Volkshilfe employment
The Volkshilfe employment is a non-profit association of people help in Austria, with the objective of sustainable integration of unemployed people and people with disabilities in the labor market .
To achieve this goal, Volkshilfe Employment runs a number of socio-economic employment companies (SÖB) and non-profit employment projects (GBP). In these companies, men and women are offered qualifications and individual personal development within the framework of temporary employment (usually one year) in order to facilitate their entry into the primary labor market.
In addition to these labor market policy objectives, SÖB also pursue an economic objective: They manufacture products or offer services at market prices and have to cover a certain proportion of their total expenditure with sales proceeds.
The association dissolved at the end of 2016 and all projects of the former association were transferred to the non-profit GmbH of Volkshilfe Wien.
history
- In 1990 the company Der Würfel - SÖB was founded. He carries out apartment renovations and sells second hand goods.
- In 1997, the company was taken over by Volkshilfe Wien and Volkshilfe Österreich as Volkshilfe Würfel and merged with the newly founded Volkshilfe Box , a used clothing collection and sales point, and Jobfabrik , a company for young people with learning disabilities, to form the Volkshilfe Employment Initiatives (VHBI) . The area of activity of this association is Vienna and the surrounding area.
- In 1999 the handicraft business Pa-Re , a carpet weaving mill , which has existed since 1899, is taken over by the VHBI and continued as SÖB. In addition, Merit , a women's fashion shop, and Transconsult are founded to support and outplacement the unemployed.
- Since the Volkshilfe employment initiatives have already grown so large that administration by the voluntary association board is no longer possible, Michael Reiter is appointed as managing director and an office is set up that takes over the administration and accounting for the companies.
- 2000: For the first time, the VHBI take part in a transnational EU-funded project, the Horizontal Project for Integration (HOPI).
- In 2001 the Transconsult company had to be closed because the funding agency no longer covered the costs. Participation in the first round of applications for the Equal program of the European Union .
- In 2002, Transconsult employees founded the two companies, Kommuna , a street cleaning and gardening company, and Sanspeed , a company that repair and rent care beds and medical aids. At the same time, the JAN work project from the Wobes association is being taken over by the VHBI under the name baustein .
- Also in 2002, the Profare company , a waste collection and separation company, was set up as part of an Equal project. This will later be continued as part of the Volkshilfe-Würfel operation.
- In 2003 the focus project was taken over by the Vienna Employee Promotion Fund (Waff).
- In 2004 the association's activities were expanded to include all of Austria.
- In 2005, in the course of a complete restructuring of the entire Volkshilfe, it was renamed Volkshilfe Employment and uniform logos were introduced in all sub-companies.
- 2006: Together with Caritas Vienna, the JE_TZT ( Young Adults - Talents, Future, Energy ) project is opened - temporarily limited to one year . In this project, young people and young adults are placed in internships in commercial enterprises.
- In 2007, two companies, Pa-Re and focus , have to be closed because the funding agencies are no longer paying the costs. For this, a company outside of Vienna will be taken over for the first time. Volkshilfe Österreich transfers the consulting company PerConsult , based in Salzburg, to VHB.
- 2016: The Volkshilfe ProServ projects (employment project for people with disabilities - created through the merger of the Sanspeed and Box projects) and Volkshilfe SÖB (for long-term unemployed people - created through the merger of the Kommuna, Würfel and Merit projects) merge on January 1, 2016 a joint operation called Volkshilfe SÖB . The new company employs around 235 transit workers with the aim of reintegrating into the primary labor market. There are places available in a wide variety of work areas, from call centers, offices, warehouses, sales and sorting to tailoring, clearing, transport and cleaning services. Volkshilfe SÖB is thus the largest socio-economic company in Vienna. The funding agency is the Vienna and Lower Austria Employment Service.
- 2017: At the beginning of the year, the Volkshilfe Employment Association is dissolved and all projects of the former association are transferred to Volkshilfe Wien, Gemeinnützige Betriebs GmbH.
financing
SÖB is largely financed by sponsors. The funding agencies of Volkshilfe Employment are the Public Employment Service (AMS), the Federal Social Welfare Office (BSB) and the City of Vienna via the Vienna Employee Promotion Fund (waff).
About a third of the financing comes from own revenues.