VOLKSWAGEN SOUTH Africa is one of the best companies to work for in South Africa, and has one of the most motivated workforces with employees that are committed to its brands. This is according to two recent independent, internationally recognised surveys, conducted among employees at Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA) recently. In June 2002, VWSA joined a select group of South African companies to be recognised as an "Investor in People" organisation. "Investors in People" is a similar quality control system to the internationally recognised ISO 9000 programme, with the main difference being that it focuses on people rather than systems as in the ISO accreditation. The British assessment panel says in its report "it is evident that VWSA is committed towards people development, and that the organisation will go the extra mile to ensure that all staff are developed as far as possible to contribute towards the achievement of Volkswagen's aims and objectives". VWSA is one of 40 South African companies selected by the Department of Labour to pilot the Investors in People Standard, which was developed in the United Kingdom and used extensively in the UK and Europe as a measure of world-class people management. According to Joan Peters, VWSA's Project Manager for Investors In People, VWSA is the largest of the 16 South African organisations to achieve the standard to date. "To achieve the Investors In People accreditation, VWSA had to meet 33 evidence requirements, which include criteria such as whether the company has a clear, focused plan to develop its staff members; its commitment to equality of opportunity in development activities; the support by managers of the development of the people in their departments, and giving appropriate feedback. "The standard also looks at whether people understand how their jobs support company goals and whether the organisation has a culture of continuous development and growth," she stated. VWSA's Investor in People accreditation comes soon after independent research by the US-based Gallup organisation gave the company top marks for improvements it had made in the development of its people, according to Volkswagen South Africa Human Resources Director Brian Smith. The Gallup Organisation is a world leader the measurement and analysis of human attitudes, opinions and behaviour. Although the Company is best known for The Gallup Political Opinion Polls, most of Gallup's work world-wide is providing measurement, consulting and education to many of the world's leading companies. VWSA is one of Gallup's first clients in South Africa. Deborah Newton, the Gallup Consultant in South Africa, said the Gallup Organisation was delighted with the results achieved by VWSA, which placed the Company on a par or ahead of many of their clients in the USA and Europe. She said it proved that South Africa had many world-class managers who knew how to lead and manage their people in order to achieve maximum commitment and team engagement. The first Gallup "Q12"survey of the attitudes of Volkswagen workers and management was done in 2001. This study helped identify certain areas for improvement, according to Mr Smith. "Eighteen months later we did the survey again and we had a significant improvement. Gallup said it was one of the best improvements they had seen." Gallup is now studying what VWSA did right so it can share Volkswagen's solutions with other companies around the globe. The Gallup research is based on 12 questions that measure employee engagement and link to relevant business outcomes, including retention, productivity, profitability, customer engagement, and safety. Gallup says there are often very direct links between an increase in the number of engaged employees and profit, either indirectly through an increase in productivity, or directly through major decreases in employee turnover. Smith said the Gallup Q12 Employee Engagement Survey showed that 94 per cent of VWSA employees strongly agreed with the statement - "I am proud of the Volkswagen and Audi Brands"; while 88 per cent strongly agreed that the Company has a clear vision for the future. 65 per cent said they were extremely satisfied with VWSA as a place to work, while only 9 per cent indicated they were dissatisfied. He said these results compare very favourably with some of the leading companies in the world. He said a key strategic objective of the VWSA Board was to create an engaged and motivated workforce able to deliver world-class performance. "We believe this independent research helps us to identify our strengths and weaknesses in the areas of people management and leadership plus it gives us international benchmarks against which we can measure ourselves. At VWSA, we want to be world-class in whatever we do and managing and leading people is no exception."