“In addition to securing many new employees in the years ahead, we wish to keep our valuable senior employees at work longer”, says Veidekke’s President & CEO Terje R. Venold.
“We hope that many of our senior employees will be encouraged by this extra leave to keep on working as long as possible at Veidekke, and continue to make an important contribution to our company,” he adds.
More senior workers
In ten years’ time, Norway will have 100,000 fewer workers between the age of 35 and 45 and more workers will take early retirement than before. In the short term, this shortage can be met by foreign workers, but in the long term this problem must be solved by getting more senior employees to continue working, at least until they reach state pension age at 67.
Six weeks’ extra leave
Accordingly, Veidekke is offering up to six weeks’ extra leave with pay to all its full-time craftsmen and salaried employees. This arrangement has been welcomed by the employees, and is part of the company’s culture, its senior policy and its recruitment strategy for operations in Norway.
Veidekke’s goals are to keep skills and resources within the company as long as possible, reduce sickness absence among senior employees and, not least, increase the recruitment of both skilled craftsmen and salaried staff.
“Many of our employees are leaving the company too early, as a result of disability pensions or early retirement schemes. With extra leave, we hope to encourage many of them to stay in our employ for a longer period of time. We hope that a total of up to three months’ leave will be the decisive factor: needed to keep many employees at work longer,” Mr. Venold says.
