With more than EUR 3bn in revenue and some 15,000 employees, Wiener Stadtwerke is one of the largest businesses in Austria. When it comes to converting Vienna into a climate-neutral city, we, as the supplier for the city, are in the limelight. We are approaching this challenge with innovative ideas, enthusiasm and vigour and are making the most of the opportunities presented to us by digitalisation. Looking to the decisive years ahead of us, we need the greatest minds and most skilled hands in our teams. In other words, strong teams made up of pioneers who lead the way into a climate-neutral future.
Recruiting qualified young talent is a key area of focus at Wiener Stadtwerke. Over the next ten years, 5,000 employees – or one-third of our company’s workforce – will be retiring. While our task is clear in this regard, so is the challenge it presents: for some time there have been too few skilled workers to fill open positions on the Austrian employment market. According to a survey of companies carried out by ibw Austria, 2021 saw the shortage of skilled workers reach an all-time high.
The competition between companies for the best talent is enormous. And nowadays these up-and-coming specialists place different demands on their jobs than they did a few years ago. Sustainability, credibility and a good work-life balance are key criteria when STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) graduates come to select an employer, as was shown in a study on the future conducted by Wien Energie and Deloitte Austria. 40% of the study’s respondents said they would not work for a “polluter”, while 25% want to make an active contribution to climate protection in their day-to-day work, and so look for green jobs where they can do this. We have good news: we have these kinds of jobs available. Without the Wiener Stadtwerke team, the transformation of our city into a climate-neutral metropolis would not be possible. Pioneers of climate protection fit into our team perfectly. Over the next few years, we will be creating thousands of new green jobs and will also be giving applicants the opportunity to make their employment contracts with us into climate agreements. We have set up a special 18-month trainee programme where trainees select a specialist training stream, choosing between the alternative energies, smart infrastructure, green building, environmentally friendly mobility and digital transformation streams. This variety allows new talent to work with us in creating the climate-neutral city of the future.
Generational change
Finding qualified young talent will be a major challenge in the years to come.
Driving forwards works.
15,000
employees
make a difference at Wiener Stadtwerke every day. This makes us one of the largest companies in Austria.
We are aware that we cannot rely solely on our meaningful green jobs strategy. Nor can we rely on the fact that we offer strong values, secure jobs, benefits such as working from home, a wide range of training opportunities, and a good working environment that nurtures and encourages personal development. On the contrary: we know that we always have to be better and to find the best solutions, to always be more creative and more proactive. Even today, our strategic staffing plans look years into the future and focus on developing an interdisciplinary team – what jobs will be needed in years to come that don’t even exist yet? What expertise, technologies and skillsets will be needed? We want to know the answers to these questions as soon as we can. For this reason, we are collaborating more and more closely with a whole host of education establishments. Doing so gives us access to the graduate market of the future today – driving forwards works.
Our experts come up with innovative ideas and develop specific programmes that are designed to make young people enthusiastic about Wiener Stadtwerke, to train the specialists of the future and, as an attractive employer, to make our employees want to stay with us for the long term. In addition, we position Wiener Stadtwerke as a strong employer brand: all of Vienna’s residents should know what we are achieving and what we have to offer. We keep Vienna running. We are setting the wheels of climate reversal in motion. We offer meaningful green jobs and allow people to pursue careers that transcend the limits of corporate structures. Those who join us can apply all of their talents to help us make our mission a success. Those who join us are pioneers.
