Employees

At Verbund, the ongoing reorganization of staffing levels was greatly supported by modern human resources management which focused on organizational development and customized personnel development. Staff was cut in a socially compatible manner without layoffs. The implementation of the personnel strategy on the basis of concrete operating measures will continue to be a key element of human resources management.

Verbund is diligently following a complex and comprehensive restructuring plan which also foresees the closure of a number of locations. In cooperation with the employee representatives, transfer, opt-out and early retirement regulations were developed and employed successfully. These agreements, and, in particular, the transfer regulation devised within the framework of the redundancy scheme, will greatly simplify the strategic personnel measures of the coming years.

The second half of the year was dominated by the preparation of a concept for the implementation of the Austrian Electricity Solution. The sale of the distribution subsidiary VERBUND-Austrian Power Vertriebs GmbH (APC) was pushed ahead vehemently. Further optimization measures which aim to bring about improvements in the operating companies and optimize the group structure are planned for the coming years.

The raising of the retirement age in compliance with the pension reform 2003 has a major impact on the personnel strategy at Verbund. To qualify for full pension entitlements, employees now have remain at the company for, on average, five years longer. At the same time, it is vital that the recruitment and training of qualified junior staff is not neglected. The challenge for the coming decade is find the "golden mean” which allows older employees to meet all pension requirements, ensures that there will not be a shortage of specialists within the company and keeps cost-intensive parallel employment periods as short as possible.

The reduction of staffing levels and payroll expenses was pushed ahead consistently. The average number of employees was reduced to 2,680. This translates to a drop of 5.2 % compared to 2002.

As in the previous years, there were no layoffs for operational reasons. Staff cuts were implemented exclusively in a socially compatible manner by way of transfers, early retirement and opt-out regulations.

In spite of this restructuring package, payroll expenses were reduced by 1.5 % to € 263,7 million.

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES (AVERAGE)
	2001	2002	2003	Change
Salaried employees	2,931	2,652	2,528	–5 %
Waged workers	0	83	75	–10 %
Apprentices	122	92	77	–16 %
Total	3,053	2,827	2,680	–5 %
As on 31 December	3,064	2,862	2,613	–9 %

In fiscal 2003, the entire executive development process was redesigned on the basis of the results of the management appraisal and a survey that was carried out among employees (during employee interviews) in 2002. Integrated succession planning is a focal point here whereby the rollout will take place in 2004. Parallel to this, measures, dedicated, for example, to employee interview training, were defined for the coming years.

The Executive Club, which was established in 2002, serves as a platform for the exchange of experience among executives at group level. As a result, networked thinking across all specialist areas was greatly enhanced.

The comprehensive restructuring process in the company was accompanied and supported by a range of personnel development measures that were employed in a purposeful manner. Special attention was dedicated to organizational development and team measures which were designed to optimize workflows and support management and employees during the implementation of the necessary changes. In addition, qualification profiles were drawn up for specific areas so that purposeful training programs could also be provided for older employees.

The educational programs focused on SAP training, customized professional qualifications in the operating areas as well as on further training measures in the area of security. Here, priority was given to training courses that reduce safety risks when working at heights and working under voltage. The purpose-designed training measures were executed in smaller groups and therefore led to an intensification of the investment. The reduction in staff numbers also led to a significant drop in the number of employees trained.

The self-developed selection procedure was employed to a greater extent in the area of apprentice training. Special topics here included the project "Learning to learn" and team training.

Verbund offers its employees a corporate pension scheme which supplements the state pension. This takes the form of a contribution-oriented commitment to a pension scheme which alternatively embraces an old-age pension, a widow/widower and orphans pension or a disability pension. Under this scheme, the employees can make contributions up to the amount of the employer contribution to increase their supplementary pension. Performance-based pension commitments still exist from contracts of employment that were entered before 1994.

In compliance with the new law on employee severence payments, Verbund also pays 1.53 % of the respective monthly salaries of employees whose employment contracts commence after 01 January into a corporate employee-benefits fund which handles the investment of these funds. Severance obligations arising from employment contracts which were entered before this date will be upheld.

The performance-based salary model has been employed successfully in several corporate divisions for four years already. The management of this human-resources tool is centralized in the group's holding company for all group divisions. The experience and feedback of the employees so far confirm that Verbund has taken the right approach. For this reason, a number of adaptation measures were introduced to further improve the control-related aspects of this model.