Volkswagen India starts Women Empowerment initiative

American author, Harriet Beecher Stowe, once quoted, "Women are the architect of society". Volkswagen India seems to believe in this principle. The carmaker has launched an elaborate ‘Women Empowerment’ initiative which promotes gender diversity and inclusivity across all its departments.

On March 11, 2015 Volkswagen held a meeting with more than 120 female employees working at its manufacturing facility in Chakan and its Regional Competence Centre (RCC) in Hinjewadi, Pune. In this meeting, all the women employees were briefed about the key action plan of this additional and skill development-oriented initiative, designed by the company.

Commenting on this initiative, Peter Raussendorf, Head of Human Resources and Admin, Volkswagen India, said, “Currently, women make up 12 per cent of our total talent strength amongst our indirect employees at Volkswagen India. Our target is to increase this percentage to 30 per cent by 2025 across all departments. Hence, this initiative is our effort towards creating a strong foundation based on best practices in gender diversity and inclusivity to ultimately help us nurture and grow female talent within the company.”

The company has strategised three interlocking frameworks for its women employees working at its Pune plant and RCC. These frameworks include - Sakhi Group, Kompass Programme and Mentor Programme.

Through the ‘Sakhi Group’, all women will be able to exchange ideas about women’s impact on the global economy best practices, Volkswagen business, networking, discussions, build skills to help women define their personal success and focus on career advancement.

In the ‘Kompass Programme’ a selected batch of women, who are already settled in their respective working area as well as have proven their skills in the daily job, will go through a nine-month training. ‘Kompass’ also includes a six month cross functional project to help, support and accelerate the development of the high-potential female professionals.

The ‘Mentor Programme’ is aimed at mentoring and training already existing high potential women leaders through a nine-month project-driven programme with formal and informal sharing of strategies and best practices.

Raussendorf is of the opinion that women play a significant role in the society and businesses the world over. He believes that there is great merit in offering a platform that can further nurture and develop this set of talent. 

The official further states that through this programme the company aims to drive its existing female talent base forward and also create opportunities for new recruits to develop and grow with the rest of the company in a conducive and inclusive environment.