Vocational Training

WACKER needs committed and skilled workers if it is to remain innovative and competitive. We offer our employees a favorable foundation for exploiting their potential and further developing their skills – beginning with vocational training all the way to a variety of advanced training options. There are training and incentives programs available for each qualification and career move.

In its personnel development activities, WACKER also relies on vocational training. We provide training at the Burghausen, Nünchritz, Freiberg and Munich sites in Germany.

The principal facility is the Burghausen Vocational Training Center (BBiW) (German-language version only), which was established by WACKER in 1969. The BBiW offers not only initial vocational training, but also retraining and advanced training for young people and experienced staff. Well known beyond the local area, the center believes that its responsibility extends to providing training to non-WACKER staff from 22 partner companies. In 2016, 67 trainees from these companies started courses at the BBiW (2015: 55).

BBiW courses cover 20 vocations. The main focus is on the scientific and technical jobs typically encountered in the chemical, electrical and metalworking sectors. Of the 596 trainees (2015: 597), 507 (2015: 514) were in scientific and technical disciplines and 89 (2015: 83) in business-related fields. After graduating, they have a good chance of finding employment. In the reporting period, WACKER offered jobs to the majority of suitable trainees. The BBiW accepted two refugees as business trainees in 2016.

The BBiW’s vocational training is complemented by six work/study programs to bachelor level: business administration, business IT, applied IT, engineering management, electrical engineering and process engineering. Here, study at a vocational education institute alternates with quarterly practical phases. For these courses of study, WACKER collaborates with the universities of Mannheim, Heidenheim and Stuttgart, which specialize in work/study programs.

The high quality of WACKER’s training is evidenced by all the awards won by its trainees. In 2016, the Nünchritz site produced Saxony’s best trainee chemical technician – for the fifth time in a row. 50 of the BBiW’s trainees and three of its bachelor students ranked as top graduates in 2015/2016 and received a distinction for passing their courses with a grade of 1.5 (on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the best) or higher.

In 2016, we replaced our General Management Trainee Program with a new, function-specific one. During the 18-month program, the management trainees receive wide-ranging and flexible training in their specific disciplines, get to know the various job profiles in their functional areas and are specifically prepared for future employment with our company. The groupwide program consists of work and project stages and is based on the requirements of the business divisions and corporate departments. Five university graduates make up the first generation of this new trainee program.

Siltronic continued with its graduate trainee program in the period under review. As well as learning specifically about wafer manufacture, participants acquire key management skills such as adept negotiating and conflict management. Six young graduates started the 18-month trainee program in 2016.