The powerful men at Volkswagen remain silent, while some of their employees quietly speak of “bewildered” or “cultural relapse” under the assurance of anonymity. Independent, outside experts openly criticize it very sharply. This is how the reactions can be summarized on the day after it became clear that Volkswagen does not want to extend the contract of its board member for integrity and law, Hiltrud Werner, and is even considering removing the board position entirely.
It is now becoming clearer that chief executive Herbert Diess in particular has problems with his colleague. Werner had advised the VW boss last spring to agree to a stop in exchange for money in proceedings due to possible market manipulation in the wake of the diesel scandal. This would avert a lawsuit that would have been going on for years and would hinder VW. Diess actually wanted to demonstrate his complete innocence, but then paid 4.5 million euros to the judicial coffers – and sees his reputation damaged as a result. Several sides confirm that Diess is particularly resentful of this cause of the 55-year-old colleague on the board. And his word counts a lot right now, and contradiction is currently hardly tolerated in Wolfsburg.
Another reason that can be heard in Wolfsburg from employers as well as employees: they have now worked for five years on new rules that are supposed to prevent a diesel scandal; These, like monthly online compliance training, are sometimes so overwhelming that work comes to a standstill. In general, it is now about really integrating the new VW culture into everyday life: There is talk that HR director Gunnar Kilian or Diess himself will take over this department.
“If the motivation for deleting the post is: We have changed and are done and now it depends on agility and bureaucracy bothers us, then Volkswagen has learned nothing, then you have not really understood what compliance is about” is the verdict of Marco Mansdörfer, professor of criminal law at Saarland University. The non-renewal of the responsible board member and the abolition of the board post would confirm exactly that, says the compliance expert. No corporate culture can be changed in five years; even medium-sized companies without such a scandalous past would need at least a decade to do so. In order to ensure compliance in a digital, climate-neutral, globalized economy, “an independent person who acts critically and with a spirit of contradiction” is needed, according to Mansdörfer. You couldn’t hang that up with the chairman of the board or another board member. “That is not lege artis. If VW does that, it is a cardinal mistake.”
What remains is a seven-person, all-male board
Wiebke Ankersen, managing director of the Allbright Foundation, which advocates women in management positions, refers to the aspect that Werner would be the only woman after her predecessor Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt was killed: “Without having to do without a successful board member, if the consequence is a seven-person, all-male executive board – a Dax group can no longer afford that today. ” Other corporations such as Telekom or Allianz already have three women on their board of directors. “When it comes to diversity in leadership, Volkswagen is already clearly lagging behind,” says Ankersen. And with this background it could be very difficult to inspire another top manager for a board position in the group.
Ingo Speich, Head of Sustainability at Deka Invest and one of the most renowned industry analysts, sums up both aspects: “The removal of the position on the Board of Management shows VW’s weakness in corporate governance. In addition, it is a clear step backwards in terms of diversity,” he said he wants to repeat at the VW general meeting on Thursday. And the experienced investor representative makes the opposite conclusion: “It is precisely because of the poor corporate governance that compliance must be maintained.”