The Ultimate Guide to Relocating to Vienna
Despite our recent success, TourRadar continually strives to become the truly scaled global marketplace for multi-day tours. Scale, to us, is defined as the process by which we increase our revenues and efficiencies exponentially while keeping operating costs growing linearly.
As such, we adhere to Reid Hoffman’s blitzscaling philosophy which asserts that scaling a company requires hiring employees that have previous experience working within a hypergrowth environment to share their learnings with those who have yet had the opportunity to solve for that unique set of problems.
For us, that sometimes requires finding individual contributors and leaders located in cities containing a large density of scaled e-commerce and marketplace startup talent and relocating them to our global headquarters in Vienna, Austria. While it’s never hard to get talented people interested in our mission, it can sometimes be a challenge to inform potential new hires of why they should be really excited about the prospect of living and working in Vienna. Having been through this process myself, and having now lived here for nearly two years, I’d like to provide some insight for those that may be considering it as well.
Vienna is the world’s most liveable city
One of the very best reasons to live and work in Vienna is that it is consistently rated by Mercer, the world’s largest human resources consulting firm, as the world’s #1 most liveable city year-after-year. This ranking is the culmination of vast research into 140 of the world’s leading cities taking into consideration such measures as safety and crime rates, clean air, affordable housing, excellent public transportation and culture.
World-class cultural capital without the headaches of a metropolis
Since the 19th century, Vienna has been a beacon for art, music and culture. Think Mozart, Wagner, Schubert, Strauss & Klimt. The work of Austria’s most famous citizens is on display across many of the famous museums and music halls across Vienna from the Kunsthistorisches Museum, to The Belvedere, Albertina and the world-famous Vienna State Opera House, which sits directly across the street from the TourRadar headquarters in the 1st district of downtown Vienna.
Gorgeous surroundings
The Austrian Alps are a skier’s paradise in winter and contain countless beautiful lakes to visit in summer. Most natives and tourists head to the hills a few times per year for a fraction of the price compared to French or Swiss resorts.
Amazing accessibility to all European travel destinationsVienna is centrally located in the heart of Europe and is the perfect takeoff point to see many of the world’s greatest cities. Salzburg, Budapest and Bratislava within 2 hours by train, Prague within 4. Italy on your doorstep. London, Berlin and Amsterdam all easily reachable via short and inexpensive flights. All of Europe is yours to explore!
Extremely affordable compared to nearly all other major European cities (figures courtesy of Numbeo.com):
Cheap and amazing transportation system
Vienna’s transportation system is routinely rated one of the very best in the world at the extremely affordable price of 1 euro per day, which provides access to all buses, trams and metros. Most of the city is accessible within 30 minutes, meaning there is no need for long commutes in frustrating traffic. For me personally, coming from New York, I went from commuting for 3 and half hours to 20 minutes daily, which has given me 3+ hours of my time back per day.
You can take up to 5 weeks of paid vacation plus bank holidays
Austrian law requires that all employees are entitled to 25 days of paid time off per year. This allows our employees to take the breaks they need and enjoy life outside of the office. Additionally, at TourRadar we have a fantastic benefit whereby employees may take a free (or heavily discounted) tour once per year, including up to 500 euros for airfare, for up to two weeks. As we really encourage our employees to experience what it’s like to be a customer of TourRadar, you’ll only need to request half of the time off for the trip. So, if you take a full two-week tour, you’ll only need to request one week of paid time off. For TourRadar employees, that equates to up to 6 weeks of paid time off per year.
Home to many expats and immigrants
With the UN and IAEA headquartered in Vienna, along with a burgeoning startup scene, there is a large and diverse English speaking Expat community, made up of many different cultures. Communities like Meetup.com, Girl Gone International and sports groups are a great way to integrate quickly into your life abroad, where speaking German does not have to be a barrier (though not to worry — most Viennese also speak English)
Fantastic public healthcare system with access for all
Austria has a two-tier health care system in which virtually all individuals receive publicly funded care, but residents also have the option to purchase supplementary private health insurance. Care involving private insurance plans can include more flexible visiting hours, private rooms in hospitals and access to doctors offering around the clock house visits. For me personally, I have opted to take the public healthcare option (which has been terrific) while paying for private healthcare for my children, the price of which is a fraction of what my family paid for healthcare in the US.
Enrollment in the public system is generally automatic and is linked to employment, however, insurance is also guaranteed to spouses and dependents, pensioners, students, the disabled, and those receiving unemployment benefits. All insured residents are then issued an e-Card, which must be presented when visiting a doctor. This e-Card allows for the digitization of health claims. It’s an incredibly easy to use the system.
Amazing maternity and long-term parental leave
Pregnant employees are required by law to take leave from approximately eight weeks prior to birth and eight weeks afterwards. During this period the employment relationship must continue to exist with the employee receiving a maternity allowance from the average of their remuneration of the preceding 13 weeks of employment.
Further, mothers and fathers are entitled to parental leave until their child reaches the age of 24 months, provided the parent on leave lives in the same household as the child. The amount of pay is dependant upon the amount of time taken. The longer the time period, the less percentage of salary one is eligible to receive.
Excellent education system
Schooling in Austria is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 15 and is separated into Volksschule (primary school) for four years and Gymnasium (secondary school) for eight years. The latter is further divided into lower secondary school (four years) and upper secondary school, with vocational or academic avenues on offer for the final four.
Expat parents will need to decide which type of school to send their children to: standard public schools, bilingual English-German schools or private international schools. Standard Austrian public schools are taught completely in German, though there are a few public bilingual schools that are an attractive option for expats who are more eager to have their children interact with local students and learn the local language. These schools are officially part of the public system and are mostly free, though space is limited.
There are also a few privately run international schools in Vienna. These schools offer either a home-country curriculum or an International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum and are taught in either English or the language of the sponsoring country. These schools are quite expensive with tuition running above 20,000 euros per year.
Well, there you have it! I hope you have found this introduction to Vienna and TourRadar helpful. If you’d like to learn more or apply directly to any of our open positions, click here.
