What does it take? Anne Seidel and Christine Ruhnke, who are jointly responsible for the planning, implementation and follow-up of this year’s MY VOICE, tell us:

Christine: Anne, do you remember our kick-off meeting for MY VOICE 2024?

Anne: Yes, absolutely! I can’t believe that September 10th is already here!

Christine: I’ve already provided support for MY VOICE 2023 and I’m particularly pleased to be responsible for the survey with you this year. And of course, preparing a company-wide employee survey is a particular challenge. But I think I speak for both of us when I say that we are looking forward to an exciting project with a lot of history.

Anne: That’s right! And especially right now. We are currently in the middle of a transformation, many things are changing – but that’s precisely why we want to take stock of the current situation. We want to find out how our colleagues are doing in the current situation. And we want to know: How do we want to move forward together from here?

Christine: It is important to us to obtain a clear and up-to-date picture of the working atmosphere and employee satisfaction. This is particularly important in times like these! MY VOICE enables us to learn directly from our colleagues and understand their needs and challenges.

Anne: Challenges is a good keyword here: there are currently enough of them! This is precisely why it was important for us to take a critical look at MY VOICE in advance – to adapt, simplify or even remove formulations. This enabled us to make the entire survey clearer and more effective.

Christine: The introduction of an open question at the end of the survey was also important to us during the revision.

Anne: Exactly, it is extremely important to give colleagues the opportunity to express their thoughts and suggestions freely.

Christine: This also gives us deeper insights into individual perspectives and specific feedback that goes beyond the structured response options. And it helps us to capture specific concerns or ideas that are not covered by the standardized questions.

Anne: That’s right! In addition to these new features, this year’s MY VOICE will also incorporate the fundamental themes and focal points of the previous survey. This will help us to track developments and changes more precisely and ensure that key areas already identified are further improved and adapted to meet the needs of all employees.

Christine: A clear need that was repeatedly mentioned in the last MY VOICE was clear and timely communication about company goals and decisions.

Anne: One example of the further development of internal communication is regular updates from the Executive Board and the Senior Leadership Team, which improves the general understanding of what is happening at VTG.

Christine: In addition, the last survey resulted in over 160 team workshops and more than 500 action plans were drawn up. This very clearly shows the clear will within VTG to actively help shape our company – even if we are aware that challenges still exist despite these efforts.

Anne: Some of the necessary actions, especially those that require overarching coordination between different departments, are still ongoing. It is important that we continue this process together and understand that change takes time and requires continuous effort.

Christine: That’s why we appeal to you to take part in MY VOICE 2024 and encourage your colleagues to take part – it’s the only way to make a difference!

You will soon find out more about the key topics of MY VOICE and the evaluation of the survey in the second part of the conversation between Anne and Christine.