Lifelong learning

Climate, circular economy and people – the three pillars of our Blue Plan sustainability strategy do not stand alone: they are closely linked and support and reinforce each other. Only by establishing an efficient circular economy will carbon neutrality be achieved and without highly motivated and well trained employees we will not reach these or other targets. Our company history, which dates back more than 150 years, is rooted in courageous, innovative, ambitious and smart employees.

To continue Greiner’s success story, we require responsible and motivated employees who actively participate in the company’s development. Innovation demands continuous learning and competence development. Given this, we have a vested interest in ensuring that our employees can fully develop their creative potential, develop new ideas and therefore optimize our products and processes. That is why we are investing in the training and continuing education of our employees on all levels. Together with an open corporate culture Greiner that is guided by respect, this helps us create a working environment in which our employees can best develop their skills and grow in their areas of activity.

For an international and growing group, global expertise and intercultural management competence is a decisive success factor. Our greatest advantage is that, as a global company with four different divisions at many sites, we can offer our employees a huge variety of internal development opportunities and training formats, and we make the most of this advantage. Training courses that cross divisional and country boundaries convey not only the corresponding know-how and methodology knowledge but also a culturally broader view.

We also have a large number of cooperation programs with universities, tertiary institutions and other, high-quality training centers. We want Greiner to remain a place that forges talent and pools innovation, that attracts the best and most dedicated employees and offers them an attractive working environment where they can best use their professional skills.

Further education hours per employee

Opening up opportunities for the younger generations

An apprenticeship at Greiner provides a starting point for launching a successful career. At our apprentice training center in Kremsmünster (Austria), we train young people, primarily in technical professions. As well as technical knowledge and skills, we teach our apprentices communication and methodological skills and attempt to support them on their training journey as best we can. We have also created a suitable space that meets all requirements of a modern working and learning environment.

Helping graduates transition to the world of work

Through our international graduate trainee program Greiner Professional Program (GPP), we offer committed and motivated graduates with technical or business degrees successive entry to a career path, including the opportunity to take on management responsibilities at Greiner in the future. The focus of this 18-month training program is cross-divisional and international job rotation so that our management trainees get to know diverse specialist departments at various sites. The GPP is offered with three specializations – International Business, Information Technology and Digitization Management.

“Is there anything better than learning something new and taking a fresh look at things?”

An academy for continuous learning

As early as in 2000, we created our own Group-internal continuing education facility with the Greiner Academy. The goal of the Academy is to give employees the opportunity to develop further within the group in accordance with their qualifications and skills. In the process, the promotion of creativity and innovative thinking is an important element alongside business-related focus areas. Cooperating with the LIMAK Austrian Business School, a prestigious post-graduate training establishment in Austria, helped us further expand our training programs.

“Business Basics” and “Business Advances” courses offered by the academy allow all employees to learn more about company relevant-topics through supplementary and advanced seminars and events. These are complemented by tailored additional programs for particular target groups to meet the needs of individual specialist departments or company units.

We also run courses on a variety of themes to anchor our diverse sustainability commitment in the hearts and minds of our employees. As well as the know-how and methodology knowledge provided by cross-division and cross-border training courses, these also offer an insight into other cultures and ways of life, bolstering our diversity approach. Thanks to these training programs, which are both broad-based and targeted, the Greiner Academy has become an indispensable and highly regarded cross-divisional and international facility that excellently prepares our employees for the latest challenges.

Making future managers fit

Under the Greiner General Management Program (GMP), we offer experienced managers and employees with development potential extensive leadership and management training. The GMP is an English-speaking, internationally oriented management program that supports and encourages networking among the participants from the four divisions. The GMP is run in cooperation with the LIMAK Austrian Business School. The training can be counted towards an MBA degree.

Raising awareness of sustainability

“Sustainability means change. This is exactly what we have to talk about.”

Hard Talks with Greiner's executive management

“We need to talk” is the slogan of our interview format, where we invite Greiner’s executive management to participate in discussions. Big issues, interesting and occasionally uncomfortable questions, but in any case exciting answers – this is the concept of these Hard Talks, where we discuss global challenges and the effects of these on our company with management representatives. The soft aim of these “hard talks” is for us to get to know ourselves better, talk about the most important issues of our age at eye level and without hierarchical structures getting in the way and discuss them from Greiner’s perspective. This is informative and creates trust, promotes mutual understanding and strengthens the “Greiner us”. The primary aim of this series is to create an understanding of the changes that are needed. Maintaining a dialog to decide together what is needed for sustainability to be a success remains the overriding mantra.

Greiner Talks with experts

Our new podcast Greiner Talks provides another form of dialog to promote the sharing of information within the company. Through discussions with external guests, this also aims to show our employees how we can transition to a more sustainable company. The podcast series addresses the major challenges we are facing: climate change, environmental pollution and mounting inequality. Alexander Berth, communications manager in the Greiner sustainability team, speaks to experts from across the world to learn about their perspectives on sustainable change. Past guests have included Ana-Cristina Grohnert, the Chairperson of Charta of Diversity and Jacob Duer, CEO of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste. Participants talked about how to change outdated structures, how to put an end to environmental pollution caused by plastic and what Greiner’s role in solving this crisis is.