How family and a career can be successfully combined
Three people, three different schemes
Klasmann-Deilmann offers parents of young children or employees who have to care for relatives various options for combining their work with their duties at home. Each of the following three employees has opted for a different model.
Daniel Klinke, Accounting Services Team Leader
Kim Karotki: Tell us about your family and work situation.
Daniel Klinke: We have two young children, Moritz and Jule and both are at kindergarten. My wife has now returned to work again part-time, which is why we have to share childcare.
Kim Karotki: What have you agreed with Klasmann-Deilmann?
Daniel Klinke: On Thursdays, my wife has to leave home earlier, so I attend to the children. I make up for the lost working hours on other days. I took paternity leave for one month after Moritz and Jule were born and then for another month in the summer in both cases.
Kim Karotki: Please tell us about your experience.
Daniel Klinke: My experience has been thoroughly positive. Trust-based working hours mean that I can be flexible when it comes to deciding when to work. This gives me the necessary freedom to attend to family matters. I can wholeheartedly recommend paternity leave. Having kids is the best thing in the world and I wanted to share as much as possible of the fascinating time just after the children were born. It also made me realise just how much my wife was doing during that time. It also means I appreciate much more just how much she takes off my hands.
Jennifer Rieken, HR Office
Kim Karotki: Tell us about your family and work situation.
Jennifer Rieken: Our son Mailon is nine months old. I decided early on that I wanted to return to work soon after the birth. It is important to me to have my work as well as being a mother.
Kim Karotki: What have you agreed with Klasmann-Deilmann?
Jennifer Rieken: I returned to work part-time after six months’ maternity leave. I currently work 25 hours a week, spread over four days.
Kim Karotki: Please tell us about your experience.
Jennifer Rieken: My line manager responded to my request for flexible working hours very positively and agreed right away. To me, working part-time is the ideal way of combining my career and a family.
Dirk Sajogo, Head of Finance, IT, Legal
Kim Karotki: Tell us about your family and work situation.
Dirk Sajogo: After the birth of our second child, my wife did not want to take a long break from work. As our children are still so young, we both wanted to make sure that one parent could always be at home.
Kim Karotki: What have you agreed with Klasmann-Deilmann?
Dirk Sajogo: I worked part-time for some of my paternity leave. My wife and I have arranged our working hours so that one of us can always be available to look after the children.
Kim Karotki: Please tell us about your experience
Dirk Sajogo: Excellent. I think that it is now well accepted at Klasmann-Deilmann that men take paternity leave. The reaction of my boss was certainly very positive. That is not something you can take for granted: my last employer frowned on men who took paternity leave.