Wiener Linien deals with all connections in Austria’s capital on a daily basis. And what’s more, they are always keen to strengthen the connection to their employees. Master’s students of the Human Resources & Organization Study Programs at FHWien der WKW worked on a “roadmap” towards New Work in the blue-collar sector as part of their final theses.
New Work is a concept, or rather a movement, that focuses on employees and their needs and ideas. It is about a new direction for work, based on self-determination, meaning and self-realization. Whenever you read scientific articles on this topic, the content relates very much to so-called white-collar employees, i.e. people with office jobs unrelated to physical work.
Wiener Linien, the operator of Austria’s largest regional transport network, ensures that two million passengers reach their destinations quickly and safely every day. Behind this are around 8,700 employees, a huge number is engaged in manual or physical work. So what does New Work mean for this target group of blue-collar workers?
Jonas Berger, Christina Hammes and Julian Poisel, Master’s students in Organizational & Human Resources Development at FHWien der WKW, conducted focus groups, qualitative interviews and an online survey as part of their Master’s theses to get to the bottom of employees’ needs. Their findings and recommendations for action with regard to working hours, leadership and generation management were presented to representatives of Wiener Linien at the beginning of June.
Many thanks to Sascha Teutsch, Head of Human Resources Management at Wiener Linien, and his team for the pleasant cooperation and congratulations to our Master’s students on this great achievement!