Gender Equality & Equal Opportunities

Right at the beginning of my pregnancy, I confided in my supervisor and doctoral advisor at IVW and he immediately released me from all tasks that could endanger the pregnancy. My colleagues were also happy to relieve me of any physically demanding tasks as the pregnancy progressed. My return to work after maternity leave and parental leave was made more difficult due to a lack of childcare options for my child, but my supervisor was very accommodating here with flexible working hours. Since then, I've been working part-time on the same project as before my parental leave and can adjust the number of hours to what works best for us as a family.

During my time as Competence Field Manager and Junior Research Group Leader at IVW, I took several months of parental leave. The fact that I was able to enjoy this time so much is due to the great support from the institute, the willingness of my supervisor to take over the leadership of my group during this time and, last but not least, the intrinsic motivation of my staff. This allowed me to devote myself fully to my family. With two small children, the flexible working time schedules and the opportunity of mobile working also help me to cope with everyday life.

More than a year ago, my mother suddenly became in need of care. Thanks to the great willingness to make my working hours more flexible, from my direct supervisor to our managing director, Prof. Breuer, I am able to reconcile taking care of her and my work at the IVW so well. Even before Covid-19 and an institute-wide company agreement on "mobile work", IVW was willing to offer an individual solution for balancing work and private care.

The modern time recording system at IVW allows me to adjust work as needed, even at short notice. This means, for example, that even urgent doctor's visits for my mother have been possible at any time without any problems, thanks to precise punching in and out after clarification with my direct supervisor. I keep hearing from acquaintances in other companies that this is not something that can be taken for granted. I am very grateful to IVW for these opportunities and I am sure that IVW will also benefit from them.

Since starting at IVW, I recently became a father for the second time. Since my wife is in training to become a medical specialist at the same time, it's not always easy to juggle everything. The flexibility of flexitime helps us immensely in our day-to-day work. The openness and support on the topics of parental leave and part-time work show me that I am in very good hands as a young father at IVW

Have we piqued your interest? Read here what our alumni say about their time at IVW.