VW top management brings managers back to the office

The VW management is bringing its executives back to the office. Instead of just one day a week, management employees are to return to work four times a week, according to company circles on Friday. The changes have been in place since November 1 at the four production sites in Wolfsburg, Emden, Osnabrück and Zwickau as well as in the development department at the Group headquarters. Several thousand employees are affected, including many from middle management.

"In order to optimize hybrid work, it is important to create the right balance between mobile work and work in the office," said a VW spokeswoman. "Accordingly, Volkswagen continues to offer its employees the opportunity to work remotely if the job allows it." She did not provide any further details on the extent of the obligation to be present and the change that has now been made.

Until now, VW had a generous home office regulation for office employees who were not directly involved in production: only one day of presence was planned per week, which could also be fulfilled as a four-day block once a month. VW introduced this regulation in March 2022, when the general obligation to work from home during the pandemic ended. Many remote employees used the regulation to work primarily from their main residence, which was often far away, and some gave up their second home in Wolfsburg.

Group CEO Oliver Blume and Head of Brand Thomas Schäfer, who himself commutes to Wolfsburg by plane every week from his main residence in Ireland, have long been pushing for employees to be on site more often again.

According to company circles, the reason given for the departure from the generous regulation is to ensure product launches and work on the planned efficiency program. This requires a greater local presence. The structure of the efficiency program, with which VW wants to save ten billion euros, is currently being negotiated with the Works Council and results should be available by the end of the year.

The Works Council said that the current works agreement on mobile working will not change. This already provides for up to four days of presence per week. "However, the following still applies: no one is generally entitled to a certain number of days of mobile working," said a spokesperson for the committee. The exact structure must always be adapted to operational requirements. "That's exactly how it was before, and that's exactly how it is now."