VW Employees Say Company’s Corporate Culture Hasn’t Changed One Bit

Despite the German automaker’s attempts at transparency within its ranks, almost two thirds of VW AG staff say they see “no improvement” as far as corporate culture is concerned.

The quote comes courtesy of works council chief Bernd Osterloh, who was citing results of a labor survey from December that involved more than 51,000 workers at German plants, reports Autonews.

“Culture change for us remains a permanent work site,” added Osterloh, while VW human resources boss Karlheinz Blessing, tasked with leading the culture change, stated that this type of transformation needs more general support in order have any chance of being implemented.

“We have been saying all along that a culture change cannot be implemented over the short term and takes time and is also not the work of an individual or of individual participants,” stated Blessing in an internally published interview. “All stakeholders are urged to bring about this culture change.”

Blessing also blames all the negative headlines about VW that were in the news recently, such as the company’s diesel fume tests involving monkeys and humans.

“With the negative headlines that keep surprising us, it would be remarkable if sentiment was not affected. We can only apologize to staff for what they have to put up with, even though we are not the originator of these headlines”, Blessing added.

Meanwhile, Osterloh, who is hoping to get re-elected as works council chairman next month, added that VW workers were critical of internal communication by the management and concerned about their job safety and retirement conditions.