At the end of 2018, ŠKODA employed 4,443 foreign nationals from 48 countries in its Czech operations. Foreign workers thus made up 13.6 per cent of staff in the Czech Republic. Broken down by country, most come from Poland (45.3 per cent), followed by Slovakia (35.2 per cent) and Ukraine (8.9 per cent). While it is no surprise that people come to work here from neighbouring and other nearby countries, ŠKODA has also attracted workers from further afield. In the Czech Republic, then, you’ll find three Americans, two Cubans, two Koreans, and citizens of Canada, Mexico, Namibia and Singapore working for the company.

The benefits of an international team have previously been described to ŠKODA Storyboard by ŠKODA’s chief designer, Oliver Stefani. “Our design team is truly international, spanning some 26 nationalities. This is enriching and necessary – ŠKODA is an attractive brand and makes cars for the whole world, so it needs to have people with different backgrounds. Their job is to dream. Then we work together to mould those dreams and ideas into a tangible form,” said Stefani.

The number 48 is the star of the show as the latest Number of the Month, ŠKODA Storyboard’s series in which we regularly shed light on interesting facts about ŠKODA cars, on their past, present and future, and on events at ŠKODA, expressed through a particular number.