Last Wednesday Great Place to Work® Austria awarded Worthington Industries Austria first place in Category “Large” (250-500 employees) for the fourth time in a row. With this award, the Austrian manufacturer of high-pressure vessels is numbered among the best employers in Austria for the 13th time. This continuously confirms the company’s excellent work culture.
General Manager Timo Snoeren sums it up: “Last autumn we could not deny that there was an economic downturn. In November, we therefore had to adjust capacities to the market and reduce one shift – from four to three. Nevertheless, our employees granted us once again with great survey results. The fact that we once again received the highest rating in our category shows how committed our colleagues are to the long-term well-being of our plant.”
The company’s commitment, in turn, benefits the employees in their daily work: Worthington was one of the first companies in the region to take extra measures to protect all workers against COVID-19 infection before it was even considered mandatory. Production has even been shut down for two days, while the management developed a well-considered action plan.
In good times and in challenging times, the 400-employee metal company has a very low turnover rate – quite a few employees spend their entire working life at Worthington. Franz Puchegger, head of human resources at Worthington, says that what counts at Worthington is humanity, transparency and the motto “say yes and do so”. The HR manager applied these principles applied within the conversations that he had to have last November due to the changeover to the three-shift model: “The focus was always on reaching an agreement at eye level. Most of these colleagues confirmed that they would come back to Worthington at any time.” This will be possible again at the latest when the new production hall for manufacturing hydrogen tanks is completed in summer 2020.
For 200 years, high-pressure vessels have been produced at the Kienberg site. Since 1998 the company – formerly known as Heiser – has been part of Worthington Industries from Ohio, USA. With an annual turnover of around 100 million euros, the Kienberg site is one of the world’s leading suppliers in the industry.