A new start for a Greek bus driver in the Geschäftsfeld Mobilität business field
07.05.2020 – Panagiotis Dakoukis is one of over 50 new bus drivers who joined the Geschäftsfeld Mobilität division at the end of 2018. He has been a permanent employee at the OVB subsidiary MMO Main Mobil Offenbach since September 2019. He really likes the international nature of the city and the collegiality within the company. Both have made it easy for him to settle in here.
Panagiotis Dakoukis is one of over 50 new bus drivers who started work at the 2018 timetable change via a personnel service provider in the Geschäftsfeld Mobilität business field. The 36-year-old Greek has been living in Germany for three years. In conversation, he repeatedly apologizes for his poor German. Unjustifiably so, because without having to ask many questions, he quickly talks about his arrival in Germany and his positive experiences at Offenbacher Verkehrs-Betriebe.
Studied as a forestry expert, butcher and bus driver
Panagiotis Dakoukis was born and grew up in Igoumenitsa. He initially studied there to become a qualified forestry expert. He then worked as a butcher in his own business for almost six years and worked as a bus driver in Greece for a year. The economic situation in his home country prompted him to come to Germany. A good network of friends actively supported him.
Three years ago, he started working for a catering company at Frankfurt Airport as a warehouse worker and bus driver. Working at the airport was the easiest place for him to make a fresh start in Germany in terms of language, as he was able to cope well with his English there. Because of the better pay, he changed companies and became a bus driver for local public transport in the Rhine-Main area. To do this, he completed an IHK course for professional drivers. However, he found the work in the large company with around 700 bus drivers too impersonal. He felt like a number in a system; most people didn't know his name.
The working atmosphere is right
He joined the Stadtwerke Offenbach Group in 2018 via a recruitment agency. His decision to accept a permanent position here after a year was based on a gut feeling: The collegiality among the bus drivers, working on the same level both spatially and personally, the support from colleagues in the control center - these were all arguments in favor of Offenbach. For Dakoukis, the working atmosphere is just right here. Perhaps it's the advantage of the smaller company: people know each other, they talk to each other, they exchange ideas, they support each other. Questions and problems are often discussed unbureaucratically here, during breaks, while smoking in the courtyard. It all feels good for the Greek.
Panagiotis Dakoukis has been a permanent employee of OVB subsidiary Main Mobil Offenbach since September 6, 2019 and is very happy with it. Dispatcher Lothar Ellert helped him find an apartment. He now lives in a small GBO apartment in Offenbach and prefers to get to work on foot or by bike.
Also in use during the corona pandemic
He likes the internationality of the city and the company. And, above all, the way it is handled here. Herbert Gallasch and his colleagues from the transport service management team organize even demanding fare training courses so well that even bus drivers with an international background and little knowledge of German understand everything. This is well received and helps new employees to feel quickly accepted here.
The trust placed in the Offenbach-based company is now paying off: Even in difficult times like the current ones, Dakoukis is regularly on duty and, thanks to the protective measures, drives its passengers safely through the city without fear of infection.
May 07, 2020