SOKA-BAU: Service and security for the construction industry

SOKA-BAU is a modern service provider and competent pension specialist for the German construction industry and has pro­­­vided a variety of services over the past 50 years tailored to the parti­cular circum­stanc­­es of businesses and employees in the con­­­­struction industry. The responsible or­­ga­­ni­­zations of SOKA-BAU are labour agree­­ment parties in the construction industry.

Work conditions in the construction in­­dus­­try are characterized by lack of sta­­tion­­ary production facilities, strong weath­­er de­­pend­­­ency, regular non-productive time and frequent workplace changes. This makes the industry susceptible to salary losses, low pensions and disadvantages in vacation entitlement.
SOKA-BAU offers a series of services, se­­cured by labour agreements, to reduce the disadvantages of these industry-spe­­cific work conditions:
• SOKA-BAU manages a vacation process that is different from those under legal reg­­ulations, which is also valid for Eu­­ro­­pean construction companies that are ac­­tive in Germany.
• SOKA-BAU guarantees interplant, em­­­ploy­­­­er-financed supplementary retirement benefits to em­­ployees in the construction in­­dus­­try.
• SOKA-BAU makes an essential financial contribution to industry-wide unified, allocation-financed vocational education in the construction industry.
Additional industry-specific services SOKA-BAU offers include voluntary supplemen­­tal employer-financed retirement benefits (Bau­­Rente), as well as industry-tailored so­­­­lu­tions for insolvency insurance for work time ac­­counts. SOKA-BAU also offers IT and print­­ing services to insurers, pension plans and other financial service providers.
SOKA-BAU is the owner of more than 10,000 residences and over 100 com­­mer­­­cial property units across all important re­­gions in Germany. SOKA-BAU rents more than 2,100 residential properties in the Wies­­baden and Mainz areas alone. In new construction projects, SOKA-BAU has made a name for itself through in­­novative and sus­­­­tainable construction. At the multiple award-winning of­­fice build­­ing in Wet­tiner­stra­­ße (due to its very good eco-bal­­ance, among other things), the ad­­min­­is­­tration of the ci­­ty of Wiesba­­den is one of the largest ren­­ters. With these serv­­ice offerings, SOKA-BAU today works for around 70,000 German and European com­­panies with more than 620,000 em­­ploy­­ees and for around 425,000 em­­ploy­ees in retirement. In 2008, SOKA-BAU pro­­vided services to employers and em­­ployees in the amount of over 2.1 bil­­lion euros. Active nationwide, SOKA-BAU has regional roots and recognizes it­­self as part of the city of Wiesbaden. With around 1,300 em­­­ployees, it is one of the large employers and is also a successful and depend­­able training organization.