Doing Business in Austria | Navigating Business Culture

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Austria is one of Europe’s wealthiest nations. It borders eight countries including the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland. 59% of the 8.9 million population is Christian with an overwhelming majority being Roman Catholic. 13% are Muslim, Jewish or Orthodox. 88% of Austrians are of German ethnicity, the remaining 12% are descendants from neighbouring cultures. The population is homogeneous as almost all these minority cultures were at some point in time part of former empires.

Although Austria is a small country, tens of millions of people live within a 250-mile radius of Vienna. The country is therefore an ideal location for access into central and eastern European (CEE) markets.

The capital city, Vienna, kept its position at the top of the Economist Intelligence Unit's Liveability Index 2024, for the third year running. The assessment scores 173 cities across the world on 30 indicators divided into five categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure, with the aim of showing how comfortable these cities are to live in. Vienna once again got perfect scores of 100 for four of the five categories. The city has an efficient public transport network as well as a well-functioning healthcare system, numerous universities and a high proportion of green spaces.

The official language of Austria is German but there is a difference between the versions of German spoken in Austria and Germany which reflects cultural and historical developments in each region. For example, Austrian German often uses different words for common items, especially in areas like food, household items, and education. It also has a softer, more melodic intonation compared to the more standardised pronunciation in German German. In Austrian German, formal speech prevails in daily interactions compared to German German, where informal speech has gained more ground.

"Gemütlichkeit" is an integral part of Austrian life, reflecting the value placed on leisure, social interaction, and well-being. It's commonly experienced in settings like traditional Austrian cafés, family gatherings, or during festive events. "Gemütlichkeit" refers to a state of warmth, friendliness, and a sense of belonging.

Austrians value formality, order and respect for hierarchy. This means, Austrians may be reserved and on a first meeting they may find outgoing or very positive attitudes overbearing or even insincere.

In the workplace, Austrians expect to consider, accept, and incorporate meaningful ideas from others into their business idea. To work effectively together, you must find the “optimal middle” acceptable for all – not just for you. Austrians prefer collaboration and the opinion of all stakeholders should be heard and seriously considered.

Austria is also highly success-oriented and managers are expected to be decisive; the emphasis is on equity, competition and performance. Conflicts are resolved by debating them out.

Austrians work to live and don’t live to work. In general, they prefer to do a job without stress. If there is a solution to the problem or to the challenge that requires a longer time to be applied, than why make it stressful? The task will be completed anyway!

Austrians are very pragmatic when it comes to business communication. This means they are fairly direct in their communication, especially in written communication. A simple request for information may read “we need this information by...".

Austrians tend to be very thorough in their business dealings. Agreements, contracts and proposals will be examined in detail to achieve an in-depth understanding of the contents. They are highly analytical and rational so if you make a vague suggestion or understatement, expect your Austrian counterpart to ask for clarification.

Austrians are always respectful of the title and position of others. A manager should always project the image of someone who clearly knows their subject. By return, you should acknowledge people with a formal greeting before starting a conversation; a common (but more traditional) salutation is ‘Grüß Gott’. Instead, you can use ‘Guten Morgen’, or the shorter ‘Morgen’. You could also say hello in Austrian slang: ‘Moagn’. The formal "Sie" is a must until told otherwise and the "Du" is offered by the higher ranking or older person. ‘Priat di’ and ‘Pfiat di’ are also a charming way to say bye. In a formal context, you would use the German ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ or, with an Austrian touch, ‘Auf Wiederschauen’.

When addressing colleagues acknowledge their titles using an address such as ‘Herr Magister Schmid’ or ‘Frau Ingeneur Huber’. The importance of titles is reflected on a person's business card. Should somebody have two Ph.D.s this person might even be addressed as "double doctor" such as Dr. Dr. Lang. Titles continue to ensure respect so make sure you add yours to your business cards.

Finally, most organisations like to organise various celebrations throughout the year, such as Christmas or end-of-year parties. If you can, you should join in, as this will give you the possibility to chat with the most senior leaders of the organisation and to reinforce your position as a member of the team.