Preamble
The Volke Group enjoys an excellent reputation as a technical development service provider. This reputation is based on our uncompromising pursuit of quality and sustainability, our customer focus, innovative strength, and craftsmanship, as well as our integrity and reliability. We are proud of these values. And these values must be protected. These guidelines and codes of conduct are intended to serve this purpose. They are intended to provide every individual employee with a guideline for acting legally and ethically in their daily business life – in order to represent our company positively.
As of: December 2014 - Martin D. Volke
Scope
These guidelines and codes of conduct apply to all companies in the Volke Group. As an internal document, they serve as both a guide and a management tool and are binding for every employee. Each individual employee is equally responsible for adhering to these principles. Accordingly, these guidelines and codes of conduct are available to all employees on our intranet. For the sake of readability, we have omitted the use of male and female pronouns when referring to people.
Corporate Culture
New developments require people who think outside the box and who work together to advance the right ideas. This only works with manageable structures, flat hierarchies, and constant dialogue. Therefore, we place great value on personal responsibility. Competent, committed, and self-reliant employees form the foundation of our success. Our interactions with one another are characterized by respect and trust.
Sustainable Quality
With outstanding quality, the best service, and competitive prices, we ensure satisfied customers.
Stability
We maintain sustainable, legally compliant, and trusting relationships with our customers and partners.
Sense of Responsibility
We protect the environment through the responsible use of resources and the avoidance of harmful environmental impacts.
Innovation
Thanks to the high level of expertise and growing know-how of our employees, we are continuously developing new fields of activity in an innovative environment.
Leadership Culture
The commitment of our employees, their personal and professional knowledge, and their special skills are our most important asset. They shape our people and the image we have with customers and business partners. Mutual trust and an open leadership and communication style are therefore the foundation for effective collaboration. We make practical decisions about which skills and knowledge are important today and in the future, drive the professional development of our employees, and thus ensure our competitiveness.
Why we work
We believe that mobility enriches lives. Because mobility – whether on the road, on water, or in the air – brings people together and overcomes boundaries. It promotes our flexibility and increases our zest for life. For mobility to create this added value, it must be safe, sustainable, and fascinating. We work on this, day after day.
What we do
Volke develops visions. Because we are the company for technical development – primarily in automotive engineering, but also in aerospace, mechanical engineering, and plant engineering. For decades, we have accompanied technical innovations in mobility from the initial idea to series production. We design vehicles and components, construct engines, chassis, and bodies. We calculate dynamics and design spatial concepts, develop on-board electrical systems, and test vehicle safety and comfort. We design prototypes and show cars. We stage presentations and communicate technological progress to the end customer. How we work. Innovative and creative ideas are our fuel. Uncompromising quality in implementation is our benchmark. For us, quality means: Excellently trained employees understand a customer's requirements down to the last detail. With this understanding, they work with interdisciplinary teams to select the most suitable materials and the best tools to meet the requirements exactly and precisely. On time, at the estimated cost, and with service that meets the customer's expectations. This is our philosophy. We are a technical development service provider, and we know what matters in the supplier industry: As a system partner, we assume responsibility for the entire mobility system – and strive to create lasting added value for our customers and society in all disciplines in which we operate. Therefore, we make our customers' requirements our own challenge, which we master through close and fair cooperation with customers and partners, as well as with the technical expertise of our employees. To this end, we rely on a vibrant corporate culture characterized by flat hierarchies, diverse collaboration, and a climate of personal responsibility. In doing so, we create the organizational and cultural conditions that ensure that work is meaningful, offers prospects, and can be enjoyable. Because we are deeply convinced that only on this basis can excellent results be achieved.
Corporate Responsibility
We recognize that our actions have a social impact – both from an economic perspective and from a social and ecological perspective. From this, we derive a corporate responsibility: for our products, for our employees, for the environment, and for society. We live up to this responsibility with appropriate principles of conduct.
Product Responsibility
We ensure the safety of our products and developments by adhering to legal product safety requirements as well as international standards, guidelines, and norms. Compliance with these guidelines is binding for every employee. Furthermore, every employee is obliged to immediately report any safety concerns or suspected deviations from our internal safety guidelines.
Employee Responsibility
We protect the health of our employees by adhering to applicable regulations regarding occupational health and safety. We also sensitize our employees to prudent behavior in the workplace and provide information on preventing accidents at work. But responsibility for our employees means more than occupational health and safety. It is much more about offering employees prospects and opportunities for personal development. That's why we support individual qualification in personnel development and encourage and promote personal commitment. Diversity is a fundamental value of our corporate culture. Accordingly, we guarantee equal opportunities and equal treatment for our employees, regardless of ethnic origin, skin color, gender, disability, ideology, religion, nationality, sexual preference, or political affiliation, as long as these are consistent with fundamental democratic values.
Social Responsibility
We participate in developing products that add value to society. We also engage in projects with a social or ecological focus – worldwide or in the immediate vicinity of our locations.
Compliance with the Law
The principle of legality is a given for us. We recognize all legal requirements of the countries in which we operate as binding. We are also committed to adhering to international human rights conventions and international agreements on principles and rights at work, for example, regarding the prohibition of discrimination and freedom of association. We reject forced labor and child labor.
Competition and Antitrust Law
We embrace fair competition. Within the framework of competition law, we strive to shape it in our best interests. We strictly reject collusion. This includes cartel and price agreements, agreements on territorial and customer allocations, and the exchange of competition-relevant information.
Acceptance of Advantages
All employees are prohibited from accepting advantages or benefits in kind or money in connection with the acceptance, brokerage, or execution of orders. However, our employees are permitted to accept gifts and other benefits, provided the reason and value of the benefit remain within the scope of custom and appropriateness.
International Trade
The Volke Group operates worldwide. Accordingly, we naturally observe all international agreements and national laws governing international trade and financial transactions – for example, with regard to imports and exports.
Information Security and Data Protection
We are aware that, in order to carry out our orders, we receive information about competition measures and projects that are of significant economic importance to our customers. We accordingly protect the security of business data and trade secrets – both through appropriate technical measures and through appropriate employee awareness and commitment. To this end, we generally comply with legal requirements and, in addition, with the contractual agreements concluded individually with our customers. Regular inspections of the necessary facilities and protective measures – including those conducted by external monitoring and certification bodies – are a matter of course for us. Upon request, we also document the inspection results for our customers.
Conduct towards business partners
We conclude all agreements with our business partners clearly and completely. These agreements are documented in writing. We select service providers and suppliers solely based on competitive criteria and not on personal or private relationships and/or motivations.