Award for IT company from Kirchheim: family-friendly like no other

The IT company "genua" from Kirchheim was awarded the entrepreneur prize "Successful.Family-friendly".

What makes the employer so special?

Kirchheim

- The employees at “genua” approach the relationship between professional and private life with humor.

“For everyone who cannot separate professional and private life,” it says on a paper sign.

“Be-ruf-li-ches / Pri-va-tes” is the answer below.

The saying is symbolic of the work culture in the Kirchheim company.

Because private and professional are mixed up here.

“What makes us special is the flexible work options,” explains employee Gabriele Meier, 40. Even before the pandemic, employees were able to work in the office and at home.

Flexible working hours allow employees more freedom in organizing their private and working life.

Flexible working hours, open communication culture

Flexible working, employees also interrupting their projects for private errands, require an open communication culture, says Meier.

Once a week there is a live stream with both managing directors and all employees, says a company spokeswoman.

This way, all departments could exchange news and information.

The company, which protects IT infrastructures against cyber attacks and is part of the Bundesdruckerei Group, received the entrepreneur award "Successful.Family-friendly" for this too.

"With working hours based on trust, the IT company relies heavily on autonomous and time-sovereign working hours," the jury stated in the statement of reasons.

The had checked on site whether the statements about the family-friendly company "really true", according to a spokesman for the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

"The day care center is very practical"

These excellent options for structuring work are also reflected in the employee structure: “genua” has 340 employees, over 120 of whom work part-time. It is interesting that twelve men and six women of the total of 37 managers work part-time. This is rather unusual at management levels. Another special feature is the in-house day care center for 36 children. At “genuakids” children from three months to the end of primary school are looked after, says educator Christine Kulse. The company daycare center has a better care ratio than recommended by the legislator. It is open from 7.30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

That came in very handy for Gabriele Meier: The sales manager has a team of 50 and is the mother of a now three-year-old child.

Until recently, her child went to the company daycare center.

“The day care center is very practical,” says Meier.

The facility in the house saves the trip to the communal daycare center.

During the pandemic, when many working parents had to look after their children, employees at genua were also able to book childcare times as regular working hours.

Family friendliness as a competitive advantage?

When Gabriele Meier came back to “genua” seven months after the birth of her child, she was able to work again in her old management position.

Initially only with 20 hours per week.

The job guarantee addresses women who fear a career decline after pregnancy, says Meier.

With this family-friendliness, “genua” can differentiate itself “a little” from other companies, says managing director Marc Tesch.

That is important, especially in the Munich area.

Because there are many IT companies here that attract applicants with high salaries that “genua” cannot always keep up with.

Tesch is therefore happy to accept the additional work involved in organizing part-time work, sabbaticals and parental leave.

He does not see the freedom of the employees as a disadvantage, but as an opportunity.

"In this way we can show how interested we as an employer are in our employees."

You can find more news from Garching and the district of Munich here.