ŠKODA Ever More Attractive As An Employer

›  NEW RECORD: MORE THAN 1,650 NEW JOBS CREATED IN 2011

› PERMANENT STAFF: 25,800 EMPLOYEES FROM 37 NATIONS WORKING AT ŠKODA AS PER DECEMBER 31^ST, 2011

›  OVER 21,000 APPLICATIONS RECEIVED DURING THE PAST YEAR

›  HUMAN RESOURCES AN IMPORTANT PILLAR OF THE ŠKODA GROWTH STRATEGY

Mladá Boleslav, January 25^th, 2012 – ŠKODA is becoming ever more attractive as an employer and continues to bet on the growth of its staff. In 2011, the total headcount of permanent staff grew eight percent to 25,800 employees – a record. With this development, the composition of the personnel is becoming more international: At the current time, people from 37 nations work for the Czech automobile manufacturer.

“The year of 2011 was a new record year – not just for our sales, but for our headcount as well. Never before did the company hire so many new employees and employ as many people as in 2011,” says the ŠKODA board member for human resources, Bohdan Wojnar. “This development is an expression of our Growth Strategy ŠKODA. We want to continue to expand significantly in the coming years and to increase our worldwide sales to at least 1.5 million vehicles per year. In order to achieve this goal, we need a strong team that is well staffed at every position and across all areas – from the design to the production departments. For that purpose, we are investing heavily in the qualification of the existing team and are recruiting new talent,” Bohdan Wojnar further explains.

Proving ŠKODA’s growing attractiveness for external job applicants is the figure of over 21,000 applications that were received in 2011. It also shows the growing internationalization of the company: those applicants came from 24 nations.

The brand is increasingly exploring new strategies regarding the recruitment of new employees: Thus, ŠKODA launched a creative animated video via Facebook titled ‘Curriculum Vitae’. In a particularly vivid and emotional manner, the film shows the many opportunities for development at ŠKODA. For this measure, the company was even awarded the renowned ‘German Advertising Film Award 2011’ and won the ‘OttoCar 2011’ award as the best ‘Corporate Video’.

Besides gaining new employees, ŠKODA is also strengthening ongoing measures for the development of its personnel: In the past twelve months alone, almost 3,600 professional training courses with approximately 80,000 participants were held. Furthermore, the exemplary social policy of the company makes an important contribution toward the high satisfaction of its employees. “ŠKODA’s social policy even exceeds the framework of the legal requirements,” emphasizes Bohdan Wojnar.

ŠKODA also supports the innovative potential of the employees. During the past year, personnel accounted for more than 11,000 improvement suggestions within the framework of the programme Z.E.B.R.A., leading to savings of around 305 million Czech crowns. Once implemented, improvement suggestions leading to savings also pay off for employees as they participate in their success.

In order to secure young talented employees, ŠKODA has placed a particular focus on the education: At the current time, almost 900 apprentices are preparing for their future job in the corporate vocational school. The ŠKODA Auto University in Mladá Boleslav is also visited by more than 900 students.

ŠKODA is also increasingly active internationally. Thus, the company collaborates with various domestic and foreign universities. The latest example is the cooperation with the Chinese Tongji University in Shanghai. The collaboration supports academic research as well as promoting talent at the university.

Important personnel figures of ŠKODA in the year 2011:

›      More than 1,650 new hires

›      ŠKODA employees – a total of 25,800 employees from 37 countries;

›      Over 21,000 job applications;

›      New employees from 24 countries;

›      More than 1,800 students and apprentices visit ŠKODA’s vocational school and the ŠKODA Auto University;

›      11,241 improvement ideas by employees; savings realized: 305 million CZK.

Awards for the ŠKODA Human Resources Department in 2011:

›      For the project ‘Protected Workshops’ by ŠKODA:

o    Employer of the Year: 1^st place in the category ‘Jobs Without Barriers’

o    ‘The Most Responsible Companies’: 1^st place in the category ‘Socially Valuable Projects’

›      For the recruiting campaign ‘Curriculum Vitae’:

o    ‘OttoCar 2011’: Best Corporate Video

o    ‘German Advertising Film Award 2011’: Best Animated Film

›      For the HR information systems:

o    Award for a project for the electronic recording of time worked