software engineer

intern

buyer

specialist

production associate

Volkswagen Group of America

I've worked here for 4 years, and was lucky enough to be converted from temp to full time in 6 months. The 401k match is great, the benefits are good, and compared to other work I've done the work isn't that bad. I've heard horror stories working here, but haven't experienced or witnessed any of them myself. I have had one minor injury on the job, my leg was smashed by a large rack, nothing was broken but I was taken care of immediately. You don't get any sick days, but they do give PTO and at least 2 weeks off a year for shutdowns on top of that (one week in the summer, one in winter). I'm "leaving" to do an apprenticeship to join VW's maintenance team. I'm only on Indeed to find a part time job while I do that. 

The parking is horrid though, they have a bus system now, but between the huge parking lot and the half mile walk into the plant, show up 30 mins early. If you drive a VW car, they have "loyalty parking" which is right by the entrance and is extremely worth it. You can also lease VW cars for cheap as an employee, payment is taken directly from your pay, insurance is included in the price.

You also have to pass a urine and hair drug test to get the job. This is the main thing that keeps people from getting in. If you can't pass this, don't even try as failing it will ban you from employment here. Don't try some hair wash, just get clean first, the follicle test goes back ~ 6 months.

They are also always trying to hire from within. You don't see people move up in management that often, but if you have the skill set for any other jobs in there or take online courses to get the skills you can move.

There is voluntary overtime available, but most of the OT you work will be mandatory. Depending on the shop your in (assembly, Paint, Body) you could be working more or less. Body shop seems to get the most overtime, assembly the least. Don't base your budget off your over time, Some years I've worked 50+ hours almost every week, others I've had almost no OT. I generally budget for an average of 3hrs of OT a week.

They also provide work clothing and steel toes. They have everything from button downs and slacks to dry fit t-shirts and shorts. You can order whatever you want. Want to look like management while you put parts on the car? Go for it, though you'll probably be drenched in sweat at the end of the day. The A/C in the factory does a good job, but it's still a factory, it gets hot sometimes.

Top out pay for team members is currently 25/hr i think. There are quarterly bonuses that can be as high as 15% of your hourly wages. These bonuses are based off of your performance/ attendance and aren't profit sharing. I've gone from a temp employee through aerotek making 13.50/hr to a full time employee making 22.70/hr in 4 years. I can't recommend this place enough if you do this kind of work already.

This is the most horrible job i’ve ever had. They don’t tell you all of this at orientation, but I will. For starters your breaks are very short a 10mins break you will spend 5 of that walking to the break room, you really only have 3mins by that time because they have a bell that ring every break two-three mins before to tell you don’t be late to the line or you get a point if you’re not on the line by the time it starts. Most of your break you will spend walking before you can actually sit to enjoy it, when it comes to pto only ONE person ! per line can be off per day, so if you were to have a real emergency and someone else has an emergency too but they put in for the pto first and got approved you’re out of luck, unless you decide to take the point. They don’t care about your medical reason either, you have a note? still a point. The work is too much to do for one person when it comes to assembly. Management is horrible & rude including their trainers they don’t care about their employees , very much egotistical and not helpful. The walking is ridiculous, so is the parking if you’re not there atleast an hr before you have to go in, you will have to park far back in rows 28 and so on. Which will take you about 15mins to get inside the building, which leads you to a bridge that takes another 10-15mins. you will spend almost 45mins of walking probably more just to get to where you have to be. Training isn’t proper, why? because they rush it , now you’re stuck training with another employee when they let you go until you get it. You have to be there for a year for a lot of stuff , like to transfer to a different plant whether it’s paint, battery, assembly, whatever. During your training you have to workout at their gym for two-three weeks and it’s mandatory either in the morning or an hr before your shift end. The “workout” crew attitudes are terrible and they make you do the extra most not considering certain conditions people might have I had a guy in a wheelchair once who was ex-military and a football coach let’s just say i’m glad he was only there once throughout the workouts. Training is also on day shift. The only good thing about this job was the pay and even the pay wasn’t good enough to keep me along with others. they can’t keep people !! there’s so much more I could go into, but if you want to work here just prepare yourself for a lot.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Mandatory Overtime, instant benefits

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Team leads divide staff and have favorites that regularly get the better jobs. The overall unprofessionalism of those directly in charge of the production and the  apathy of their superiors. Being told told to return to work while injured or to resign.  

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Machinery regularly breaks, manual labor is often used to compensate. Other team members will purposely mess up their work which complicates your job. This happens often with little or no repercussions. There is little opportunities for advancement unless your team lead likes you. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Your day starts with a quarter to half mile walk, or getting squished onto an overcrowded bus to get you close to your job. You then have to walk another quarter mile from point of entry to your team room for a meeting. During the half hour meeting you are supposed to stretch and listen to updates and news for the day. Many people are disruptive and don't take this time seriously.   You then proceed to the job board to find your work schedule for the day. There is little attention paid to scheduling labor. you may work the same pitch three out of four quarters. It does not matter if this wears you out or it is what you did the day before discussion of the schedule or complaints of pain are met with apathy, sarcasm, and often worse placement. The food in the cafe is good but the break is not long enough to relax or enjoy your meal. Allowing time to get to the cafe and back with a stop at the restroom to wash off before eating your mid shift break is roughly fifteen minutes. the second half of the day follows as the first less the stretching and meeting, you are expected to report early as the job board may have changed and you need to be at the line before it starts. After being thoroughly worn out both mentally and physically from the production day you then begin the hike to your car only to sit in a fifteen minute traffic jam attempting to leave. Drive home, shower, eat, take your OTC pain reliever of choice, sleep, wake up late, ready to do it again!

Getting hired on can take as long as a year because they are very strict about their full time employees.
Production requirements are a bit too high and it’s easy to get overwhelmed. A lot of people skip a break or “hold it in” because they are afraid even a bathroom break will prevent them from hitting production.

Cool benefits for full time employees such as the car leasing program which allows you to lease a brand new VW or Audi at a very low rate, insurance included. They offer vehicles to lease for as low as $275 a month. Can’t beat that.

The rules are strictly enforced with no tolerance no matter how long you’ve worked there. If you are not serious and committed to being on time every day then look elsewhere. 

Most employees are in their mid twenties or mid thirties. The younger ones usually can’t handle the responsibilities and strict rules. 

There is definitely job advancement and I saw many of my coworkers move up. 

Management is amazing. Even though I got fired for personal reasons, they were as professional as it gets and went way above and beyond to help me get thru a very tough time in my life.

There is little to no favoritism. They treat everyone fair and with respect. Everyone works together to finish for the day so everyone goes home at the same time. There were a couple employees that were extremely distracting and management is a little too non confrontational.

They are constantly cross training you and you will learn how to do pretty much everything. I learned more in a year at VW than all my other jobs combined. Days fly by, with an hour or two of OT a day. 

I would go back to work at VW in a heartbeat, but unfortunately that will never happen.



VW can't learn to live outside of Germany. They think everybody should be like them.  The German worker are treated better than American.  Benefits are not comparable in the industry.  Weak time off and pay for automotive.  You don't know who to trust, co-workers will throw you under the bus and lie to you to get ahead.  Management will push and even exceed the boundaries. Bonus and benefits have decreased and no longer a good selling point.  If you start do so before December 1 or you will not receive a bonus, they will not tell you that.  Very middle of the road insurance, large deductible then 80/20 plan and comparably expensive to the employee.

You will however learn a lot.  The number of skills you can learn are great.  The education and extra training is really good. If you can last two year you will fear nothing.  I mean absolutely nothing.  You can take those skills with you and do well anywhere.  If VW would learn from their own teachings they could be a really good company, but don't hold you breath.  I do not recommend VW for older workers unless you contract.  If you don't have to don't take the relocation package.  It is good, but you will be there two years.  Sick leave and work life balance is good when needed, but you will put in a lot of hours.

It is rear to see the CEO.

worked and busted my a** for volkswagen for a little over a year at the time i was completing 80% of the shops work load. I started express and worked my way up to a tech pretty quickly doing anything and everything to prove i have what it takes to climb the ladder. 2 weeks before my vacation i sat down with both bosses and came to an agreement over pay compensation and a higher job status. When i came back from my vacation i was given the green light by BOTH bosses and so i started doing higher level jobs making as much flat rate hours i can. Once pay came around i noticed i was not paid for my flat rate hours. Frustrated i went to both bosses and asked where the money they owe me is. Mind you i was as calm and in now way raising my voice simply just asking where my money is. In conclusion they told me i was being "insubordinate" and fired me on the spot. So would i recommend you work at volkswagen? SURE if you want to bust your a** all day for little to nothing and watch corporate walk in with their fat stomachs cause they been pushing pencils their entire lives and come out to the shop and act like complete jerk offs. This company cares for nothing more than the money they make. THATS IT! they owed me money and fired me over money. LET THAT SINK IN!

In the 11 years that I worked for VWGoA, I was contracted under 3 different contracting companies. Each change meant more responsibilities for less money/compensation. After working there 8 years, my paid time off was cut down to 13 days, 5 of which had to be used for holidays such as Christmas, 4th of July, and Thanksgiving. That left 8 days for vacation, illness, and personal time for the entire year. An hourly contract employee, no matter how much tenure, is continually harassed by management, and the customer service end has an extremely high turnover. With the recent diesel engine scandal involving Volkswagen, contract employees are even more felt to be indentured servants, having to publicly apologize to customers for the mistakes made by brand employees. Over the past 10 years, the work environment has downgraded dramatically, to the point where most contract employees have an apathetic attitude due to the negative treatment by the company.

Upon Volkswagen's opening of its $2 billion plant in Chattanooga, a celebration was held at the city's Hunter Museum in a grand space overlooking the Tennessee River. I was the sole entertainment, for nearly three hours, playing classic songs and standards from the 1930s, 1940s and beyond on the museum's Steinway grand for executives and local officials. As plant construction neared completion, I was invited again to play piano for a reception in a large new space in the Volkswagen Academy where employees begin their training. VW supplied a wonderful 9-foot grand piano for me on the occasion of the unveiling of the all-new Passat. Later I would play for the company at Christmas events.
There was nothing "hard" about this job. It was all enjoyable work that I look forward to each year. Executives have called me "Volkswagen's pianist for America." Well, that's quite a tag I am honored to have.
VW leadership is comprised of great people who are a joy to work with and the company offers great venues, grand pianos and grand pay!

I used to work there. Rotating shifts so your your sleep schedule and sanity are out the window. I could deal with it if they rotated monthly but it's weekly. 
     The staffing agency employees are treated like stepchildren. If you make one mistake you will be given corrective actions even though you're working circles around the VW employees who's jobs are safe from layoffs. Myself and the people I was hired with were told we would be hired full time VW but were there for a year and a half still as contract employees even though we outperformed VW employees. (They don't have to try hard anymore because they are safe from layoffs due to VW status)
     The supervisor I had would swear at and disrespect his employees to their faces with no repercussions. 
     People with children could make up family emergency excuses and get to stay on day shift for a while while the rest of us had to keep rotating. 
     The biggest thing for me is how much differently the contract employees are treated than the VW employees. Stay away from this company unless you have a family in danger of starving to death.

My job at this company started as a 6 month rotational internship designed to give me experience working in the different facets of HR. The skills I gained and the opportunities that were presented to me are truly invaluable. This was my first "job" out of college and an experience I will never forget. While working here I learned how to manage the U.S. company's national internship program (and manage all facets of the onboarding process), how to input data and pull reports from HR information systems, how to communicate with employees at all levels of the organization, and how an HR department works in a large, successful, global company. In my various roles I had the opportunity to work with every one of the other employees in my department and I made lasting friendships because of it. The hardest part of the job was learning how to help employees cope with the transition of hundreds of employees to a new location on the east coast as well as layoffs for many at the current office. I enjoyed every minute of my experience with this company.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Software engineer 30 salaries reported	$129,567 per year
Intern 3 salaries reported	$20.67 per hour
Buyer 3 salaries reported	$79,000 per year
Specialist 3 salaries reported	$97,500 per year
Production associate 3 salaries reported	$24.67 per hour

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