Audi receives the Otto Heinemann Prize for achieving balance between work and care
- Audi is designated as a model for a care-friendly working environment in the category of “companies with over 5,000 employees”
- The jury of specialists was won over by Audi’s support its Audi employees and their care-dependent family members
- Sabine Maassen, Member of the Board of Management for Human Resources and Organization at AUDI AG: “We don’t leave our employees alone.”
Audi is now officially a “model for a care-friendly working environment“: the company with the four rings won the 2021 Otto Heinemann Prize in the category of “companies with over 5,000 employees” for establishing a balance between work and care. It won over the jury of specialists with its varied support and counseling offerings for employees and is now one of only three companies in Germany designated as care-friendly employers in 2021. The prize was awarded digitally and as part of the Berlin Pflegekonferenz (Berlin Care Conference) on November 11 by service provider spectrumK, the Betriebskrankenkassen Dachverband (BKK DV, umbrella organization for company health insurance funds), and the Innungskrankenkassen e.V. (IKK, Guild Health Insurance Funds) in three categories corresponding to company size.
Around four million people in Germany are care-dependent and more than 80 percent of those are cared for at home. People who are personally confronted with care issues are seldom prepared for it – employed peoplethen suddenly find themselves under a double burden.
“We don’t leave our employees alone in such difficult circumstances and we support them with numerous care and information offerings,” says Sabine Maassen, Member of the Board of Management for Human Resources and Organization at AUDI AG. “When we actively address this topic and bolster people, work and care have to be reconciled. We experience an open, sustainable, and responsible corporate culture.”
Long-term counseling, aid, and leave opportunities
There have been specific offerings with respect to work and care for many years at Audi. For instance, at its German sites in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm, the company offers various free formats in conjunction with specialists from Audi BKK (“company health insurance funds”) offers and the social enterprise famPLUS GmbH. These range from preventive talks to long-term individual counseling and aid to leave opportunities. For example, Audi has expanded care or family caregiver leave up to three years.
Additionally, part-time work during care leave, opportunities for working remotely, variable working hours, short-term respite care, and home or outpatient care are available. Audi therefore supports its employees in any situation.
Not least of all, as an official dementia partner in cooperation with the German Alzheimer Association the company offers education work and supports employees who want to be informed in this area and study further.
There is no one standard solution
“The Otto Heinemann Prize is a wonderful acknowledgment of our collaborative engagement and enables us to exchange experiences with other employers and experts,” said Ute Röding, Head of Corporate Citizenship at Audi. AUDI AG’s goal is to raise awareness about the subject of work and care and to respond to mounting demand with more digital, analog, and combined offerings. That is because every care situation is individual and there is no standard solution.
The Otto Heinemann Prize
The Otto Heinemann Prize has been awarded annually since 2015 to companies and institutions that unburden caregiving employees with smart concepts and outstanding solutions. A jury with representatives from social insurance institutions, industry, healthcare policy, and nursing assess the applications that the companies submit.
