Federal Minister Gabriele Heinisch-Hosek visits AT&S Leoben

Austrian Minister for Women and the Civil Service Gabriele Heinisch-Hosek paid a visit to the AT&S Leoben/Hinterberg facility today, gaining an insight into working conditions at one of the world’s leading printed circuit board manufacturers. Some 58% of the group’s blue-collar workers are women.

Leoben-based Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik Aktiengesellschaft is one of the region’s biggest employers and a global leader in terms of female employment – women account for 58% of the company’s blue-collar staff. After inspecting the factory and talking to some of plant’s female managers, the Minister spoke about her positive impressions of the working environment there. “AT&S is an industry pioneer when it comes to supporting women in the workplace and the company clearly takes women’s affairs very seriously,” Heinrich-Hosek commented.

AT&S offers female employees a wide range of working-time models and pays particular attention to the needs of women returning to the workplace after a period of maternity leave or parental part-time work. The group gives its staff a choice of 35 different part-time working models, and 25 of these are currently in use at the Leoben/Hinterberg headquarters. “Our recruitment procedures are geared specifically towards attracting women. Experience shows that a balanced mix of male and female employees has a positive impact on the corporate culture. But it is still difficult to find female applicants for engineering and senior management positions,” explained AT&S CEO Andreas Gerstenmayer.

Around 350 women are currently employed at the Leoben/Hinterberg plant.

About AT&S

Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik Aktiengesellschaft (AT&S) is European market leader and one of the world’s leading producers of high-end printed circuit boards. AT&S is especially well positioned worldwide in the highest tech market segment for HDI microvia printed circuit boards, which are chiefly used in mobile devices. The Group is also highly successful in the automotive printed circuit board market, and in the industrial and medical technology sectors. As an international growth enterprise AT&S has a global presence, with two production facilities in Austria (Leoben and Fehring) and one each in India (Nanjangud), China (Shanghai) and Korea (Ansan, near Seoul). It currently employs some 7,500 people.