On February 15, the Haus der Deutschen Wirtschaft became a meeting place for players from the fiber optic expansion sector. The Initiative Fachkräfte für den Glasfaserausbau (FKGA) brought together business, politics and associations for a professional exchange to discuss the shortage of skilled workers in the industry and possible solutions. During the event, moderated by Widar Wendt, the FKGA, led by Dr. Katrin Sobania, DIHK, was also able to present its overall concept with measures and suggestions to Susanne Ding, Head of the Digital Infrastructure Division at the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport Affairs (BMDV).
Dr Achim Dercks, Deputy Managing Director of the DIHK, opened the event by introducing the topic and emphasizing the importance of fibre optic expansion for the digitalization of the economy and society. In her keynote speech, Ms. Ding underlined the positive developments in subsidized expansion in recent years in addition to private-sector expansion, but also pointed out the urgency of skilled workers in order to achieve the goals set.
Skilled labor situation in the companies
As the third item on the agenda, Dr. Katrin Sobania presented a survey recently conducted by the FKGA, in which companies involved in the expansion were asked about their need for skilled workers.
Important findings include the fact that almost half of the companies surveyed urgently need skilled workers for fiber optic expansion. 91% try to acquire these specialists via traditional advertisements, but less than half see this measure as promising. This results in a need for alternative approaches to attract skilled workers to the industry. Dr. Katrin Sobania sees great potential in approaching career changers.
Another focus of the survey is the recruitment of workers and specialists abroad. The biggest hurdle cited by 36% of the companies surveyed was the language barrier, which makes communication with female employees more difficult.
You can access all the survey results here: https://glasfaserausbau.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/240214_Umfrageergebnisse_Website.pdf
Exchange between politics and business
The recruitment of foreign skilled workers was also a key topic during the panel discussion with representatives from the BMDV, business and politics.
Dr. Karim Sahyoun, Managing Director of Moxi Minds, reported that creating an open welcoming culture is a key aspect of attracting foreign skilled workers in order to reduce barriers to immigration and retain skilled workers in Germany and the industry in the long term. The importance of targeted further training opportunities and measures was also emphasized in order to strengthen the necessary specialist knowledge in Germany.
Another aspect of the discussion focused on the recruitment dynamics of the fiber optic market. It shares its current skilled workers with the energy sector, among others. Overall, it must be possible to attract more people from Germany and abroad into technical professions in order to increase the total number of personnel available for fiber optic expansion and the energy transition. Invited company representatives reported on their approaches to solutions in the companies, e.g. through active advertising in schools, at job fairs and through the consistent allocation of internships.
The skilled workers for fiber optic expansion initiative
The FKGA plays a decisive role in overcoming the personnel capacity bottlenecks in fiber optic expansion. Under the umbrella of the initiative, companies and associations such as BUGLAS, BREKO, VATM, the Federal Gigabit Office, aconium GmbH and the DIHK work together on various topics and objectives. They bring further training opportunities to the area, advise on the possibilities of recruiting skilled workers from abroad, use the potential of career changers and inform career starters about the wide range of job opportunities. In addition, the initiative offers an online job exchange that enables the companies involved in the expansion to specifically find skilled workers for the fiber optic expansion.
Further information on the FKGA is available here: https://glasfaserausbau.org/