Energie AG’s in-house apprenticeship programme is an important competitive advantage. Since 1943, 1,549 apprentices have successfully completed their training and become top-qualified specialists in their fields. About half of these are still employed in the Company today. In September 2022, 22 youngsters (previous year: 22), began their apprenticeships at Energie AG in the areas of electrical engineering and metals engineering, as well as for the first time in gas, water and heating technology. In keeping with our mission to promote diversity, apprentices of immigrant descent and asylum seekers also have their place in the Energie AG Group.
The marketing activities have been significantly scaled up in districts with a higher demand for skilled workers (e.g. Schärding, Ried, Braunau). The apprenticeship trainers will pay personal visits to the polytechnic schools in these districts. A new advertising campaign is currently being developed and will be launched in future fiscal years.
The cooperation with mandatory-attendance schools (electrical engineering polytechnic course, PowerGirls, Girls Day) as well as the offers for job shadowing took place in almost the same way as in the years before, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Safety and health are especially important to Energie AG in its apprentice training. The Company offers professional workshops and seminars to provide guidance to young people on topics such as preventing addiction and using the internet safely, as well as since fiscal year 2021/2022 a three-part communication training that is spread across the full length of the apprenticeship programme.
The most important milestone for an apprentice is the skilled worker examination at the Austrian Economic Chambers. The quality of training was also documented in the 2021/2022 fiscal year, receiving an outstanding result. Between them, the 16 current graduates (previous year: 18) earned 10 distinction grades in vocational school and 13 good or outstanding results in their final examinations. At the Apprentice Awards held by the industrial sector in Upper Austria, the team of Energie AG apprentices in their second year took the first and third place in the category energy technology.
With 22 new apprentices per year, the apprentice workshop continues to operate at maximum capacity. The modernisation of the building and its fitout was continued in fiscal year 2021/2022 with the start of the conversion of the mechanical workshop, the roof and the facade and will not be completed before the year 2025.
The recruiting process is continuously adapted to the situation on the market. Due to a multi-faceted approach geared to the qualification, local demand and place of residence of the candidates, all apprenticeship positions were filled with qualified young talents.
In 2018, Energie AG initiated the establishment of the “zukunft.lehre.österreich” association Future Apprenticeships Austria (ZLÖ). Its objective is to strengthen the image of apprenticeships in Austria. The role of president is currently occupied by its creator, Chief Executive Officer DDr. Werner Steinecker MBA. Joining forces with the other members of the association, Energie AG aims to restore the status that apprenticeships deserve as a key foundation of business and, in turn, of society both today and in the future. Since 2018, we have worked meticulously to design and advertise an Austria-wide apprenticeship platform and an apprenticeship-related image campaign aimed at the target group.