Best Employers in Germany and Europe 2009

We are very pleased in our third year of participation in the program, we once again have the honor of the "Best Employer in Germany" distinction. We are especially pleased to be the best-ranked company in the state of Baden-Württemberg.

The results of the study - conducted in Germany since 2003 under the auspices of the European "Great Place to Work" initiative - were announced by the Great Place to Work Institute of Germany on February 12, 2009 in Berlin. Vector was one of 257 companies to participate in the competition, and attained a 12th place ranking in the category of companies with 501 to 1,000 employees. Eberhard Hinderer, member of the company’s management board, accepted the award on behalf of Vector: "Of course, we are very pleased to have once again been selected for this distinguished award. We were able to improve our ranking compared to our last participation, which makes us very proud and strengthens our resolve in human resource and corporate policy. This distinction also confirms results of our annual internal surveys. The company’s management would like to extend a special thanks to the women and men working at Vector who have made this success possible.”

The "Great Place to Work" study is conducted across Europe based on a uniform model. The sponsors in Germany - the Great Place to Work Institute of Germany in cooperation with the “Initiative for New Quality in the Workplace” (INQA) of the German Federal Ministry for Labor and Social Affairs - surveyed employees of 257 small, mid-size and large companies on the themes of "Credibility", "Respect", "Fairness", "Pride" and "Team orientation". In an audit of corporate culture, programs and strategies for human resource development at the companies were also examined. For more information: www.handelsblatt.de or www.greatplacetowork.de.

A special aspect of this year’s competition was the additional naming of "Europe’s Best Employers 2009". In a comparison of large companies across Europe, Vector attained an excellent 37th place. This ranking is based on the Great Place to Work benchmark studies conducted on the national level in 17 European countries. You will find the complete Top 100 list of "Europe’s Best Employers 2009" on the Internet – with two separate categories based on company size – at: www.greatplacetowork.de/best/lists-europe.php.