Wiener Linien intends to hire around 900 employees this year. On the one hand, this is due to a large wave of retirements due to the baby boomer generation, which is causing 600 retirements this year.
“On the one hand, we will fill new positions, but on the other hand, of course – as always – we will increase efficiencies. We will use the advantages of digitization, but Wiener Linien is a service company and will therefore always rely very, very heavily on the human factor,” said Alexandra Reinagl, Managing Director of Wiener Linien, to “Vienna Today”. They also want to offer employees more flexible working hours. Pilot tests for a four-day week would start in the fall.
Wiener Linien offer a four-day week
Wiener Linien is increasingly looking for new employees. In order to find new ones, they are experimenting with a four-day week starting in the autumn.
attention to the proportion of women
“We are fully aware that the needs of the new generations and the tight job market must of course also be addressed. We are already observing this on an ongoing basis and are also trying to adapt and accommodate it. We give it a lot of thought here,” said Reinagl.
When recruiting new employees, special attention should be paid to the proportion of women. For example, this is still lagging behind when it comes to driving services, which is currently around 10 percent. However, there will not be a women’s quota in this area because it cannot be achieved. “On the other hand, we are also considering how we can make our working conditions even more attractive so that we can also address people who are unsure of the German language,” says Reinagl.
Among other things, the Wiener Linien want to raise the German language skills to the required level with tutoring among colleagues. “Often the technical understanding and the will is there, but not the language skills,” said Reinagl.
37.5 hours divided over four days
A four-day week, which is to be tested from autumn, is understood to mean a division of 37.5 hours per week over four days for the entire Wiener Stadtwerke group. As a result, there are no salary cuts for employees.
The concept of the four-day week is much simpler than in the driving service due to the service schedules in the administration. “It will be easier in some areas and maybe happen sooner. We also have an administration area. It will take a lot of brain power to implement a four-day week in the manual professions, which are largely the workshops and the driving service. You have to consider: We have to convert timetables into duty rosters,” emphasized the managing director. Nevertheless, one will pilot in all areas. A total of 300 employees are planned for the pilot project.
And since buses and subways also run at night and workshops have to be ready for use around the clock, the four-day week here sometimes means several night shifts in a row. However, a four-day week with reduced working hours and a full salary – as some young start-ups are trying to do – is out of the question for Wiener Linien.
Labor market researcher sees this as a “deceptive package”
In principle, it is attractive for employees to do their working hours in fewer working days and have more free time, said labor market researcher and sociologist Jörg Flecker in the “Vienna Today” studio talk. However, the concept of Wiener Linien would be “a bit reminiscent of a sham without reducing the weekly working hours (…) because occupational medicine indicates that the stress and the risk of accidents increase sharply following the seventh hour of the day,” he said stains.
Labor market researcher Flecker on the four-day week
Labor market researcher Jörg Flecker talks regarding the four-day week. Will this be the future?
You would need more recovery phases, and these might not be postponed to another time – for example next week. The model is too strenuous, especially for older people and people with health problems – such as those who are mediated by the Public Employment Service (AMS).
For Flecker, the concept of a four-day week would only work – also with regard to the work-life balance – if shorter working hours were offered overall. Fitting long days into a four-day week might be attractive for those who want to enjoy a long weekend, for example, but for single parents, for example, the long working days would pose a problem with childcare.
