Preventive healthcare and occupational safety

Volkswagen’s holistic healthcare management system extends far beyond traditional preventive healthcare and occupational safety; it also covers aspects of work organization, ergonomics, prevention, integration and rehabilitation, leadership and prospects for all individuals.

The check-ups established as standard at the German locations help to maintain and improve employees’ health, fitness and performance. The check-up is a free, comprehensive medical examination for all employees, who value the high diagnostic quality on offer.

These check-ups have now been introduced successfully at international locations, including Volkswagen in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and South Africa as well as at the Audi, ŠKODA, SEAT and MAN brands. The range of preventive and fitness options available following the check-ups was expanded and made more systematic in 2014, and their quality has been enhanced.

Healthy eating concepts and a wide variety of sports and leisure activities – from the weight loss and healthy eating campaign at Volkswagen in South Africa to internal running events at MAN in Munich – complement the holistic approach to health management in the Volkswagen Group. A health campaign was launched at Bentley in 2014 with the aim of promoting healthy lifestyles. The “BeFit” program consists of four components: Weight and Nutrition, Stress and Sleep, a corporate step challenge (counting steps) and a back pain prevention program, as well as workshops and a targeted intranet campaign.

At the same time, Volkswagen uses improvements along the entire product development process to guarantee that the quality of workplaces and the strains on employees that arise as a result of production are already taken into account in the planning and design stages of vehicle models. The common objective is to combine ergonomically state-of-the-art workplaces and innovative work processes, using a mix of science and practical experience. The deployment of occupational assistants on the production lines means that employees are able to receive advice and guidance directly at their workplace about how to implement their workflows more ergonomically.

Using the Group occupational safety management system, all Group companies covered by it analyzed their existing occupational safety organizations and processes. The results are available throughout the Group in a central database system. This includes the systematic communication of examples of good practice identified in the Volkswagen Group.