Flexibility and delegation are everything

Is there a perfect time to bake cakes? If in doubt, don't. But if you think about it, you wouldn't reach for the mixing bowl and whisk after 11 p.m. But Fabíola Fernandez was standing in the kitchen at that late hour, "the children wanted a Halloween cake for school". So the co-CEO of the building and facility management company Gegenbauer got to work despite a long working day. "We all don't have time. So I'll take them," says the boss of 18,000 employees. At home she takes care of five children.

Acting flexibly – and when in doubt, preferring to try the dough over the last e-mail of the day – seems to be the magic word of the hour when it comes to successfully balancing work and family for men and especially women. The term was one of the most common in the panel “Career and Family: How to do the balancing act – and what companies can do to help”. Moderated by WELT AM SONNTAG editor Daniel Zwick, Henkel's Corporate Vice President Global Human Resources, Lucas Kohlmann, and Anja Hendel discussed alongside Fernandez. The business IT specialist is Managing Director of the Stuttgart digital agency Diconium, whose day-to-day business she began to take care of again ten weeks after the birth of her daughter. Full-time.

"At the time, an older colleague said that my decision had irritated many in the company, since it is common in Germany to take a year of parental leave and come back part-time," says Hendel. She finds the constant providing information about her working model exhausting, but still does it for colleagues: "People find it easier to live something they know."

Hendel is still relatively alone with her path: According to the latest figures from 2020, 75 percent of mothers in Germany work, but 66 percent of them part-time. In managerial positions, eight out of ten men are fathers, and among women only three out of ten have children – and perhaps rightly so.

Because doing a top management job with a reduced number of hours? Basically unthinkable, say the experts. "It takes a lot of discipline to work part-time," says Fernandez, who "delegates a lot" when managing her children. Women who work part-time would often work harder anyway – and without corresponding pay. “Employers must prevent ‘bogus part-time work’. Anyone who has Fridays off is then not allowed to answer any e-mails,” Kohlmann points out. It is true that the economy is increasingly creating better framework conditions for families, not least because of the shortage of skilled workers and the fact that various teams offer a higher chance of profitability, as studies show.

At the same time, there is a need for an even broader range of childcare options, simple shift changes and, if possible, remote work. "Everything else is just logistics," says Hendel. And of course, flexibility, on the part of employers and employees alike. And according to Fabíola Fernandez, one thing should not be forgotten - and if the thought of it comes up while baking at night: "Life is not a request concert. You have to make the best of it.”