Fathers awareness
Imagine you were an Equal Opportunity Officer in a company whose workforce was 75 percent male. Who do you care for more: men or women?
For years now, the question of the compatibility of children and career has been passionately discussed among managers in Germany. Political reforms such as the introduction of the parental allowance are only hesitantly accepted. Companies are increasingly confronted with fathers who, through the political framework, have the option to stay home more with their families. However, it is hard for them to choose between job and family. Therefore, only a bit more than 25 percent of all young fathers take time off to care for their babies.
While on a societal level changes are slow to come about, there are already a few companies which are trying to conquer this issue a bit more offensively. One of those examples is the Stadtwerke (Municipal Utilities) Bielefeld. The company’s workforce consists of 75 percent men. In terms of family friendliness within the company, the Stadtwerke Bielefeld has a lot to think about. The company took this issue very seriously. The Stadtwerke Bielefeld developed an exemplary work environment for fathers-to-be.
A few years ago the Equal Opportunities Officer of the Stadtwerke Bielefeld, Karin Schrader, wanted to do more for the fathers in the company. She got into the enterprise one of the few organizational consultants who had already dealt with the issue of paternity and companies: Hans-Georg Nelles.
With his help, the Equal Opportunities Officer implemented a process which we regard as exemplary.
First, Karin Schrader wanted to find out how important the issue of paternity was for the workforce. To better judge this matter, the Stadtwerke Bielefeld initiated the process of “Counting on Fathers,” which lasted several years. In the first phase, managers were interviewed at all hierarchical levels. The aim was for the Stadtwerke to find out what inner attitudes and behaviors the bosses of fathers would bring to the business. The company understood the significance of the attitude of its leading managers towards the subject of parenting. Unconscious thinking and attitude patterns of the management level can dominate the whole corporate culture, for better or for worse.
To better understand the fathers in the company, they selected employees with children for the second phase. It was all about which experiences the respondents had and which challenges fathers within the Stadtwerke had to face.
Interestingly, 82 percent of all respondents concluded that there was a positive relationship between fatherhood and professional performance. Executives appreciate the growing expertise in fathers in the areas of time management, empathy, and conflict resolution skills. Surprisingly, a majority of executives also said that they regarded fathers as more flexible and more mobile than their childless counterparts.
These results were made available to all important committees—council, management, executives—and at a later stage to all employees via a brochure.
In the third step, the Stadtwerke Bielefeld initiated a total of 18 workshops with executives and fathers. This was about the question of what options officials and fathers could use to anchor the topic of “Fatherhood and Work” deeper and better into the company.
The consequences of these activities are noticeable. In the meantime, fathers talk openly about parental leave. Before the trial, this was a rarity. Now, it is not uncommon for fathers to go on parental leave for two or more months, free of the stress of worrying about what negative consequences would result.
Today, the works council and human resources department are unanimous: The family-friendly structures of Stadtwerke Bielefeld is a distinct advantage for the company. For example, the head of credit management deliberately moved to the Stadtwerke Bielefeld when he was ready to start a family. Other professionals in higher-paying jobs in international corporations leave their current jobs to join the Stadtwerke Bielefeld for less money but more family friendliness. They have, for example, the option to reduce to a 30-hour workweek and, therefore, have more time for their children.
We like the approach of the Bielefeld Stadtwerke because it gives justice to the rising needs of fathers and their families. In turn, this reduces for managers every possible value conflict between family and work. At the same time, this example shows a definitive competitive advantage for the company, as highly qualified personnel move to the Bielefeld Stadtwerke despite the lower income.
