Dachser Austria welcomes 31 newcomers to this year’s start of training – more than ever before. In total, the company currently trains 79 young logistics specialists in four training courses in the commercial and trade sector in Austria.
With the apprenticeship as a professional driver, the family-owned company in Austria is sending a strong signal against the driver shortage. So eleven apprentices are now starting; in 2017, across all industries, only three aspiring professional drivers had taken up apprenticeship throughout Austria.
The training concept was designed by Dachser Service und Ausbildungs GmbH in Germany and successfully implemented in recent years. It is based on three essential stages: qualitative training combined with the independent transport companies who work for Dachser. This is followed by a professionalisation phase in which the junior drivers gain experience with the transport companies, and finally the support on their way to self-employment, as long as the trained drivers are not permanently employed by transport companies.
The fleet managers in the Dachser branches play a key role for this. In their role, they are first contact person, trainer and supervisor in one person. They take care of all operative matters of the professional drivers and advise with questions, for example if drivers want to become self-employed after the training.
“We value employees who are interested in foreign countries and cultures, who respect people and the environment and who value their ability to work independently, creatively and responsibly,” says Michael Rainer, Managing Director of Air & Sea Logistics at Dachser Austria, describing the requirements the young logisticians. “The logistics specialists of tomorrow will find varied tasks in an international environment”, adds Managing Director European Logistics Dachser Austria, Günter Hirschbeck.
“Our high average apprenticeship rate of 13 per cent in Austria shows, on the one hand, that we are an attractive employer. On the other hand, it underscores the importance of training in our company,” adds Simone Ilgner, Human Resources Manager at Dachser Austria. A high-quality education has a traditionally high priority in the family business.
Dachser Austria, with its two business lines European Logistics and Air & Sea Logistics, is one of the strong providers on the Austrian logistics market. In the 2017 financial year, 2.01 million consignments weighing 1.22 million tonnes were transported. This resulted in revenue of EUR 187.68 million. The company currently employs 526 people at ten locations.
