Vocational rehabilitation helps Burgenland residents return to work

Vocational rehabilitation is helping people in Burgenland find new job prospects after health problems, ORF reports. The Burgenland branch of Austria’s Public Employment Service is working with the Education and Rehabilitation Centre (BBRZ) in Wiener Neustadt, Lower Austria, where about 50 clients from Burgenland are currently receiving support.

The programme aims to restore people’s ability to work and help them achieve lasting integration into the labour market. Burgenland has no BBRZ location of its own. Nearly 200 people from the state have used vocational rehabilitation at various locations this year, said Helene Sengstbratl, head of the Burgenland employment service.

Sengstbratl said about 3,000 people, or roughly a third of the service’s clients, report health diagnoses and say they can no longer continue in their current jobs because of issues such as heavy lifting, one-sided physical strain or depression.

“Vocational rehabilitation can affect any of us,” said Dagmar Karner of BBRZ Lower Austria. “We are not talking about a marginalised group, but people like you and me.”

The employment service and the PVA, which co-funds the programme, assess whether applicants meet the requirements. Once a place is approved, participants begin a two-year programme combining practical experience at a company with support at the centre.

Anika Perner took part after becoming a mother as a teenager and raising her child alone. With BBRZ’s help, she moved from the psychological strain she had faced into a job at Radel and Hahn in Mattersburg. Over two years, she alternated between three days at BBRZ and two days at the company.

“Having a child and wanting to provide for them was very stressful,” Perner said. “BBRZ really helped me and supported me.” Stefanie Hahn-Hammerschmidt, the company’s managing director, said the arrangement offered a long-term worker at no cost and a chance to see whether the fit was right, both personally and professionally.