20 euro bonus for everyone: the city wants to become more attractive as an employer

Created: 06/23/2022, 11:02 am

By: Peter Schiebel

A 20-euro bonus every two months for all employees - that's what the city of Starnberg offers.

© Example photo: Francis Dean/Dean Pictures / IMAGO

The city of Starnberg wants to take several measures to combat the shortage of skilled workers in the public sector and become more attractive as an employer.

This includes a 20-euro bonus every two months for all employees and several changes in the day-care center area.

Starnberg – This number is a house number: by 2030, there will be a shortage of around one million skilled workers in the public sector in Germany.

The responsible head of department Ludwig Beck said at the meeting of the main and finance committee of the city council on Monday evening, citing current investigations.

The city administration is also having increasing problems finding qualified staff.

In the social and educational services alone, 20 out of 98 positions are currently vacant, and the problems in the building authority are also well known, where a specially created position could not be filled for more than four years.

The city now wants to counteract the shortage of skilled workers with a whole package of measures.

Food rounds non-permanent working time

"We can only fulfill the tasks in the long term if we take countermeasures in good time," said Beck and presented seven fields of action with several sub-items.

These include, among other things, more systematic health management, more flexible retirement regulations, an increase in efficiency also through more digitization and “less control, more trust”.

In order to improve cooperation among each other, the administration also suggested giving every employee a 20-euro budget every two months to go out to eat together with colleagues.

This should strengthen team spirit and increase motivation.

"And that would be a unique selling point in the region," emphasized Beck.

The city is not already able to fill all the vacancies.

"It is all the more important that all employees stay on board and want to support us." The bonus should be a kind of voucher that does not have to be taxed as a monetary benefit, explained Beck and Mayor Patrick Janik.

After a lengthy discussion, the committee approved the package of measures by a vote of 6:4, but at the suggestion of Thomas Beigel (CSU) it canceled the administration's consideration of making two hours of working time available for eating together.

Extrapolated over the year, that's about one and a half working days, he says.

The team-building measure in Starnberg's taverns now takes place during leisure time.

Janik rejects allegations as populist

The bonus costs the city a maximum of 44,000 euros a year, which, according to Becks, accounts for 0.24 percent of the total personnel costs.

Ludwig Jägerhuber (CSU) did not want to agree for this reason - "as long as the administrative budget is not balanced".

Michael Mignoli (BLS) doubted the effect of the 20 euros from the start.

"It doesn't create any new employees," he said.

"Affordable housing is the be-all and end-all."

Allegations that the city is too easy on the staff with money, while taxes and fees for citizens are being increased, Janik dismissed as "a touch too populist".

Instead, he would like "with the iron budget discipline to discuss every other topic with as much verve as with staff," said the mayor.

The search for staff in day-care centers should become easier

The main committee decided on a number of concrete measures in the area of ​​social and educational services, where the personnel situation is particularly tense - and this was largely unanimous.

There, the temporary closure of a group in the Irmgard Stadler kindergarten due to a lack of staff caused a stir.

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Conversion of nanny positions: The municipal job plan currently provides for 22.76 positions for nannies.

However, hardly any nannies are trained anymore.

The positions are now being converted into better paid childcare positions.

This allows the city to hire educators when nannies are unavailable.

Unlimited replacements for parental leave substitutes: If daycare staff are pregnant, it is now almost impossible to get a replacement for just the limited period of parental leave.

Therefore, in the future, all vacant childcare positions should be advertised for an unlimited period.

Creation of a group of volunteers: illness-related or other failures in daycare centers cannot currently be cushioned, explained Head of Office Beck.

This is to be remedied by a group of four educators to be formed, which is to be active in the municipal facilities as required.

Crediting previous employment to the duration of the steps for new hires: what sounds bureaucratic is ultimately very practical.

After a certain number of years, employees automatically advance to the next salary level.

So far, however, they fall behind when switching, even if they may be close to reaching the next level.

This should no longer be the case in the future due to the offsetting.

Should all measures in this area take effect, the additional costs would be around half a million euros.

However, this is currently a rather theoretical value, since 20 positions are currently vacant.