Jobs in the care sector

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The Burgenland Chamber of Commerce criticizes "negative image campaigns" in the care sector and calls for staff to be relieved. The aim should be to promote and retain staff. 

According to the interest group, "horror stories" are regularly served up from the care sector - for example, when it comes to alleged poor working conditions for staff. "This is a disservice to the industry, the many hard-working employees and ultimately to society," explains Franz Drescher, specialist group of healthcare companies in the Burgenland Chamber of Commerce.

Our employees should enjoy going to work and be able to enjoy a healthy retirement.

Franz Drescher, Fachgruppe Gesundheitsbetriebe

Bild: Catherine Stukhard Photography & Concept

Working in care means a lot of strength - both physically and mentally. This makes it all the more admirable that thousands of care workers look after people in need of help around the clock with great appreciation. In order to be able to continue to guarantee a high level of quality, it is essential to make some adjustments. It is important to ease the burden on staff in their daily work in order to promote and retain them.

Relieving the burden
"For many, helping people who need support in their daily lives is not just a job, but a vocation, and they would like to continue doing so after they retire," says Drescher. They could step in flexibly and relieve employees at peak times. However, this must be rewarded accordingly. At the same time, it is important to provide staff with relief on a daily basis. "Be it through health promotion, such as back fitness courses, more prevention with a higher number of supervisions, new technologies and stable duty and vacation planning. Overtime and overwork should be avoided," says Drescher.

Tax incentives
However, the framework conditions must be right for this. The introduction of all-day kindergarten is a good step that supports women in particular in their everyday lives. It would also be interesting to create tax incentives. Every hour gained by an employee is valuable for the residents in need of care. The relief week for care staff or full-time working hours of 37 hours per week have already been implemented in the SWÖ collective agreement. Now it is time to create further incentives, says Drescher.