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voestalpine Employee Participation

Employees have been able to participate in the capital of voestalpine AG through personal shareholdings since 2001. The foundation for Employee Participation in voestalpine was created on 1 November 2000, when, for the first time, the collective agreement provided for using part of the annual salary increase for the development of our Employee Participation.

  • At the moment 26,550 employees are holding about 25,5 million shares
  • with 14.8 % of the voting rights, they are a stable core shareholder of voestalpine AG
  • only model in Europe that combines international pooling of voting rights with individual share ownership

Since the year 2000, our management and the works council have been engaged in the joint development of an innovative concept that was very ambitious for many at the time. The idea was to let the employees participate in the company through shares owned by them, to turn them into a stable core shareholder by pooling their voting rights, and to allow them to benefit from the success of voestalpine as individual shareholders.

Additionally former employees of the group privately hold about 0,9 million shares which, due to the general bundling of voting rights, represent another 0.5 % of the company’s share capital. Representing 14.8 % of the voting rights of voestalpine AG in total, the voestalpine Mitarbeiterbeteiligung Privatstiftung is therefore a stable core shareholder in Austria, both in terms of voting rights percentage and share value.

For further information about our basic principles of Employee Participation in Austria and internationally, please visit the following webpage: Basic principles of Employee Participation in Austria and internationally

Information about our employee participation

Employee Participation counts on the support of management and works council

Former Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board Hans-Karl Schaller and voestalpine-CEO Herbert Eibensteiner

Our management and the works council developed the model jointly, and both are still fully in support of the Employee Participation plan. It is regarded as an example of “social partnership” in action – the internal cooperation between employer and employee for which we as voestalpine are well known.

Herbert Eibensteiner, CEO of voestalpine AG

Around 26,500 employees are currently shareholders of voestalpine AG as part of the employee participation program. This means that they not only participate in the long-term success of the company, but also make an important strategic contribution to the stability and further development of the Group. The strong bond between employees and our company has been and continues to be a success factor. It makes us all proud to look back on more than 20 years of this successful model. I would like to thank the employees for their trust and at the same time state that we see it as our task to further develop employee participation together and secure it in the long term.

Herbert Eibensteiner, CEO of voestalpine AG
Hans-Karl-Schaller

The strength of the Employee Participation is particularly evident during difficult times, as it creates a special identification within the Group and because it is obvious proof of the solidarity among all the employees and their commitment to the company. Employee Participation is also an especially important link between the Worker’s Council and the Management Board, which helps us to overcome the current challenges together. Together we will work for a succesful future.

Hans-Karl Schaller, former Chairman of the Corporate Works Council