The Audi emblem of the four rings denotes one of the Germany’s oldest automobiles manufactures. It symbolizes the merger in 1932 of four previously independent motor vehicles manufactures. These companies are the foundation stones of Audi AG. This company is established by August Horch in Zwickau on july 16, 1909. He couldn’t take again its founder’s name for reason of fair trade. Horch found a new name by translating his name, which means “hark”. “Listen”, into Latin.
So it was that the second company to have been set up by August Horch commenced operations under the name Audi Automobilwerke GmbH, Zwickau, on April 25, 1910 At the end of the 19th century, there were already a number of car manufacturers in Germany. One of them was August Horch & Cie., founded on November 14, 1899 in Cologne. August Horch was one of the pioneer figures of automotive engineering. Before setting up business on his own, he worked for Carl Benz in Mannheim for three years as Head of Production.
In 1904, August Horch relocated his company to Zwickau and transformed it into a share-issuing company. However, in 1909 August Horch withdrew from the company he had founded, and set up a new enterprise under the name of "Audi". Audi has been a majority owned (99.55%) subsidiary of Volkswagen Group since 1966, following a phased purchase of Audi AG's predecessor, Auto Union, from Daimler-Benz.[11]Volkswagen relaunched the Audi brand with the 1965 introduction of the Audi F103 series.
Human Resources include five main areas:
Payroll ensures for our co-workers the services to be provided by the employer including payroll and the operation of the system of non-salarial allowance packages, cooperation with trade unions and the support of HR changes within the company.
The responsibilities of the Human Resources and Organisational Development Team include: The organization and arrangement of trainings for our colleagues, the operation of the in-company vocational training programme and the coordination of the "Fair of ideas" programme.
The main duty of the HR Rapporteurs Team is to select the appropriate candidates for the vacant jobs at Audi Hungaria, to moderate the performance assessment and to support the operation of the programme providing for replacement for management jobs.
In the area of International Missions and HR Marketing, two important activities are carried out:
Support in dealing with the affairs of people in long-term mission within the VW concern related to their mission, and in dealing with the affairs of colleagues working in Győr, arriving from other companies within the concern for a long-term mission, in their affairs related to their stay in Hungary.
The promotion of Audi Hungaria Motor Kft, maintaining relationships with the institutions of higher education, provide for the replacement of professionals for the company, traineeship programme, relationships with the career and student offices of the institutions of higher education, the organization of factory visits, the organization of job fairs and similar events, the publication of job and image advertisements.
The Strategic Higher Education Relationships deals with the establishment of long-term cooperations, and, for this purpose, maintains close relationships with students, teachers and professors. It offers possibilities for getting acquainted with the life and operation of the company through development projects and degree work themes.
The basic managerial functions comprises of planning, organizing, directing, controlling and staffing. Several strategies and techniques are used by the HR personnel for the effective implementation of the basic managerial functions.
Different HR policies are designed and implemented in the company by the personnel team. These policies are formulated by identifying the needs of the employees, collecting information from various sources and specifying different alternatives. The HR policies include social responsibility, employment, promotion, development and education.
The firm strongly believes that these policies allow an organization to clear with on the nature of the organization, what they should expect from the company, what the company expects of them, how policies and procedures work at your company, what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour and the consequences of unacceptable behaviour. All the policies of the company are posted in the common notice board at the entrance of the first floor.
The personnel department of the firm includes 12 members at different levels ranging from general manager to junior manager.
Junior manager→ senior manager→ Asst. manager→ Manager HR→ GM HR
The HR management occupies the central portion of the organizational chart and is connected to all the other departments. The important functions of the HR department includes recruiting, hiring right person for the right designation, training, policy making, strategic planning, coordinating, motivating, mediating, counselling, housekeeping and legal consulting.
Audi believes that all employees have the right to work in an environment that is free from harassment, intimidation and discrimination. All management personnel are responsible and accountable for assuring that the environment AUDI and all its subsidiaries is free of discriminatory conduct. Any form of harassment will not be tolerated. And throughout the world, in the countries in which the company operates, the employees are treated fairly, respecting their collective bargaining rights, consistent with local laws.
Recruitment is the process of attracting qualified applicants for a particular job and stimulating them to apply for that job. In AUDI and its subsidiaries, the recruitment is a structured process and also done through consultancies. Human resource department handles the recruitment process and the department staffs are trained to handle the recruitment procedure in an effective way. Human resource planning is done. They decide the number employees needed. Knowledge, skills and abilities required for that job are prepared. In AUDI, the selection process is followed for all the levels from workers to the managerial level. There are two types Recruitment
Internal Recruitment External Recruitment
Internal Recruitment They recruit within the organisation tapping into the databases, job postings, promotions, and transfers. This provides the means that allow the current employees to move to other jobs. Internal recruitment at Audi usually happens as a part of performance appraisal. They maintain Human resource information systems (HRIS), helps HR staff members to maintain background and KSA information on existing employees. They continually update the employee profile. At Audi the process of internal recruitment is common among the workers level.
External Recruitment
The company goes for external recruitment. The applicants for the job at Audi should go through the selection process conducted by the respective department heads. The company employs people across a broad range of occupations in locations across the world. Most often they have openings for experienced professionals and undergraduates with technical degrees. The company provides more benefits and a motivating and positive working environment.
Following the recruitment procedure, the applicants appear for the selection process. At Audi and its subsidiaries, there is a structured selection process. It consists of the following steps: Screening applications
This step is to shortlist only the suitable candidates who have all the required qualifications. Written test The written test is conducted to know about the candidate’s knowledge about the job that they have applied. Written test consists of intelligence test and aptitude tests. Selection Interview It is an oral interview conducted after the written tests and this is to know about the candidates’ skills and job experience. Certain situational questions are also confronted and the response of the candidates is evaluated. The company also makes reference checks for the candidates who are to be selected. Finally the hiring decisions are made by the department heads and the HR managers based on the overall performance of the candidate in the selection process and also their past work experience.
After the selecting the candidate, he is placed in the suitable job. At Audi this handled by the HR department, the candidate is assigned with a specific rank and responsibility. The candidates selected work on probation for a given period of time, after which their services are confirmed. The probationary period is 240 days per year or 480 days for two years. The performance of the candidate is evaluated at the end of the probationary period.
