We Are the Ibex Family

Thanks to the long ski season at the Pitztal Glacier, the transition between our summer and winter operations is almost seamless. Unlike many other cable car companies, we are therefore able to employ all 94 members of staff throughout the year.

Particularly in times of climate change, the glacier helps safeguard the future of our jobs. Pitztaler Gletscherbahn GmbH & Co KG is one of the ten largest employers in the district of Imst.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we demonstrated that we stand by our employees even in challenging times. All jobs were protected through short-time working arrangements, enabling us to avoid redundancies.

Some of our employees also run farms on a part-time basis. Farms are extremely important to our valleys: they help preserve local culture and traditions while maintaining our landscape.

We therefore make every effort to ensure that employees who run a farm can combine their work with us with their responsibilities in the fields and on the farm.

Thirty per cent of our employees are women. The relatively low proportion of female employees is certainly not the result of unequal pay – equal pay is a firmly established principle within our company. Rather, technical roles involving lift operations, piste grooming and maintenance work in the Gletscherexpress tunnel continue to be predominantly male-dominated.

Women make an essential contribution to our restaurants, ticket offices and marketing activities. Mag. Beate Rubatscher-Larcher and DI Dietmar Leitner jointly manage Pitztaler Gletscherbahn. As one of the few female managing directors in the Austrian cable car industry, Beate Rubatscher-Larcher sends an important message in support of diversity and equal opportunities.

If you regularly spend your holidays with us, you are sure to recognise some familiar faces – and they may recognise you too. This is because many of our employees have worked with us for a very long time.

The average length of service is currently around eleven years, rising to as much as 17 years in lift operations. Many of our employees were involved in the original construction of the glacier ski area and remained with us until their retirement. They are still part of our family, and we are always delighted to see them again at our celebrations or while skiing and hiking in our mountain areas.

The safety and health of our employees are our highest priorities. Austria already has very high statutory occupational health and safety standards, but meeting these requirements alone is not enough for us.

We regularly conduct dedicated safety briefings, with some areas also requiring documented instruction confirmed by signature. As the sun does not always shine, cold temperatures can be particularly challenging at our high-altitude locations. We therefore provide our employees with high-quality, weatherproof clothing.

The intensity of the sun must not be underestimated either, particularly due to its reflection from the snow. We therefore provide our employees with sunscreen, sunglasses and caps. They can also purchase durable, high-quality footwear from a local retailer at a greatly reduced price.

Good food is important for the health, well-being and fitness of our workforce. We ensure that every employee can enjoy a heavily subsidised hot meal at work. We also make sure that the meals provided are varied and healthy.

Our restaurants primarily work with regional food suppliers, helping us ensure that our dishes are prepared using high-quality ingredients.

Wherever many people work together, disagreements can sometimes arise. Our team can only succeed when everyone works together.

We foster an open approach to resolving conflict. If we are unable to resolve more difficult issues ourselves, we also offer support in the form of team and individual coaching.

We support and fund education and professional development, particularly in specialist areas. If someone is struggling with an upcoming examination, they can rely on support from their colleagues.

We are happy to share our knowledge because everyone benefits from having well-trained employees. We also regularly provide all teams with training in friendliness, customer service and complaint management.

We would be delighted to welcome young people wishing to train with us as chefs, construction machinery technicians or cable car technicians. Unfortunately, like many other companies, we are also affected by the general shortage of apprentices.

Addiction is an illness, and those affected need help. If we become aware that an employee is experiencing problematic alcohol use or misusing other addictive substances, we take action and actively offer access to professional external support. Ultimately, however, recovery also requires the individual’s own commitment.

We also try to provide individual assistance when employees are facing other difficult personal circumstances. Our employees are at the heart of our company, and we want to support them with care and discretion.

The supply of rental accommodation in the Pitztal is limited. This often makes it more difficult for us to recruit skilled employees from outside the region, as there is very little suitable accommodation available to them.

We therefore incorporated nine residential units into our Rifflsee building. These currently accommodate one cable car employee as well as members of staff from our catering operations.

To provide our employees with affordable, modern accommodation, we are currently constructing a new staff residence with 24 residential units directly beside the Rifflsee building in Mandarfen. Completion is scheduled for September 2026.

By creating these residential units, we are also helping to ease some of the pressure on the already limited local housing market in our valley.

Our employees can travel to work free of charge. They can use our own staff buses or public transport. Where necessary, working hours are occasionally adjusted to align with public transport timetables.

This enables our workforce to travel to and from work in a relaxed, cost-effective and environmentally friendly way.