On March 20 the mountain sports outfitter, VAUDE, was honored with the “Soul@Work Award” for its success in putting into practice the company’s culture of trust. Each year, individuals or companies who take preventative measures to ensure psychological wellbeing in the work place are honored with this award. At the award ceremony in Kloster Eberbach, Pater Anselm Grün presented the award to Miriam Schilling, VAUDE Personnel Manager.
VAUDE was selected by the panel of experts in the category, “Mid-size companies up to 5,000 employees”. The culture of trust at VAUDE is based on a positive view of humanity and the belief that people are inherently motivated to contribute their skills and achievements. “This way of working creates a good climate in which you feel comfortable and can develop freely. It also helps that we have very dedicated employees who enjoy taking on responsibility. This benefits all of us as a company,” said Miriam Schilling. One sign of the high level of employee satisfaction at VAUDE is its low turnover rate, which is far below the national average.
Culture of trust as a factor of success
To remain successful in the dynamic competition of the outdoor industry, VAUDE counts on its employees seeing themselves as able to take action and developing a willingness to make decisions. To promote these skills, VAUDE offers a variety of training courses and workshops for all employees. Through all levels of its hierarchy, VAUDE motivates employees to take on responsibility, to reassess existing structures and contribute their own ideas.
“Our culture of trust requires a great deal of dialogue, which often means putting effort into building relationships. But it’s worth it. We are creating the basis for collaboration which is appreciative and creative,” said Miriam Schilling. At a time when companies must respond more quickly to new challenges, innovative and flexible employees are an important success factor.
About the “Soul @ Work Award”
The “Soul@Work Award” is given out annually by the initiative “Stark wie Bambus” (Strong like Bamboo), which is made up of individuals and companies. Founded by the author Katharina Maehrlein, the initiative’s goal is to raise awareness of senior executives, human resources managers and those responsible for health promotion in terms of mental health in the workplace. With the “Soul@Work” Award, businesses or individuals are honored in five categories for their innovative approaches to the development of health-promoting measures by a panel of experts consisting of representatives from politics, business, church, sports, philosophy and other fields.
INFO: VAUDE
