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Telekom Austria offloads staff to police
26 November 2009
Telekom Austria has found an unusual way of reducing its staff: 500 of them, still classed as civil servants, are to join the police
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[Telekom Austria]
[police]
[Ametsreiter]
[civil service]
[pensions]
Comment: Telekom Austria — like some other former government-owned incumbents — is faced with a challenge of what to do with its excess staff as it transforms to all-IP new-generation technology. The transfer of 500 to the police is a novel step — but still leaves Telekom Austria with 5,600 former government employees. That’s an expensive overhead to carry.
Telekom Austria is to transfer up to 500 of its surplus staff to the police. The company has signed an agreement with the Austrian government for the voluntary transfer of up to 500 civil servants of its fixed network division.
They cannot be laid off due to their civil servant status — dating from the time Telekom Austria was a government department — but have to be made redundant due to changes in technology. The agreement is effective immediately.
Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO of Telekom Austria, said: “This agreement … addresses one of the key issues for a sustainable development of Telekom Austria group and offers our civil servants a positive perspective for their future careers.”
According to this agreement up to 500 out of 6,100 civil servants employed by the fixed network division may apply to the police force to take on administrative tasks.
The agreement “supports the Austrian police force to make Austria more secure”, said Ametsreiter.
The civil servants will be able to try their new jobs for up to six months, after which they may apply for a permanent transfer to the police force and end the right to return to Telekom Austria.
The telecoms company will pay their salaries until June 30 2014 and will compensate the civil servants until retirement for a potential shortfall of salary and pension contribution — including an extra allowance of €6,000 a year for transferring to the police.
Telekom Austria CFO Hans Tschuden said the agreement “will have a positive impact on cash flow from mid 2014 on as each civil servant transferred to the police force will lead to a significant cash saving over his remaining average 17 years of work life”. GTB