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Universum Ranking reveals which are the Most Attractive Employers in Austria for 2022
Salary is the most important for young talent and young professionals
- 10,000 students at 33 Austrian universities and colleges surveyed
- Work-life balance among the top ten preferences for the first time
- Home office more important in AT than in DE or CH
- Public institutions and NPOs lose attractiveness
Shortage of Skilled Workers – Job Postings Stagnate
According to the StepStone Skilled Worker Atlas, 136,500 jobs were advertised on Austria’s job portals in the third quarter of 2022 – 7,000 fewer jobs Austria-wide than in the previous quarter.
For the first time in two years, the total number of job postings declined slightly instead of increasing.
“We are starting to see a levelling at a very high level,” saysNikolai Dürhammer, Managing Director of StepStone AT & CH. This however, does not mean that there will be an easing on the labour market. “Although a recession is looming, companies advertise because they urgently need employees. They have learned a valuable takeaway from the pandemic: that it is best to further recruiting initiatives and attract top talent. That is of course, at least as long as their liquidity allows it.”
Employer Branding is a priority
“The Employer Brand is becoming increasingly important, because what good is a strong consumer brand if I can’t find any employees? It is crucial to secure the best talent,” explains Mats Röjdmark, CEO of Universum, the Employer Branding agency of the StepStone Group. “According to Universum’s EB NOW 2022 survery, Austrians are particularly convinced that with Employer Branding, the situation can be mitigated- 70% of the global experts within the personnel range and 91% of Austrian respondents are convinced that Employer Branding is high priority”, said Röjdmark.
To do this, however, it is necessary to understand what attracts sought-after professionals. In the case of young professionals, the current study provides the much-needed insights.
Salary is most important for young talent and career starters
A competitive base salary is the most important criteria for Austrian students when it comes to the attractiveness of a job. This year, students expect 6 percent more than what they expected last year, specifically an average annual gross salary of €39,400. Female students expect around 17 percent less salary than their male counterparts.
“The monetary sphere is still very dominant in Austria and, especially in times of an employee market, it seems that companies can increase salaries in order to quickly attract talent. Long-term, however, such a move only negatively affects the talent market. I recommend seeing salary as a hygiene factor while focusing on the remaining eight attributes. Also, I doubt that you want to attract those candidates who came just for the salary.”
Daniel Hauser, Employer Branding Specialist CH&AT.
Flexible working conditions are a must-have
“Flexible working conditions” moves up three places compared to the previous year. In Austria, the ability to work from your home office was more important than in Germany or Switzerland. In addition to this, 64% of the surveyed students expect an attractive employer to offer some form of hybrid work models.
Responses also shoes that the majority prefer to work an average of two to three days from home per week. The remote work factor has a particularly high priority for students from engineering/IT and business background, as well as for “high achievers”, classified asstudents with very good success and the desire to continue this success.
In addition, the responses whowed a direct correlation between age of the respondent, and the desire to work from home. The older age of the respondent, the higher the desire to work from home became. In regards to other demographic breakdowns, women consider it to be even more important.
“We have been able to observe throughout the DACH market that the expectations for flexible working conditions as well as the work-life balance have increased strongly. This is a clear sign from the market that these are not just temporary trends,”
explains Daniel Hauser, Employer Branding expert at Universum.
Although continually gaining popularity, there are also some concerns from respondents associated to working remotely. The biggest concerns rare:
- Isolation and concern about missing social contact with colleagues (56%).
- Lack of involvement in the organization (43%)
- Employer preference for the employees who are present (36%)
- Fear of overworking and not having the desired work-life balance (25%)
Industry winners and losers
The most popular industries in 2022 are Audit & Consulting.
The ‘Big 4’ and McKinsey & Co managed to reverse the negative trend of previous years. Employers in the automotive industry are among the biggest winners in several of the major fields of study, a trend also seen in Germany. “We’ve seen lower interest in the automotive industry in several markets in recent years. During Covid, these were associated with short-time work, and less market success. Now that plants are back to fully operational, they seem to be gaining traction again,” Hauser said. Public institutions and non-profits are losing their appeal. Stability is no longer as important as it was a year ago.
Top 5 employers
Red Bull and Google have been the favourites for Red Bull and Google have been the favourites for business students since the start of the study in 2008 and remain so this year. Google as one of the most attractive employers worldwide and Red Bull as a successful local player perform very well in Austria. Microsoft is in third place and is making great gains (2021: 7th place) since the start of the study in 2008 and remain so this year. Google as one of the most attractive employers worldwide and Red Bull as a successful local player perform very well in Austria. Microsoft is in third place and is making great gains (2021: 7th place)
| Business | Engineering & IT | Natural Sciences |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Redbull | 1. Siemens | 1. Pfizer |
| 2. Google | 2. Google | 2. Bayer |
| 3. Microsoft | 3. Microsoft | 3. Boehringer Ingelheim |
| 4. McKinsey | 4. BMW Group | 4. Johnson & Johnson |
| 5. BMW Group | 5. Audi | 5. Novartis |
