Binding criteria for mobile working: The Board of Management and Group Works Council of AUDI AG have reached a new company agreement. In the future, employees will have even more freedom and scope to combine their working life with their private life. For the first time, they have a general right to work flexibly and independently of place and time, if it is compatible with their actual tasks. The new regulations are part of a comprehensive concept for the future world of work at Audi.
In advance of the company agreement, the employees had the opportunity to address their needs, desires and ideas in several workshops. Many of the ideas and suggestions have been included in the new regulations, including criteria for mobile working, reachability, working times, data protection and insurance cover.
“On the basis of the new company agreement, we can cater even better to the life situations of the people working at Audi. The goal is to create more personal freedom while encouraging innovation,” stated Audi’s Board of Management Member for Human Resources Thomas Sigi. “An intensive dialog with the employees was very important to us in this respect. We want to take the next step into a digital future together with the workforce,” continued Sigi.
“What makes this agreement so special is the way it has been reached,” explained Peter Mosch. “With innovative forms of employee participation such as our ‘world cafés’ on the subject of mobile work, we offer employees a platform to shape their future way of working themselves” said the Chairman of the Group Works Council of AUDI AG. The Audi workforce has made good use of this offer made by the employee representatives, as can be seen from the agreement. “This form of active codetermination facilitates the entry into a more modern working world,” emphasized Mosch.
According to the new regulations, employees will take advantage of mobile work only voluntarily. They have the right to do so if mobile working is compatible with their actual tasks. Executives and employees will decide individually and have been requested to give their own interests good consideration. Mobile working is possible at various locations, both all day or for part of the working day. In order to protect the employees’ interests, they have the right not to be reachable outside the agreed working times. Processes for recording working time ensure that the hours worked are properly documented and paid.
In the future, the new agreement will give the employees even more freedom in the organization of their working and private lives and will give more consideration to the life phases of younger and older employees. In this way, Audi intends to promote the good health of its workforce over the long term. On the other hand, the company will profit from increasing diversity and innovation. Audi will also be able to act more flexibly as an international Group.
Modern working has been an important issue for Audi as an employer for a long time now. Numerous digital tools and communication media are already available to the employees, allowing them a high degree of self‑determination in their work. At present, the automobile manufacturer is developing additional far-reaching concepts for the future working world, based on a corporate culture of trust and innovative working modes and processes. In this way, Audi intends to further enhance its attractiveness as a worldwide employer and its competitiveness in the digital age.