Topics

• Psycho-social stresses in the workplace
• Motivation and identification with the job and with WU as an employer
• Strategic focus: WU as a responsible university

Participants

1101 employees

In the fall of 2017, we asked the workplace health management agency IBG to conduct an employee survey. The last survey was held in 2014. The results will be available in the first quarter of 2018. As soon as we have them, we will inform all WU employees of the results, discuss them in detail, and develop follow-up measures as needed.

Because a pleasant working atmosphere increases employees’ productivity and innovation power, we provide a number of services to improve job satisfaction. In 2017, time-tested services were continued and new projects like the “Wellbeing@WU” initiative and child care services during school breaks were introduced.

Wellbeing@WU

Good health is imperative for a good quality of life. Because we, as a responsible university, also have a responsibility towards our employees, we officially launched an occupational health management initiative at WU in May of 2017. The Wellbeing@WU program focuses on further developing a culture of health awareness at WU and enhancing the quality of life in the workplace, with the ultimate goal of improving the overall wellbeing of everyone at WU.

As a first step, the following areas of work were identified as top priorities and assigned to working groups:

• Healthy leadership
• A culture of mindfulness
• Employee reintegration after extended sick leave periods
• Age management and managing an aging workforce
• Healthy food on campus
• Internal and external communications as part of occupational health management
• Psychological and social wellbeing

WU employees were notified of the project and invited to participate by email and through an article in the employee newsletter wu-memo.

Numerous members of WU’s faculty and staff attended the first Wellbeing@WU event in November, where Gerhard Blasche from the Medical University of Vienna talked about breaks as the key to success and increasing productivity. During his talk, Blasche, a psychotherapist, spoke about topics like fatigue and recuperation, self-responsibility with regard to work-related stress, and the necessity of setting personal limits. He also discussed the potential impacts of extremely demanding work, long work days, a lack of appreciation, and over-commitment. After the talk, he took questions from the audience.

Child Care During School Breaks

Summer vacation means no school for nine weeks – this makes most kids happy, but often presents a major challenge for parents. High-quality, reasonably priced child care can be very hard to find, which is why WU launched its on-campus summer child care service for kids aged 6-10 in July of 2017. Trained educators played, painted, and did arts and crafts with the children in a specially adapted playroom, and each week featured field trips focusing on a different theme: sports, nature and technology, and architecture in Vienna.

The program was a huge success. 42 children of WU employees participated with enthusiasm, attending for one to four weeks.

Child care during school vacations is an important step towards making it easier to combine professional and family life, and WU is planning to continue to offer this service in upcoming years.

Welcome to WU

To help new employees get off to a good start at WU, the Personnel Development and Planning Office organizes the WU Onboarding program to facilitate the integration process.

• At the half-day Welcome2WU event, the Vice-Rector for Human Resources welcomes new faculty and staff members and introduces them to WU as an employer. A tour of the campus and a light lunch complete the event.
• The Strategy Day is a full-day event, beginning with a presentation by the rector, who gives the new employees an introduction to WU’s organizational structures, goals, and mission. In the afternoon, academic staff members meet with representatives of the Vice-Rectors for Academic Programs and Student Affairs and Research, while administrative staff attend a brief workshop on university management. The closing social event and dinner gives the new colleagues the opportunity to network and get to know each other.

During their first three semesters at WU, new employees can attend three workshops from the WU in-house training program free of charge.

Planning Individual Career Paths

Every academic career path is highly individual and has its own challenges. To help overcome these challenges, we have launched a career development program for post-docs. The program can be custom-tailored to suit each participant’s individual needs.

• Post-docs in tenure-track positions can find support for fulfilling their qualification and development agreements and help in preparing for their new role as senior faculty members.
• We help post-docs in non-tenure-track positions develop and realize a vision for their future career after leaving WU.

WU All-inclusive

Encouraging diversity within the WU community is an important part of our responsibility to society. At “WU All-Inclusive,” a panel discussion held in February, Anna Jaschek-Langthaler, head of the WU Personnel Office, Elmar Fürst, the Disability Commissioner for WU staff, Julia Kirisits, WU student, and Michael Sicher, coach and founder of CEO on Wheels, discussed how to realize an inclusive university and what challenges need to be faced. The discussion was moderated by Sonja Lydtin from the WU Gender & Diversity Policy Office.

Women in Science

53% of all of WU’s pre-doc and post-doc positions are held by women, but only 30% of WU’s associate professors and 25% of full professors are women. WU has several programs intended to encourage women who show outstanding potential in the post-doc phase to consider an academic career and provide support on their career paths.

Dr. Maria Schaumayer Habilitation Grants

Die Dr.-Maria-Schaumayer-Habilitationsstipendien der Oesterreichischen Nationalbank ermöglichen es jungen Wissenschaftlerinnen durch eine Entlastung von Lehr- und Verwaltungstätigkeiten, sich völlig auf ihr Habilitationsprojekt zu konzentrieren. 2017 wurden zwei Stipendien vergeben.

The Dr. Maria Schaumayer habilitation grants funded by the OeNB allow young researchers to focus on their habilitation projects by reducing their teaching loads and administrative responsibilities. Two grants were awarded in 2017.

• Birgit Löhndorf (Institute for Service Marketing and Tourism) is investigating the effects of poor commitment on the part of service employees on their employers’ image and the success of their brands.
• Erika Kovács (Institute for Austrian and European Labor Law and Social Security Law) is working on a research project focusing on the influence of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights on employment protection laws in Austria and other EU countries.

Ottillinger Habilitation Fellowships for Women

With the generous support of OMV, WU was able to accept applications for two Ottillinger Habilitation Fellowships for Women in 2017. The first position was filled in October 2017, the second will be filled in early 2018.