Family and career is not a contradiction
Employee satisfaction, both personal and professional, is not a contradiction at Siemens in Germany – quite the contrary.
spaces in childcare facilities close to work are available at 21 Siemens locations in Germany.
Our employees are finding it increasingly important to achieve a good balance between their professional and personal lives. Today, a growing number of highly qualified employees and managers are consciously searching out companies that offer more than just an interesting job. Our HR policy responds flexibly to the changing phases of employees’ lives and their diverse needs. We support them in their desire to balance their career and family, and we provide them with an excellent work environment with flexible work conditions.
Childcare centers close to the workplace
At Siemens daycare plays a key role in the work-life balance. It enables families to organize their professional and private lives flexibly. For mothers and fathers to be able to quickly return to work after the birth of a child, they need to know that their child will receive the best of care.
Siemens is the leader in Germany in terms of the number of childcare centers it provides close to the workplace – as of February 2013 we have more than 1,100 spaces at 21 different locations. We want to increase that number of spaces to roughly 2.000 by the end of 2015.
We have a wide array of childcare facilities, from nursery schools to mixed-age facilities for children ranging from babies to age twelve, to cooperatives with communities and other companies, to parent-initiated groups started by Siemens employees. In all of our childcare facilities, flexibility plays a very important role when it comes to daily hours of operation and annual holidays. In addition, the facilities are always situated as close to Siemens sites as possible to keep travel time between the childcare facility and the workplace to a minimum. And Siemens has high standards when it comes to the educational quality of the facilities. Even the youngest of children will feel safe and secure in their nursery schools, and preschoolers are given the room they need to experiment and explore.
Brigitte Ederer, member of the Siemens Managing Board responsible for Corporate Human Resources, joined the celebration of ten years school vacation programs in Erlangen, Germany.
But Siemens wants to do even more including, for example, vacation care, emergency care in case of illness, and meals for children at the company canteens. Throughout Germany the AWO welfare organization helps parents find childcare facilities in their locality. We also offer tax-free childcare allowances as a voluntary social payment. The actual amount of the allowance is decided each year.
Workplace flexibility
A modern work environment calls for flexibility. Siemens offers a wide range of working hour models to meet the requests and needs of our employees.
At Siemens, employees – even those in management positions – are able to work from their home office. Other working hour models we offer include flex-time models, part-time work, job sharing, and sabbaticals.
2011-Mar-08 | Author
- Employees - Reference projects
- Overview
- Women in MINT careers
- Family and career
- Europeans@Siemens
- Siemens Graduate Program
- Continuing education
