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Training and Personal Development

GRI

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Training plays an important role in how we fill future vacancies. Our aim is therefore to further increase the number of trainees. With an increase from 561 in 2021 to 617 trainees in the reporting year, we were able to set a new record in 2022. As a result of the merger with Deutsche Wohnen, Berlin has also been in the spotlight as a training location. A new training center for manual trades is therefore in the planning for 2023. In Austria, we reinstituted the apprentice program in 2021. There are five apprentices in the program in the current reporting year, four are already in their third year. In addition, a trainee program was initiated at BUWOG. Both trainees were taken on as permanent employees following the successful completion of their courses at the beginning of 2023.

617 trainees
in the reporting year

As a nation-wide training company, Vonovia fulfills its responsibility of qualifying young people for their future careers – and with great success. Three Vonovia trainees who completed their programs were awarded as “Training Stars” by the Central Ruhr Area Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) in November 2022 for their outstanding results in the commercial field.

There is a broad range of formats, all with the aim of creating the optimal training conditions. This includes our mentoring model of individual support for new trainees. We also organize a variety of events for our trainees. In the reporting year, a joint event involving our CRO and celebrating the start of the new training year was held in the Vonovia Ruhrstadion with more than 160 commercial trainees and dual-studies students in the first to third year at Vonovia, Deutsche Wohnen and Austrian BUWOG.

In addition to recruiting new staff and training young people, personal and professional development is the third major lever in our personnel strategy. Vonovia’s aim is to continually improve as a company from within in order to recognize and promote existing potential. The succession planning process for the management level is also an important element that complements our personnel strategy. This process involves young candidates being mentored by talented individuals who are already employed by us in order to prepare them for a career in a future management function. Selected young candidates for management and expert roles will continue to be promoted and developed in a targeted manner through our internal programs. The “Strategy Circle,” for instance, offers participants the opportunity to develop company-wide strategic projects – similar to a simulation. We also aim to provide the optimal conditions for young and experienced talented individuals in the company to plan their progression at Vonovia through our structured annual employee appraisals and the individual development targets set during the appraisals. We support our employees in actively shaping their careers in accordance with their individual abilities and interests, and boost their opportunities for advancing their careers at Vonovia. These appraisals are held using a standardized questionnaire which is based on our mission statement. A specific form for determining individual development targets is also available as part of the annual employee appraisals. By systematically connecting the annual appraisal, development plan, target plan and learning activities in the Vonovia Academy, employees and managers can track and individually manage development.

Vonovia Academy

The Vonovia Academy is one of the main levers in our human resources development. In the past reporting year, our extensive portfolio of training programs was again primarily designed by the Vonovia Academy – in cooperation with the EBZ European Business School for Real Estate Management in Bochum and other educational establishments. The Vonovia Academy’s catalog of training courses is continually adapted to meet the needs of our departments. The offers range from internal and external training courses, coaching, professional and management seminars to career and qualification measures such as certification, study courses, advanced qualifications in manual trades and part-time degrees.

Vonovia Academy

At our Vonovia Academy, we are developing our employees’ skills and knowledge in an even more targeted way with a view to specific roles, functions and requirements in the workforce. Further, we have expanded our offer by including new training programs, curated learning content and guides. On-demand and eLearning services, such as digital training courses for managers and employees on the topics of self-management, storytelling and leadership issues, are designed to make further training and additional qualification at Vonovia a more flexible and personalized experience at large in the future.

The Pillars of the Vonovia Academy

Our internal caretaker course, for example, is a customized training course in the Vonovia Academy (see eLearning Course for Caretakers). It was held for the first time in an interactive online format in the reporting year, including a virtual tour of a Vonovia neighborhood. A customized online curriculum based specifically on the needs of our gardening and landscape trainees was also introduced in the reporting year. There was also a variety of tutoring and training offers, such as communication training, for all trainees. Another flagship project in that regard was our internal training program, the Vonovia Neighborhood Academy, which took place for the second time in the reporting year. A total of 19 colleagues from various areas of the company spent a full year in the development program, whose methodology and content is geared towards an enhanced neighborhood development. The program not only covers the traditional topics in neighborhood development, but also personal competencies, such as social-communicative skills, knowledge for interdisciplinary project work, and methodological knowledge for innovative work. Building on the success of previous years, the third year is scheduled to start in spring 2023. With formats such as these, our training offers contribute to creating climate-friendly neighborhoods with a high quality of living for our tenants and also the general public in the urban society (see Neighborhood Development and Contribution to Infrastructure).

19 colleagues
completed a neighborhood development training program over the course of a year

Human Capital Development Programs (Selection)

  • Talent programs “Management Talent” and “Strategy Circle”
  • Virtual caretaker course for sight checks and functional inspections with a virtual 360°-tour of an exemplary Vonovia neighborhood
  • Further development of the mandatory Code of Conduct and AGG training and additions to other compliance topics such as conflicts of interests
  • Online course for gardening and landscaping trainees
  • Part-time business studies courses, e. g., in Property Management
  • Leadership training and programs such as “Fit for Leadership” and “Basic Management Education”
  • Communication training and tutoring program for trainees
  • eLearning services for employees, such as time management and storytelling, and managers, such as “Managers as coaches” and “Leading with empathy”