VDI Wissensforum has been voted “TOP EMPLOYER – SME 2020”

Digitalization has fundamentally changed the working world. That’s why VDI Wissensforum underwent a rejuvenation itself a few years ago. The traditional company made a thorough reassessment of IT tools and the working environment together with its employees. The change has borne fruit in terms of employer attractiveness: VDI Wissensforum has been voted as one of Germany’s top SMEs by its employees for the second time in a row.

VDI Wissensforum’s award is based on an analysis of around 900,000 company profiles on the kununu.com site. Focus-Business used this to rate the top employers among German companies with between 11 and 500 employees. The requirements for the employer award were an average rating of over 3.5 out of 5 starts and a recommendation rate of over 70%. VDI Wissensforum employees valued excellent working conditions, team spirit and a good work-life balance in particular.

Employees developed their own New Work Concept

When VDI Wissensforum was founded in 1957 as a subsidiary of the Association of German Engineers (VDI), it had a rather traditional company culture. In 2016, CEO Timo Taubitz decided to go into a new direction with the company. Employees were involved in the transformation process from the beginning and developed their vision of a new way of working called “Wissensforum 4.0” in workshops. The goal: to create the necessary structures for growth and digitalization and to make flexible and agile work possible as a modern employer. “We questioned our physical spaces as much as our cooperation, hierarchies and leadership culture and used that as a basis for our transformation,” CEO Timo Taubitz explains. “The investment paid off: today, we score points not just with an excellent working environment, but also with the possibilities we give employees to execute individual ideas, extend internal connections and work remotely as part of the New Work Concept we developed ourselves.” Implementing the concept involved not only completely reconstructing the office as an activity-based workspace with scrum rooms, rest and relaxation areas and modern interior design, but also in adopting new IT and internal communication tools.

VDI Wissensforum’s transformation continues

The new work target for employees and the company’s leadership goes beyond simply considering physical space and tools, however. Company culture, internal communication and management structures were changed together with the team. A process that is by no means finished: “transformation requires permanent development. We are constantly working on the optimization of our new work concept. For me personally, it is important to bring new employees into the process as well and to make them aware of the path we have gone down over the last several years,” Timo Taubitz says. “We will continue to engage with digitalization in the years to come – this applies to our products as well as the ways in which we work together. I’m particularly happy about this award as the ratings and feedback show that many employees support the Wissensforum 4.0 concept and feel good in the company.”