Traffic management company signals growth with recruitment drive

The UK office of a global provider of traffic management systems is aiming to recruit further staff.

Kapsch TrafficCom has subsidiaries and branch offices in more than 25 countries, about 4,000 employees worldwide and its headquarters in Vienna, Austria.

The UK office was set up after Kapsch TrafficCom won a major contract with National Highways to update its infrastructure and road systems throughout the UK.

Its initial six staff moved from Friars House in Coventry city centre to the Coventry University Technology Park in 2022 – and the business has now grown to 35 members of staff who work shifts 24/7 every day of the year to provide service desk and IT support to National Highways.

Shari Lewison-Frisch, office business manager at Kapsch TrafficCom, didn’t have far to go to make key connections to help with their growth since Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce is located next door.

“When we moved our UK office to the Technology Park and I saw that the Chamber was next door, I made contact straight away and it is a decision that I have not regretted,” she said.

“As we have grown from a business of six, we needed a dedicated Human Resources arm for the UK and the Chamber put me in touch with Quest who provide access to their qualified specialists and it took nine months to put together our HR package working with our HR manager who works in Poland.

“We now have 35 staff including software developers based here and this year, we are aiming to recruit another seven members of staff.

“Our work with National Highways runs still for some time so we will be continuing to monitor all their systems on the motorways through technology and monitoring its traffic flow systems.

“The Chamber has provided connections to the University of Warwick Business School, Coventry University and the Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub which is going to be really useful.

“I also contacted the Chamber about Health and Safety and Quest again was brilliant because they carried out an audit which was just what we needed.

“The Chamber’s support systems and connections have been invaluable and I love the fact they are within touching distance of our office. I’ve met so many great companies from Coventry and Warwickshire through attending its networking events which will add value to our business through CSR and our wellbeing at work.”

Angela Lennox, membership support officer from the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said it had been great to provide Kapsch TrafficCom with the support they needed to help with its expansion.

She said: “There is such a variety of guidance and support that we provide to all businesses as part of their Chamber membership and this is particularly useful to start-ups or larger businesses that are establishing a UK base.

“Putting in place HR and health and safety guidelines can seem daunting if you have never done it before but through Quest, we provide telephone advice with experienced advisors, an online document library and a business compliance review.

“This makes sure that businesses have these vital procedures in place which are really important as companies such as Kapsch TrafficCom grow.”