Background information

German car manufacturer Volkswagen has been operating in Poznań, Poland, since 1993. The company has production facilities in Poznań, Swarzędz and Września, employing about 11,000 staff. Currently, the company allocates resources to increase the level of automation. For 5 spring weeks, VW suspended the production at its factories. The suspension of production and its resumption, as well as remote working, were severely challenging for the company; Volkswagen had to develop completely new solutions for the automotive production in a very short time.

Content of measure

To keep the process of automatic transformation and secure health and safety of 11,000 employees, the company introduced some new measures and solutions at its production and office departments:

• Office duties were held remotely;
• The pace of production was slowed down and adapted to the new conditions;
• Each employee was provided with necessary personal protective equipment;
• Social distancing both in the production and administrative departments;
• A new internal team developing digital solutions to facilitate return to work after the lockdown;
• Employees were provided with mobile equipment, and the company expanded the communication channels, including launching a mobile application for employees’ private smartphones to keep the communication with the crew.

Use of measure

All Volkswagen Poznań departments and employees.

Contents

• Health and safety
• Telework

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment	Does not apply to businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Company / Companies	Employer

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: Company level

Involvement

Irrevelant

Views and reactions

Irrevelant

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 18 May 2020: W jaki sposób Volkswagen Poznań dostosował się i zmienia w wyniku epidemi (itwiz.pl)