What has happened here has kept us very busy over the last few weeks and will continue to affect us for some time. Everyone was affected, sometimes very hard. We asked people to describe their positive experiences, which did indeed exist. To encourage them for the future, we have summarised them here!
This entry in our blog is a timely one, a logical one. Corona was, apart from the personal health fates, also a significant factor in the world of work. On both the employer and employee side, no stone was left unturned in many places. The media are full of reports on case numbers, death statistics and curves of developments. Unfortunately, the motto "only a bad story is a good story" is still very valid and we have collected the positive feedback for you and summarised it here. Not because we are disrespectful towards those who have suffered heavy fates, nor out of sarcasm, but because this also has to be said once in a while!
"I have never in my life experienced such a closing of ranks between employees and management. Everyone had the same goal: not to get sick and to secure their livelihoods". (M.K., 47, entrepreneur)
"Before the crisis I was an asylum seeker. Thanks to the accelerated procedures and the flexibility in granting work permits, I now work in a company that ensures the supply of food. It feels so good to have a job and a vision for the future. (K.Y., 23, worker)
"As a works council member I have been very challenged during this time. But what the social partners have made possible during this time is really unique in the history of Austria. The most important instrument is and was the short-time work scheme, without which many more colleagues would have been out of work". (H.L., 39, works council)
We switched to teleworking in record time in and around the company. Apart from a certain period of training, it was an exclusively positive experience for me personally and I have already agreed with my company that in future I will spend half of my working time in the home office. I am very happy about this opportunity". (C.W., 29, employee)
"It may sound stupid. But I was on short-time work during this time and used it to tidy up at home and that did me good. Now, of course, I'm really looking forward to normality again, to my colleagues and that we can be productive again". (R.T., 33, employee)
"I was afraid. Of the virus, but especially of not being able to leave the house and being locked in, so to speak, with my husband, who was also teleworking. On the first day when I went back to the office, I was sad. So many positive conversations had developed, the respect in dealing with each other was terrific in these seven weeks and it was a turbo for our relationship, I would never have thought that". (J.M., 41, office administrator)