The Covid-19 pandemic was and is a challenge for AVL. When the first signs of the impending pandemic became apparent at the beginning of 2020, a CAST (Crisis Assistance and Support Team) was established.

Christoph Urthaler is responsible for internal communication at CAST: “As soon as we received the first worrying news about illnesses in Asia, we began to put together an interdisciplinary team with representatives from all key company areas. AVL has its own Safety and Security department, which handles all aspects of confidentiality and security during normal operations. Because of that, we already had a well-organized unit on which we could build the CAST. This was important because, due to its products and services, AVL works as a particularly heterogeneous and complex company. When it became clear that prevention and observation alone would not be enough, we first ordered our employees on assignment abroad back home. Since March 2020, CAST has been working as a central contact point with various interfaces, constantly reassessing the situation and deriving recommendations for action and measures for AVL. We take care to inform the local employees, keep in touch with our customers and coordinate with our international branches. Current projects can thus be continued as long as this is compatible with legal regulations.”

Christoph had already worked as a senior management consultant in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Hungary while studying architecture at Graz University of Technology. One of his customers was AVL. In 2007, the desire for fewer business trips and regular working hours prompted him to accept a job offer at AVL, making all of his expertise available to the company. Initially, Christoph worked in the field of personnel development, thereupon as an assistant to personnel management and as HR project and process manager. In 2010, he was put in charge of the AVL apprenticeship training until he moved on to executive management as a project manager for strategic projects for a year and a half in 2017. At the beginning of 2019, he became Head of the Employee Engagement & CSR department.

Christoph: “I always had a fairly clear picture of how I envisioned my career. AVL offers a variety of opportunities to improve yourself professionally and personally. I absolutely took advantage of that and feel very comfortable here, at AVL. And finally, working at CAST allows me to acutely experience how important it is for a company to stand by its employees. We had already started preparing for a special program for our employees (EAP, Employee Assistance Program) in autumn and have now implemented it in just a few days. We felt that anyone who needs support should be able to talk to competent people from the fields of psychology, work, health, etc. about their worries and problems. This initiative is proving to be an incredibly valuable tool for our employees at the moment. It proves that it is possible within a global group to be treated individually and humanely even in times of crisis, and to be promoted and supported according to one's talents and respective career goals!”