Automotive giant, Volkswagen Group South Africa, took the initiative and was the first original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to participate in, be rated as a Best Employer and be declared winner in the Automotive Industry Sector in South Africa for 2011/12 by the CRF Institute in its annual Best Employers Ranking.
The ranking is based on the evaluation of Companies’ formal and informal HR policies and practices against an international standard applied across 14 countries. The results are benchmarked by the CRF Institute – an international research and media group, specialising in HR, strategy and leadership research. The award comes after the culmination of months of intense research, with findings independently audited by Grant Thornton.
Companies are rated on the following broad criteria: Primary Benefits, Secondary Benefits and Working Conditions, Training and Development, Career Development, Company Culture and Diversity. Companies named the Best Employer in their industry must have featured in the top 15 percentile of all certified organisations, and have scored the most points out of all participating organisations in that particular industry in the annual research.
In Volkswagen Group South Africa, the CRF Institute confirmed the following ‘reasons for excellence’: strong leadership focus, benchmark learning organisation, innovative, fast paced and exciting work environment, performance-based rewards culture, local and global passenger car leadership and a comprehensive range of benefits.
“This is a great achievement for Volkswagen Group South Africa. We were the first OEM to participate in the survey, and although we were confident in entering, the recognition is nevertheless humbling. Also, being recognised as a Best Employer will assist us in attracting the best talent – particularly young people – to the organisation,” said VWSA Managing Director, David Powels.
“Openly recognised as ‘an employer of choice’, VWSA believes in seeking out the best talent through various initiatives, and in consistently developing its staff to be the best they can be within a global company.”
“As a global motor manufacturer, VWSA seeks employees in engineering, production, quality assurance, communications and PR, sales and marketing, human resources, purchasing, logistics, finance, information technology and internal audit and systems. But regardless of their area of expertise, they are men and women who reflect the same innovative spirit as the Volkswagen Brand,” said Powels.
“The HR Management of these lauded organisations has been holistically researched, and only these organisations received the BEST Employers 2011/12 Certification Seal,” said CRF International CEO, Steven Veenendaal.
Alan Straton
Latest posts by Alan Straton (see all)
- South African Conquers Rats on the World Stage - 30 October 2026
- Old JPG on a Memory Stick? Vectorization Studio in Observatory Redraws Faded and Low-Resolution Logos by Hand - 30 October 2026
- ReAutomated Adds Robot Palletising and Case Packing Cells to Existing South African Packing Lines Without Stripping Out the Conveyors - 30 October 2026
- From a 5 KM Sprint to an Ultra: Punisher Sets Out Its Magaliesberg Obstacle Race Formats for First Timers, Teams and Fitness Clubs - 30 October 2026
- Rotary or Dual Action? Germiston’s Polisher Lists Its Machines, Buffs and Compounds for Car Paint and Metal Finishing - 30 October 2026
As a VWSA employee – I have to disagree.. Best structure of
benefits perhaps – but best employer no, best ideas perhaps, best recruiter
perhaps, greatest outward view perhaps, happy, supportive well structured
environment to work NO.. spend a day a real day with the employee’s at VW, come
and visit, take a look around and ask – watch the look in their eyes and tell
yourself that best employer is a valid award for VWSA.. Awarding yourself,
patting yourself on the back for something that you have done – is that really
a valid award? I am shocked – and very disappointed – because it would be the
employee’s that tell you whether this is true or not.. what a joke.
I have spent a great deal of time at VWSA as a supplier and I must say that I cannot agree with your comments.
When your MD, David Powels, announced the 1-10-100 by 2010 strategy about four years ago I thought that he had lost the plot. I thought that some of the goals might be achievable but to change the mindset of the shop-floor would be an impossible task. I am happy to say that my predictions were off the mark and that I have witnessed a HUGE change in the mind-set of the worker on the shop-floor.
The physical change in the plant environment has been mind-blowing to witness. The fact that VWSA spent huge capital on building world-class training facilities during a downturn in the economy shows vision and faith in the industry.
As far as I could tell this award was granted by CRF and not VWSA. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that there are not employees who are not happy with their work environment, but is there an organisation of this magnitude that can claim anything to the contrary?At least your MD has raised the issue that there are people who are not entirely happy and is working towards addressing these issues. In fact people feature as the second of the eight pillars in your new strategy, with the customer being first.
Have you perhaps asked what you can do to make VWSA the most admired employee in the sector?
I have said what I needed to say, a quick survey around the
plant (shop floor and office supervision included) not only confirmed my
thinking – it again reminded me that, ironically, I am one of the happy ones –
and in reply, you my friend and supplier (communications?), have verified the
Best outward view award.. I look forward to my situation changing…
Trust me when I say that I can do what I like
– it’s not what you know it’s who you know – and it’s not what you can do it’s
who you can impress, and how often. You never know where you stand, and you can be damn sure
that if it’s not signed in blood they are lying to you..
Show me a company where employees aren’t disgruntled about something. In this day and age we need to be grateful just to have a job and some sort of protection from poverty. Unfortunately it is normally a very small handful of unhappy staff, who manage to get rumours going and display an image that all staff are not happy. Yes, from the outside most companies display a harmonious culture, but there is always someone or a group of people who aren’t happy with something.
I am pretty sure that your management would be grateful to hear about how you feel internally, before placing your company in a poor light on the World Wide Web. I once worked for a company which when I joined was a fantastic experience, they looked after their staff etc, etc, but as the years went by, the image that I once had of my company tarnished, unfortunately I do not believe that it was anything like your company and during so called anonymous feedback surveys managed to find out who had been with the company for some time and who had become disgruntled, unfortunately this particular company then targeted those employees and managed to eradicate the “trouble makers”. I don’t believe that VWSA follow such Labour Practices.
I have also dealt with VWSA for the best part of 15 years and have never experienced anything but openness and honesty from staff and management.Unfortunately there comes a time in everyones lives that we need to move on if we are unhappy, as sometimes culture changes at a rate faster than what we are capable of changing ourselves. I do know that there are many people who have worked at VWSA for 25 years or more and are happy, a situation that is rather rare at most organisations these days.
On Guests side, neither external
people know what they are talking about. Nowhere to voice opinion, and if do
fear of losing job, nothing is anonymous; fear is what keeps people at VW, the
longer they stay the more miserable they are, buying into the lie. I agree,
cant pat yourself on your own back. No better way to get the word out there
than anonymous www. Keep thinking what you like, but don’t comment till
you have walked a mile in another man’s shoes.
No – you are right.. Twistedsista
and A happy supplier 🙂 I am sorry – we did
achieve our targets, in sales and quality and supply, people didn’t feature in
that strategy, but now they do. It is not an easy environment to work in and I
am happy to have a job, though I believe that (all) companies are using that
line to get rid of dead weight – I put in all I can each and every day – and I
hope that that pillar in 8 to great does affect me and those around me positively
– because every day there are allot of people with fake smiles – trying very
hard to keep up the outward appearance that everything is OK.