Taking compatibility of family and career one step further: 322 employers awarded in Berlin

The compatibility of family and career is an important social topic that is increasingly also on the minds of employers. In the previous 12 months, 322 companies, institutions and universities successfully completed the berufundfamilie audit (for businesses) or, respectively, the familiengerechte hochschule audit (for universities).

As a result they were awarded in Berlin with the corresponding certificate that the berufundfamilie gGmbH – an initiative of the non-profit Hertie Foundation – has been issuing for 16 years. The certificates were presented by Caren Marks, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Iris Gleicke, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, and Dr h.c. Frank-Jürgen Weise, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Hertie Foundation.

In the context of the audit, which serves as a strategic management instrument for the sustained improvement of a family-oriented personnel policy, the thus honoured employers have increasingly focused on the compatibility of family and work. Faced with the skilled labour shortage, enterprises more and more often ask themselves also the following question: How can we support women better and which family-oriented services help them to best contribute their potential to the business? The fathers, too, are increasingly focused upon. Here, measures will be required to allow men to take over also more family-related tasks in addition to their professional duties.

 

Wise enterprises ensure flexible models

 

"60 per cent of couples with small children think that partnership in making family and career compatible is the ideal model. However, only 14 per cent of parents manage to actually live this dream", emphasised Manuela Schwesig, Federal Minister of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, during the certificate award ceremony. "This is why family-conscious services are a key for more partnership, so that mothers and fathers can co-ordinate their desired time for family and career."

"Businesses wanting to win over and retain capable and motivated employees also in the future have to seriously deal with a changing image of family. Today's young, qualified professionals in particular expect employers to take into consideration their modern notions of partnership and family. Wise enterprises meet this challenge and ensure flexible models as well as a work environment that pays justice to these needs", said Iris Gleicke, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy.

 

Open up to the individual life and work patterns of employees

 

Flexibility and a company culture that is characterised by give and take affect also the final occupational phase, as is evidenced in an up-to-date survey by berufundfamilie gGmbH. In only a few years, the employment market will be threatened by the loss of millions of employees when the baby boom generation retires - a fact that constitutes a problem for society as a whole. What can employers do? According to the survey, flexible work time models are at the top of this generation's wish list. Only every tenth employee states that his or her company already provides sufficient models for transitioning from one phase of life to the next. Dr h.c. Frank-Jürgen Weise, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Hertie Foundation, adds: "To think about the next step in compatibility means to increasingly open up to the individual life and work patterns of employees. This will allow businesses to sustainably place themselves in the market as a desirable employer and to use the potential of employees to the best degree possible."

The 322 certificate awardees have identified these challenges; they include 157 enterprises, 126 institutions and 39 universities with a total of about 630,100 employees and some 482,800 students. For a large number of today's awardees this was not the first time they have completed the berufundfamilie audit or, respectively, the familiengerechte hochschule audit. 129 underwent it for the second time, 85 for the third time, 17 for the fourth and five even for the fifth time. They are amongst the altogether 1,496 employers with about 2.34 million employees and 1.66 students who have had themselves certified since the introduction of the seal of quality in 1999.

Today, berufundfamilie gGmbH, established in 1998 by the non-profit Hertie Foundation, is regarded nationwide as an outstanding expert in the field of compatibility of family and career. Its work is funded by the federal government and by the European Social Fund.


Source: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, bmwi.bund.de, revised by iMOVE, September 2014