City of Salzburg – City Senate: Salary reform project for magistrate presented
At the meeting of the city senate on Monday, February 21, 2022, the external consulting company BWI-Management Consultancy presented the most important cornerstones of the planned salary reform for the Salzburg magistrate. The final decision on this will be made in July.
Mayor Harald Preuner emphasized that the staff representatives are involved in the implementation right from the start. The aim is to have all new city employees in the new salary system from January 2023. For existing employment relationships, a voluntary switch to the new system, including retrospective roll-up, should be possible in the course of the coming year. “The introductory phase will certainly cost several million euros,” says Preuner.
According to expert Franz Meusburger, BWI expects that every fifth person will opt for the new system. “The important thing is that there are only winners here and no losers, because nobody has to change trains,” says Meusburger. And further: “BWI will calculate everything and provide exact figures”.
What is the new salary system?
Basically, the point is that – as already implemented in the state of Salzburg in 2016 – the salary curve is raised at the beginning of the career and then no longer rises so steeply. That means: Better distribution of income than before, i.e. more at a young age for growing families and no more massive increases towards the end of the service period. In this way, technical competitiveness on the job market, particularly with regard to occupations, can be ensured.
In order to be able to calculate the necessary financing precisely, all 3,300 city employees are expected to be “sent on an income trip” in May, as Meusburger says. They receive personal information as to whether the existing or the new system is more attractive to them. From this and from the upcoming retirements, the implementation costs for the next 45 years can be calculated, which serve as a basis for political decision-making.
Other goals of the salary reform are: Basic salary based on actual function and no longer based on training; only more function-oriented allowances; This means more transparency and easier administration. The salary systems of the state of Salzburg, the SALK (care sector) and the private labor market are used for comparison.
The consulting company BWI is active throughout Austria and, in addition to the institutions mentioned, has successfully advised Vienna, Vorarlberg, Carinthia and Burgenland as well as Salzburg AG, Palfinger, Emco, Porsche and Sony on salary reform issues.
Almost all unanimous conclusions
The working through of the nine crucial points on the public agenda resulted in almost exclusively unanimous resolutions in the Senate. The official report on the subject of “video resolutions of the municipal council” has not yet been dealt with. The SPÖ went “on the club” because they still want to get information from other cities.