Working environments
The prize-winning employee participation model of voestalpine
28. November 2017
The prize-winning employee participation model of voestalpine
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Mareike Felhofer
Mareike Felhofer was responsible for employee communications in the Internal Communications team from 2013 to 2019. For the Corporate Blog, she mainly wrote articles on the topics of health & safety, corporate responsibility, environment and energy or employee campaigns and events.
The employee participation program of voestalpine was launched in the year 2000 by company management and works councils and is world-unique. The participation model was distinguished on 23 November when voestalpine was presented with the International Social Economic Award.
The employee participation model of voestalpine plays a pioneering role in that employees are permitted to participate with their own shares in the success of the company and constitute the second-largest group of shareholders in the company. The instrument also makes a valuable contribution to the long-term development and security of the company. This is the first time in the existence of the program that it has been distinguished by an official award.
International recognition
The employee participation program was recognized first and foremost for its uniqueness and underpinning philosophy. The International Social Economic Award was presented by an organization named ASLE, a labor society in the Basque Country.
Max Stelzer (Chairman of the Management Board of the voestalpine Employee Participation Foundation), Josef Gritz and Paul Felsberger accepted the award together in Bilbao.
The awards ceremony took place on 23 November in Bilbao, Spain. Max Stelzer, Chairman of the Management Board of the voestalpine Employee Participation Foundation and Director of Group Human Resources, accepted the award on behalf of the company. The following voestalpine employees attended the awards ceremony: Josef Gritz (Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Group Works Council Chairman in the Metal Engineering Division), Paul Felsberger (Supervisory Board member and Director of Human Resources in the Metal Engineering Division), Johannes Pointner (Director of Employee Participation since September 2017) and Kathrin Lutz, responsible for further development of the international model.
"We are very pleased that our special model has been recognized on an international scale. The Basque Country has a special tradition of participation on the part of company management, and so it is a great honor for us to be the recipient of this award."
World-unique employee participation program
The employee participation program at voestalpine is the world’s only model that bundles voting rights. A total of 24,400 employees currently own 14.5% of the voting rights. 18% of the employees participate in the international model. They come from a total of 84 different companies located in the following nine countries (ordered according to program entry date): Netherlands, Great Britain, Germany, Poland, Belgium, Czechia, Italy, Switzerland and Romania. An objective is to expand the employee participation program, and so it will be interesting to see which country will be next.
Mareike Felhofer