Veidekke is now offering employees over 62 years of age six weeks' extra holidays with pay if they continue to work full time. "In addition to securing many new employees in the  years ahead, we wish to keep our valuable senior employees at work longer. We hope that many of our senior employees will be encouraged by this extra leave to keep on working as long as possible at Veidekke, and continue to make an important contribution to our company," says Veidekke's President & CEO Terje R. Venold.

 

In ten years' time, Norway will have 100,000 fewer workers between the age of 35 and 45 and more workers till take early retirement than before. In the short term, this shortage can be met by foreign workers, but in the long term this problem must be solved by getting more senior employees to continue working, at least until they reach state pension age at 67.

Accordingly, Veidekke is offering up to six weeks' extra leave with pay to all its full-time craftsmen and salaried employees. This arrangement has been welcomed by the employees and is part of the company's culture, its senior policy and its recruitment strategy for operations in Norway. Veidekke's goals are to keep skills and resources within the company as long as possible, reduce sickness absence among senior employees and, not least, increase the recruitment of both skilled craftsmen and salaried staff.

"Many of our employees are leaving the company too early, as a result of disability pensions or early retirement schemes. With extra leave, we hope to encourage many of them to stay in our employ for a longer period of time. We hope that a total of up to three months' leave will be the decisive factor, needed to keep many employees at work longer," Mr. Venold says.

For further information, please contact

President & CEO Terje R. Venold at Veidekke ASA

phone +47 21 05 77 01 /+47 905 82 323, terje.venold@veidekke.no

Executive Vice President Communication Kai Krüger Henriksen at Veidekke ASA

phone 21 05 77 04 / 90 51 93 60, kai.henriksen@veidekke.no

Director of organisation Per Haugen at Veidekke Entreprenør AS

phone +47 91 12 82 01, per.haugen@veidekke.no 

Veidekke ASA is a leading Scandinavian building contractor and property developer with nearly 6,000 employees and an annual turnover of NOK 14.6 billion (2005). Veidekke is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. It has a wide group of shareholders and 14% of the shares are held by the company's employees. The company's activities cover a large range of building and construction contracts, development of housing and commercial projects for private and public customers, asphalt operations and road maintenance, and collection and recycling of waste.