• The City of Aachen participates in the Participation Opportunities Act (THCG), which helps the long-term unemployed to re-enter the labor market through state-subsidized jobs.
• - A total of 79 have worked for the city administration under this program since 2019. The first full funding period expired in 2024.
• By the end of 2024, a total of 16 participants had been taken on as permanent employees by the City of Aachen.

Halit Deniz Eyidogan's whole face lights up when he talks about his job: "I would be very happy to stay here until I retire!" Here - this is the Maria Montessori Comprehensive School in Aachen. Eyidogan has been working there as a janitor's assistant since July 2024. A permanent job is not something he takes for granted. Eyidogan was unemployed for twenty years until he found his current job with the City of Aachen as part of the Participation Opportunities Act (THCG).

THCG - what is it?
The THCG is designed to help the long-term unemployed get back into a normal job. To this end, their jobs are subsidized by the state for five years. This means that their salary is not paid in full or in part by the employer for five years, but by the job center. They also receive coaching and training.

Only people who have been unemployed for at least six years and are over the age of 25 are eligible for THCG positions. For almost all of them, various factors also make integration into the regular labor market more difficult. These can be special life circumstances or health restrictions.

A completely different everyday life
Halit Deniz Eyidogan had originally started an apprenticeship in the plumbing trade, but his training company filed for bankruptcy. He was unable to find an alternative training position and fell into long-term unemployment twenty years ago. He developed massive sleep disorders and, for initially inexplicable medical reasons, collapsed while running everyday errands, which made it difficult to find a job. A healthy, motivated and very sporty young man - Eyidogan even competed as a swimmer for Aachen in a city championship - lost his job prospects.

2022 came the turnaround: after a drastic change in his lifestyle, he made a new attempt at the job center. The staff placed him with the city of Aachen as a janitor's assistant as part of the THCG.
Suddenly he was in the middle of working life: He starts at six in the morning, taking care of minor repairs, dealing with mail and clearing the schoolyard of glass and, in winter, snow. Of course, he and his janitor colleagues, who have their glass-fronted office right in the entrance area of the school, are also the point of contact for pupils and teachers. He is always on the move: he manages 15 kilometers a day during one shift. His sleep disorders have improved enormously thanks to the new rhythm. He enjoys the contact with his colleagues, the varied work and the daily hustle and bustle. Eyidogan is full of motivation: "I feel at home here. This job is like winning the lottery for me."

THCG employees at the City of Aachen
The City of Aachen introduced THCG positions for the first time in 2019. The first full funding period of five years therefore came to an end last year. The Human Resources and Organization as well as Housing, Social Affairs and Integration departments have drawn a very positive conclusion: ten of the eleven employees whose funding ended in 2024 found employment in the regular job market. The city administration took on five of them as permanent employees.

Currently, 39 of the 50 THCG positions planned are part-time or full-time. The largest field of activity is janitor assistants with eleven employees, followed by ten office assistants and eight kitchen assistants. THCG employees also work in district services, green maintenance and the museum store. By the end of 2024, a total of 16 participants had been offered permanent employment with the City of Aachen. In some cases, this took place before the end of the support measures and as part of early active applications for advertised positions. A total of 79 THCG employees have started working for the city administration since 2019.

However, preliminary discussions are necessary before long-term unemployed people can start working for the city administration as part of the THCG measure. Nadine Errens, who is in charge of the scheme at the City of Aachen, explains: "We have to look at each candidate individually to see whether cooperation is possible and which areas are suitable." While some departments were initially reluctant to accept the THCG positions, acceptance is now much broader and the feedback is extremely positive, reports Iris Kreutzer, who is responsible for labour market integration in the Department of Housing, Social Affairs and Integration.

Reference person in the school canteen
Another example: Jennifer*, known to everyone as Jenny. The single mother has been working as a kitchen assistant since August 2024. The canteens at the open all-day school in Lousberg (OGS am Lousberg) are her workplace. Even though she is still at the beginning of the funding period, it is already clear to her that she would prefer to stay at the OGS am Lousberg. Jenny's active support is definitely needed. Every lunchtime, around 220 children receive a hot lunch at the school. Jenny is in the kitchen from 11 a.m.; by now she knows all the children at the food counter. She knows who gets vegetarian food, who doesn't like mushrooms and who is particularly looking forward to the pasta. The contact with the children makes her work special. She is not just a kitchen assistant, Jenny, like her colleagues, is a reference person for the primary school children. Jenny naturally knows which dishes are best in a primary school canteen, which is why she now also helps to design the meal plan. By the way, the answer is: "Pizza and mashed potatoes!"

Jenny was bullied during her training as a medical assistant. She wanted to change practices as a result, but couldn't find a new job. This was followed by various €450 jobs, while at the same time caring for her grandmother, which limited her choice of work. Her last job was with a cleaning company, where she was made redundant after a bicycle accident and the resulting temporary inability to work. As a single mother, with no completed training and no driver's license, she had a hard time on the job market. This made it all the more important to find a family-friendly job as part of the THCG measure. And according to Karin Wetter, director of the OGS am Lousberg, it is also possible in exceptional cases for Jenny to take her eight-year-old son to work with her if his care is unavailable.

Support from a job center coach is an essential part of the THCG measure. A coach visits Jenny every Monday and helps her with questions and various applications. At the same time, the employees are supervised by Nadine Errens and also have their direct supervisors on site as trusted contacts. This prepares the THCG employees for the regular job market, as they have to apply for regular vacancies after the sponsorship. This means that there must be a vacancy that suits the applicant at the right time. As this is not always the case, jobs outside the city administration are also considered.

Aachen-Eilendorf district office: local contacts
Heinrich Visé has been employed by the Aachen-Eilendorf district office since the beginning of 2022, Marlon Fuchs** since the beginning of 2023. Both are THCG employees, but while Visé cleans green spaces, removes litter or carries out caretaking duties in the district office, Fuchs carries out activities similar to those of the public order office - without being allowed to levy fines himself. Both men act as eyes and ears on the ground, as contacts for residents. The contact with the people is what they both particularly enjoy. "The familiar interaction is very nice. I'm already on first-name terms with some of the residents, people know each other here and most of them are very friendly," reports Visé.

Heinrich Visé was unemployed after his last employer filed for bankruptcy and he lost his job as a truck driver. The sense of belonging that he has regained through his new job is particularly important to him. He also wants to be a role model for his children. Now he goes to work every day with motivation: "When I'm on vacation, I want to get back to my day-to-day work by the second week at the latest."

Marlon Fuchs, employed as a city service worker, is trying to increase his chances of being taken on at the end of the support period and, together with his job coach, is looking for suitable further training courses that will teach him more technical know-how. Fuchs, who worked in the skilled trades for many years but lost his job due to several illnesses, initially found it difficult to find his way around the administrative world. He taught himself a lot of the knowledge he needed for his new job, but also frequently asked colleagues on site, who were always ready to help him. He sums up: "Nothing better than this job could have happened to me!"
A success story
The THCG measure is a success story for the City of Aachen that cannot be taken for granted. The city, in particular the Department of Personnel and Organization, is now frequently contacted by other local authorities and asked about the implementation of the programme.

While the city administration can look back very positively on the measure, employment for the THCG employees is tantamount to reintegration into the community. They have a daily rhythm again, talk to colleagues and are needed. Halit Deniz Eyidogan, Jenny, Heinrich Visé and Marlon Fuchs all have one thing in common: they all want to keep their jobs and continue working after the support has ended.


*Jenny does not want her surname to be read in public.
**The name has been changed at the request of the person concerned.