Personnel and management development

A key goal is to provide targeted services to prepare employees and managers for the challenges they will face in the working world of the future. The educational program, which is available to all employees, is strongly focused on strengthening their skills in using methods and platforms. In particular, this applies to collaboration and interaction in everyday working life and the use of new digital technologies. For more information, see Employees, New ways to learn and work.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many classroom-based educational and training events had to be cancelled or postponed also in the 2020/2021 fiscal year. This negatively impacted the “Training per employee” key figure.

The learning platform EINSTEIN offers a comprehensive and attractively presented overview of the educational and training options. Employees can conveniently register with just a few clicks. EINSTEIN also enables employees and managers to review their past educational and training events.

Energie AG's conflict management system has further expanded its reach. An accompanying seminar programme for groups and team managers is intended to raise the awareness for the topic and the instrument available to them. The members of the works councils also attended seminars on this topic. Employees were offered information events that also aimed at sensitising them for the topic.

The Energie AG employees were offered a webinar on resilience to support them during the COVID-19 pandemic, a situation that many experience as extremely difficult. Interested employees could also participate in the online training “performance and motivation in times of crisis”, which is structured in several modules.

Single-day workshops on “leadership in difficult and challenging times” were offered to managerial staff to support them in handling new challenges (i.e. remote leadership) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The workshops gave Managing Directors, heads of departments as well as team and group leaders the opportunity to reflect and, supported by an external expert, talk about problem solving strategies.

The “Leadership Experience Discussion Circle” for team and group leaders was continued in the 2020/2021 fiscal year. These thrice-a-year get-togethers – some of them in a virtual space due to the COVID-19 pandemic – involve participants discussing leadership-related topics in small groups, accompanied by a coach. The group is intended to help attendees solve problems that arise in their day-to-day leadership roles, as well as encouraging these supervisory staff to be open to bouncing ideas off each other. The participants in fiscal year 2020/2021 were – also with regard to the new challenges – offered a virtual key note lecture by a brain researcher on the topic of “leadership in multitasking mode” followed by an opportunity for discussions and exchange.

The competency model continues to form the basis for the feedback meetings between the Management Board/Managing Directors/heads of departments.

The “Energie AG Future Lab” is an open and innovative format that aims at providing methodological and technical training to managerial personnel and also offers space to engage with future topics. Junior staff (PowerTalents) from Energie AG Group are involved in the programme in addition to Managing Directors and heads of departments. The session initially planned to take place in autumn 2020 had to be rescheduled to autumn 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The cancelled events were substituted by two bridging events, which were intended as a connecting link to the next session and to allow for an engagement with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first bridging event, which was held virtually, featured a discussion with the Management Board about the insights gained so far with regard to leadership and cooperation in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. At the second bridging event, the Management Board and managerial personnel tried to carve out those experiences from the COVID-19 pandemic that offer enough potential to pursue them in the future.

The personnel development programme, which is accessible for all employees in Austria via the EINSTEIN system, offered various training opportunities in the areas of media competency and methodological competency, which significantly contributes to keeping the employee's know-how up to date, especially in the area of digital media and work methods, and securing their employability.

New ways to learn and work

Since the COVID-19 pandemic continued to strongly affect cooperation in fiscal year 2020/2021, the already well-established virtual seminar formats online training and webinar were continued for many topics. Additionally, specific input in the form of short video clips on topics such as “rituals in the home office” or “creating a suitable workplace at home” supported employees in organising their work from the home.

The survey “New ways to work from home” conducted within Energie AG in Austria returned positive feedback and resulted in the extension of the previous remote work model. A corresponding works council agreement together with guidelines for IT security, data protection, work safety (ergonomics) and training are in the process of being developed.

Employer branding

The age structure of the employees working in the Group entities and the challenges in recruiting suitable skilled personnel call on the Energie AG Group to employ a strategically coordinated recruiting and succession management that serves the purpose of making potential employees aware of the Company at an early stage and presenting them with opportunities to apply for jobs. In addition to continuing the general employer branding campaign, the 2020/2021 fiscal year also focused on skilled workers and drivers (especially for the Umwelt Service GmbH). This was complemented by different measures that continued the focus on graduates from universities and technical colleges. Graduates from technical schools (Höhere Technische Lehranstalt, HTL) were offered a HTL trainee programme for the first time in the 2020/2021 fiscal year. The programme offers five HTL trainees the opportunity to kickstart their careers at Energie AG Group with a flexible start until 1 August 2021. They are rotating through different areas over a period of twelve months and attend an accompanying seminar programme.

Promoting diversity and women in technical careers

Due to the great success achieved in the previous years, three scholarships were awarded to female technicians in autumn 2020 (previous year: two). The scholars not only receive financial support, but can also complete internships at Energie AG and write their master’s thesis drawing on their experiences with the Company, potentially fostering strong ties between the company and these scholars from an early stage.

To ensure the Company is capable of mastering future challenges, it is important for Energie AG that its employees have the relevant skills at their disposal and for diversity to be embraced not only in recruiting, but also internally (for example, when filling management positions).

Since 2014, Energie AG has been providing material and intellectual support to gifted and socially engaged pupils of immigrant origin through the START scholarship program, laying the foundations for these scholars to pursue academic study. This support covers the costs for (one-time) PC equipment, educational materials, seminar attendance, annual meetings, and regional events and workshops.