Highly qualified staff are a prerequisite for innovation and quality, and consequently for the success of voestalpine. Targeted measures are implemented to support voestalpine employees in gaining qualifications which will widen their career opportunities.
The total cost for personnel development in the business year 2017/18 was over EUR 54 million. 75.6% of employees took part in training and continuing education measures. In the business year 2017/18, Group-wide voestalpine employees underwent a total of 791,589 hours of training, an average of 22 hours per trained employee.
Management training
In the business year 2017/18, a total of 254 executives from 24 countries began the multiphase “value:program”; the share of female participants was 15.7%. The principle focuses are specialist topics, strategy, change management, leadership, compliance, and organization.
Professional academies
In addition to proven programs for executives and future executives, there are numerous internal training programs for the ongoing professional qualification of salaried and wage-earning staff that teach specialist skills based on specific requirements.
Early career program in North America
Based on the successful Young Professionals Training program developed for China, in 2017 voestalpine started a similar program in North America. After China, the NAFTA region (USA, Canada, Mexico) is the largest growth market for voestalpine. However, it is not intended to grow only market share, but also identification and a feeling of belonging for the colleagues in North American Group companies.
In the business year 2017/18 voestalpine was represented in North America by all four divisions at around 70 locations, and with a workforce of almost 4,000 employees. They generated revenue of almost EUR 1.8 billion in this region, a total which is forecast to grow to EUR 3 billion by 2020.
The Early Career Program is aimed at sales and technical employees in voestalpine companies who have the potential to take on more senior positions and/or management roles. The program consists of three modules, each lasting three days, held at different locations in the USA.
They include the transfer of know-how about voestalpine, such as the Group’s organizational structure, products, markets and customers. Furthermore, the voestalpine strategy with a focus on North America is addressed, and internal rules and regulations such as complying with the Code of Conduct discussed. The participants also receive training in business skills (communication, presentation, negotiation techniques and project management) and have the opportunity to network with colleagues. Participants are taught by (inter)national trainers and internal experts.
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