Schwäbisch Gmünd
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Welcome to Schwäbisch Gmünd A Guide to Living and Working at ZF Lenksysteme Content 1 General Information 5 1. 1. Germany 5 1. 2. Baden-Württemberg 5 1. 2. 1. Geography and Climate 5 1. 2. 2. Holidays and Religion 6 1. 3. Schwäbisch Gmünd 7 1. 3. 1. A Brief History 7 2 ZF Lenksysteme GmbH in Schwäbisch Gmünd 8 2. 1. General Information 8 2. 1. 1. Identification Badge 8 2. 1. 2. Parking Badge 8 2. 1. 3. Working Hours 8 2. 1. 4. Food Supply 9 2. 1. 5. Cashless Payment 9 2. 1. 6. Company Doctor 9 2. 1. 7. Restrictions 10 2. 1. 8. Overview of LSGd Plants 10 2. 2. Information about Plant 2 11 2. 2. 1. Plant 2 Site Plan 11 2. 2. 2. General Information on Plant 2 11 2. 3. Information about Plant 4 12 2. 3. 1. Plant 4 Site Plan 12 2. 3. 2. General Information on Plant 4 12 2. 4. Information about Plant 7 13 2. 4. 1. Plant 7 Site Plan 13 2. 4. 2. General Information on Plant 7 13 2. 5. Information about the VGW Building 14 2. 5. 1. VGW Building Site Plan 14 2. 5. 2. General Information on the VGW Building 14 3 (Public) Transport in the Area 15 3. 1. Local Transport - Stadtbus Gmünd 15 3. 2. Taking the Long Distance Bus 16 3. 3. Travelling by Train 16 3. 3. 1. Online 16 3. 3. 2. At the counter 17 3. 3. 3. Ticketing machine 17 3. 3. 4. DB App 17 3. 4. Traveling by Car 18 3. 4. 1. Traffic Regulations 18 3. 4. 2. Emission Sticker 21 4 Accommodation in Schwäbisch Gmünd 22 4. 1. Current hotels 22 4. 1. ZFLS accommodation list (“Wohnungskatalog”) 22 2 5 Things to do and visit in and around Schwäbisch Gmünd 23 5. 1. Museums 23 5. 2. Schwäbisch Gmünd Library 24 5. 3. Shopping 25 5. 4. Movie Theaters 26 5. 5. Theaters 27 5. 6. Sports 28 5. 7. Other Activities and Events 28 6 Restaurants, Cafés and Bars 29 6. 1. Dining out in Germany 29 6. 2. Suggestions in and around Schwäbisch Gmünd 30 7 Communication and Technology 31 7. 1. Cell Phone Service 31 7. 2. Important Phone Numbers 31 7. 3. Electrical Facts 32 8 Health 33 8. 1. Choosing a Doctor 33 8. 2. Buying Medicine 34 8. 3. Tap water vs. bottled water 34 9 The German Culture – A Short Summary 35 9. 1. Greetings/ Addressing and Getting to Know People 35 9. 2. Discussions, Presentations and Decisions 36 9. 3. Business Language/ Building up Relationships 37 9. 4. Business Culture/ Behavior 38 9. 5. Understanding of Law and Contracts 39 9. 6. Business Clothing 40 9. 7. Leadership Style and Team Work 40 9. 8. Invitation to a Colleagues Home and Gifts to Hosts 41 9. 9. Table Manners and Eating Out 41 9. 10. Conversations 42 9. 11. Values and Social Relations 42 9. 12. Taboos 43 10 Attachments 44 3 Introduction Dear Guests: We, ZF Lenksysteme GmbH and the Human Resource department, are happy to welcome you in Schwäbisch Gmünd. We hope you will greatly enjoy your stay here and feel welcome at any time. To make your transition to the German culture and to Schwäbisch Gmünd a little easier, we have designed this short guide. It aims at giving you useful information about life in Schwäbisch Gmünd and about some particularities concerning life here. We have done our best to compile the most up-to-date information. However, we cannot guarantee that no changes occurred between finishing the handbook and handing it out to you. So please make sure that you also check for yourself again. Further, we neither have influence on the content of any of the externally linked web pages nor are we responsible for it. We would like to thank our colleagues at Robert Bosch GmbH and ZF Friedrichshafen AG for allowing us to lean on material they previously compiled and for supporting us in the process of developing this handbook. Further, wherever we have used masculine pronouns only, this has been done solely for reasons of readabili- ty. Of course both females as well as males are being addressed. If you feel that we have forgotten some important aspect or have any further comments, please do not hesitate to send an email to either the team of International Employee Transfers (C-HDT) or to the team of Coordination HR International (C-HDC)1. Best wishes and have a good start Your HR Department 1 Find your contact partner here: http://web.zf-lenksysteme.com/ml/locations/lgd/personal/about_us/Zust__ndigkeiten_P___O/Personal-Organisent- wicklung/index.html 4 1 General Information 1. 1. Germany Germany is a federal republic consisting of 16 states – the “Bundesländer.” It is located in the very center of Europe and shares a boarder with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxemburg, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark. Germany spreads across an area of around 357,120 km² and has a population of approximately 80,550,000 (May 2013), making it the most populous state in the European Union. Germany has the world's fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in several industrial and technological sectors, it is the second-largest exporter and third-largest importer of goods. It is a developed country with a very high standard of living, featuring comprehensive social security that includes the world's oldest universal health care system. 1. 2. Baden-Württemberg With an extension about 35,750 km² Baden-Württemberg is the third largest state in Germany. Its capital is Stuttgart - a city of 590,000 inhabitants. Baden-Württemberg is one of the most prosperous and economically competitive regions in Europe and is home to many internationally successful companies. The three branches of industry granting employment to the most people are the mechanical engineering industry, the auto- motive industry and metal product industry. 1. 2. 1. Geography and Climate Baden-Württemberg has it all. There are delightful landscapes such as the Black Forest and Swabian Alb area, the Neckartal Valley and Lake Constance, Hohenlohe and Allgäu. There you will find forests, mountains, plains, moorland - an unspoiled nature to be enjoyed in over 2,000 nature and landscape conservation areas. Due to the hilly topography, the state is also characterized by many rivers like the Rhine and Danube. Since Baden-Württemberg is located in the very South of Germany, it enjoys warmer weather than most of the other German states. The Breisgau is Germany’s warmest region, while Klippeneck holds the record for annual hours of sunshine.2 2 http://www.climatedata.eu/climate.php?loc=gmxx0128&lang=en 5 1. 2. 2. Holidays and Religion In Baden-Württemberg there is a number of recurring holidays. Generally, all employees in Schwäbisch Gmünd are off during those days. If the holiday falls on a Thursday or Tuesday, many take one of their vacation days on the Friday or Monday respectively, in order to prolong their weekend. Holidays, which are in the same date every year, are: New Year Jan. 1st Epiphany Jan. 6th Labor Day May 1st Day of German Unity Oct. 3rd All Saints’ Day Nov. 1st Christmas Dec. 25th St. Stephens Day Dec. 26th Moreover, there are a couple of holidays which do not fall on a fixed date, but take place in a certain time pattern. Easter A Sunday between March 22nd and April 25th Good Friday Two days before Easter Sunday Easter Monday The Monday following Easter Sunday Further, there are: Ascension Day A Thursday between April 30th and June 3rd Whit Monday A Monday between May 11th and June 14th Corpus Christi A Thursday between May 21st and June 24th The predominance of Christian holidays is due to the structure of religious beliefs in Baden-Württemberg. The majority of the population, or to be precise 37.2%, is Roman-Catholic, followed by 33.7% being Protes- tants.3 As much as 29.1% of the population does either not officially practice any religion or has other religious beliefs. It is estimated that 5.7% of the people living in Baden-Württemberg are Muslims.4 If you are planning on attending a religious service during your stay, you can check online for information on churches in and around Schwäbisch Gmünd. If you are looking for a mosque, you can use the mosque search online to find one. 3https://ergebnisse.zensus2011.de/#StaticContent:08,BEV_1_4_2_7,m,table 4http://www.landtagswahl-bw.de/muslimisch.html?&MP=1178-4773 6 1. 3. Schwäbisch Gmünd The city, which prides itself with being the oldest city of the Swabian Staufer dynasty, is located approxima- tely 50 km east of Stuttgart in an area called Ostalbkreis. Schwäbisch Gmünd is located in the upper valley of the river Rems and the city’s name derives from the German word Mündung, which refers to the creek Josefs- bach emptying into the river Rems. With a population of about 60,000 it is the second largest city in the East of Baden-Württemberg. 1. 3. 1. A Brief History The first major settlement in this area was established around the second century AD, when Roman soldiers settled nearby the Roman Limes – a line of frontier fortifications separating the Roman Empire from the German tribes. Schwäbisch Gmünd was granted town privileges in the mid-12th century. From the late Middle Ages on, Gmünd started thriving due to intermediate trade with cloth and wine and through the production and sale of scythes.