to be modern, healthy and to encourage communication.
• Our employees are motivated by their identification with our corporate values and our sustainability mission. This is demonstrated, among other things, by the active, passionate participation in joint events such as the "Friday for Future" climate strikes.
  

We regularly conduct company-wide employee surveys. In late 2020, we conducted our second "Employee Barometer" in cooperation with the Institut für betriebliche Gesundheitsberatung and the Techniker Krankenkasse. The differentiated results from this survey, which have been available to us since early 2021, confirm that in general, our employees’ level of satisfaction with their work at VAUDE (in comparison with the German average and with selected comparable companies) is above average and that their employer loyalty is far above average.

The working atmosphere and relationships among colleagues are also highly rated.

The democratically elected body consists of five representatives from different areas of the company (technical/vocational and administrative), who initially remain in office for four years. Our employee representatives are in close contact with the management, are involved in decision-making processes, are committed to representing the concerns of the employees and take on a mediating role in conflict situations.

VAUDE employees can become actively involved and participate in the company in a number of ways. We believe that well-informed employees who participate in internal company communications will become more motivated and competent.

Within our culture of trust, we communicate transparently regarding as many operations and decisions as possible throughout the company, sometimes via company-wide events, but primarily using our internal communication platform Camp. This platform offers many ways for our employees to participate actively on issues and to contribute their own content.

In light of the Corona pandemic that caused many people to worry about their jobs, we are very grateful that we were able to provide stable employment for our employees and even increase our hires. In 2021, we hired a total of 100 new employees and 5 new trainees, 58 of whom were female and 47 male. This excludes short-term temporary employees and interns.

We filled a total of 21 more positions than in the previous year. As there was no significant increase in fluctuation among permanent employees (see below), this shows the continued growth of our workforce. Of the newly hired colleagues, 49% were under 30 years old, 41% between 30 and 50 years old, and 10% over 50 years old.

Turnover is an important metric for VAUDE because it can provide information about employee satisfaction. As a general rule, the lower the rate, the higher the level of employee satisfaction. At the same time, we consider a certain degree of change to be normal and also healthy, as it gives us the opportunity to develop our personnel structure as needs change. One example of this is our goal of achieving an even better gender balance in the filling of management positions – more on this under "Diversity and Equal Treatment".

The turnover rate initiated by employees is calculated using the “BDA-Formel” (a formula from the Association of the German Federation of Employers: [resignations initiated by employees / average number of employees]*100) and is of particular interest to us because it is considered an important indicator of employee satisfaction.

In the period under review, if the departures of marginally employed persons (mainly temporary staff) are excluded in order to increase the informative value, the ratio is 4,8% (4.3% in 2020). Including part-time employees, the rate in 2021 was 5.8 %. Employees who resign are always offered a voluntary exit interview with someone from the Human Resources department so that we can gain as much insight as possible into the underlying reasons and have an opportunity to exert some influence over the situation in the future.

Exercise, recreational sports and relaxation directly connected with the workplace is a special feature at VAUDE – one that our employees really appreciate. In addition to our company sports and health program "Auszeit", which is you can read about at "Health Promotion", our large climbing wall, a mountain bike pump track, free e-bike rental and our numerous shower facilities are just some of the things that keep our active employees happy and also make it easier to get started in new sporting activities.

While we enjoy the high standard of our working environment at our corporate headquarters, we are also moving with the times and constantly evaluating our space design in the age of New Work and mobile working (a high proportion of our tasks are now performed from alternative work locations, such as from home). Our goal is to create the best opportunities for inspired and productive work for our employees, depending on their job profile, life circumstances and personal preferences.

See "Future-oriented Working Environments" and “Our Political Stance” for more information.

* Source: http://www.haygroup.com/de/press/details.aspx?id=38211

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