Volkswagen India starts women empowerment initiative

Volkswagen India has launched a women empowerment initiative that is aimed at rolling out the best practices that promote gender diversity and inclusivity across all departments. 

The first meet took place on March 11, where more than 120 female employees working at the Pune plant in Chakan and regional competence centre (RCC) in Hinjewadi were informed about the action plan of this additional and skill development-oriented initiative especially designed for women.

The German manufacturer will also roll out three interlocking frameworks – sakhi group, kompass and mentor programme. Through sakhi group, all women will be able to exchange ideas about women’s impact on the global economy best practices,  Volkswagen business, networking, discussions and build skills to help them 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 areas as well as have proven their skills in the daily job, will go through a nine-month training. The 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, in the developing framework, 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.

“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”, said Peter Raussendorf, head, HR and admin, Volkswagen India.