We would like to enable our employees to strike a balance between their professional challenges and private life and have therefore enshrined the improvement of the prerequisites for a healthy work-life balance in our Sustainability Strategy 2015 – 2017.
The company offers part-time and teleworking models that can be individually structured and flexible working-time arrangements without core hours. In addition, our Human Resources Management division advises employees who are interested in the opportunities for greater employment flexibility. This flexibility at the workplace can make it easier to organise everyday life in phases such as starting a family, caring for relatives or preparing for the end of one's professional career, e.g. through partial retirement arrangements. At the Hannover location 289 members of staff are working part-time according to around 70 different, very individual part-time models. In addition, 411 employees have a teleworking position. A variety of part-time working models are also offered at our locations abroad, and teleworking opportunities are available.
We attach special importance to a family-friendly approach. Among other measures, we operate our own company daycare centre at the Hannover location, offering altogether a good 30 places for all-day care of infants (children up to the age of three). As part of our Sustainability Strategy 2015 – 2017 we regularly review the need to expand the range of care made available to employees' children at the kindergarten.
With a view to facilitating re-entry for employees who are currently on or are just returning from parental leave, we encourage our managers to actively maintain contacts with our staff members on parental leave, e.g. by inviting them to attend further training activities, in-house meetings and parties. On a Group-wide basis, 152 employees of our company were on parental leave in the year under review, thereof 47 men and 105 women. 44 employees returned to work from their parental leave in 2016, thereof 20 men and 24 women. 43 employees who returned from their parental leave in 2015 were still with our company twelve months later (20 men, 23 women).