Published on 25th October 2018
Labour markets in Austria and Europe are characterised by an increasing diversity of contracts and forms of work. These correspond to economic needs of businesses, but also reflect changing preferences of workers. Labour market transitions are becoming more and more frequent and career paths less linear.
Cooperation between public and private employment services is one solution to cope with these new trends. “There should be no competition. Putting our expertise and knowledge of labour markets together will maximise the chances to bring more people to work, help businesses find the workforce they need and overall make our society prosper,” explained Bettina Schaller, President of World Employment Confederation-Europe.
Speaking at an event co-organised by the World Employment Confederation-Europe and its member company Trenkwalder, Schaller also insisted that a broad approach is needed to address the challenges created by the changing world of work: “There is no silver bullet. We need a comprehensive agenda addressing forms of employment, working conditions, social protection schemes, skills and cooperation among labour market players. New realities call for new solutions. We must innovate.”
The private employment sector has already embarked on the social innovation bandwagon. The World Employment Confederation’s members have for long implemented initiatives to better adapt our ways of working, learning and ensuring social protection to a world of diverse forms of works.
Another important piece of the puzzle to guarantee employability in a world that keeps changing is to have the right skills. And it is not only about promoting lifelong learning and enabling reskilling of workers. As Dr. Matthias Wechner, CEO of Trenkwalder Austria, pointed out, it starts in the classroom: “To skill people for the digital world, we need to bring digital tools already into pre-schools! We should actively teach how to use technology.” Trenkwalder is an Austrian company founded in 1985 with operations in 17 European countries. It offers a broad range of services: Staffing (temporary and permanent placement), HR-Services (payrolling, learning & training, outplacement, etc.) and Business Process Outsourcing.
Bringing together political and economic figures such Johannes Kopf, Executive director of Public Employment Service; Christoph Mag. Neumayer, General secretary of the Federation of Austrian Industries and Silvia Hruska-Frank, deputy head of Social Policy Department of AK Wien, the Chamber of Labour (employees’ representative body), the event was a good opportunity for the World Employment Confederation-Europe and Trenkwalder to highlight its policy priorities to Austrian stakeholders.
Austria currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU, and thus steers discussions on important legislation for the employment sector, such as the proposed Directive on transparent and predictable conditions.
