Life and work at Energie AG Oberösterreich

Energie AG supports a good balance between work and family life. Except for the Waste Management and Czech Republic Segments, the Company has been certified via the “berufundfamilie” audit since 2012. This allows it to position itself as a family-friendly employer, gain advantages in the competition for skilled professionals, and help to create a positive working environment by means of the associated raft of measures for management and employees.

The “Active Parental Leave Management” programme supports employees in Austria in planning the periods they will be off work. A nursing care platform offers comprehensive information and service links for employees who care for and support dependents. A cooperation agreement has also been signed for the development and usage of the Alles Clara app during its pilot phase. Alles Clara is an app designed to help, inform, guide and support people across Austria who are looking after and caring for loved ones at an early stage. Where necessary, employees in participating companies and their relatives can access online assistance and care advice from qualified caregivers, psychologists and other experts.

To make holiday planning easier, Energie AG supported its employees through the summer months of 2023 by providing a varied programme for children between the ages of six and 12. Since July 2020, the cooperation with the Salzkammergut Hospital in Gmunden has been offering employees a year-round kindergarten for their children in addition to the daily bookable summer camp. The company’s in-house childcare facility “Loomiland” has been set up in the new extension to the Group headquarters in Linz and started its second year of operation on 1 September 2023. The little ones are cared for by three qualified early childhood teachers from the Family Alliance Upper Austria (OÖ Familienbund). In addition to the child-friendly rooms with sophisticated designs, the facility offers exterior grounds of almost 300 m² with play equipment, a sand pit and pavilions. The holiday week for children of Energie AG employees took place for two weeks each in Linz and Gmunden in July and August 2023, with the catering being provided by Energie AG's in-house restaurant.

All of Energie AG's employees are entitled to take parental leave. In fiscal year 2022/2023, 99 employees took maternity/paternity leave. The retention rate shows that 92.1% of women and 92.7% of men who returned from parental leave in the previous reporting periods were still employed by the company one year after their return.

As part of its strategic realignment, Energie AG is also focusing on cultural development. From the outset, the strategy project “LOOP” ran in parallel with a cultural and change project aimed at harmonising cultural alignment with strategic objectives. The result was a “cultural compass” for Energie AG covering the six action areas of future viability, cooperation agreements and partnerships, customer experience, responsibility, sustainability and diversity.

In order to derive relevant topics for cooperation within an organisational unit from Energie AG’s “Charter of agile, interdisciplinary cooperation”, numerous small groups discussed the content and developed appropriate measures.

Many employees are active participants in one of the many culture & sports sections (such as fishing, hiking, family excursions, photography, football, cultural events, music, jogging, bike riding, sailing, skiing, rifle shooting, volleyball, scuba diving, tennis) and also establish private relationships with their colleagues.

As from 1 November 2023, the company will grant all employees of Energie AG Oberösterreich or one of its Group companies a financial subsidy for a “KlimaTicket”. The move is designed to promote the use of public transport in Austria and thereby serve the cause of environmental protection.

The “work from home” works agreement in place since October 2021 establishes the conditions for home working in the Energie AG Group (excluding the Czech Republic Segment). An evaluation was carried out to collect the opinions of senior executives and employees in the Group, with the primary aim of analysing and, if necessary, adapting the provisions of the current works agreement on working from home. At the same time, employees of one organisational unit took part in a pilot project designed to trial a flexible home working model, arranging their home working days as needed. Two corresponding works agreements were duly formulated, facilitating further flexibility.