Supporting families = Preventing skilled labour shortage

The initiative "Erfolgsfaktor Familie" (Success Factor Family) of the German Federal Ministry of Family Affairs welcomes a new member: With immediate effect, the Institut für Berufliche Bildung (IBB – Institute for Vocational Education and Training) will actively support the programme's goal of achieving improved compatibility of family and work in Germany. More than 4,000 enterprises are associated within the initiative's nationwide network, including well-known names such as Adidas, Airbus, McDonald's, Volkswagen, Tchibo and Siemens.

"Joining the network was a logical consequence in following our enterprise philosophy and practice", says Anja Schürmann, Head of Department Research and Development, when explaining the IBB's motivation to take this official step. "The IBB has been living and breathing family friendliness already for many years. Many of our employees work from home or have flexible working hours, allowing them to better balance family and their career. Therefore, the rate of women in management positions is extraordinarily high at the IBB: on the department management level, 82 per cent of executives are female and the rate of women amongst the 43 employees working in site co-ordination is as high as 75 per cent."

The number of employees occupying an executive position, yet working on a part-time basis, is likewise above average. "At the IBB, nobody needs to worry about their career development just because he or she temporarily cuts down on the job in favour of family life", adds Sabine Ulrichs, responsible for personnel development at the IBB.

The exchange of experience regarding family-friendly human resource policy with other enterprises in the network is an important reason for the IBB to join the initiative. After all, family friendliness increases the desirability of a company, promotes the solidarity of employees towards their employer and creates long-term ties between the enterprise and its employees, thus retaining all their special knowledge and experience. It thus is an effective measure to counteract the omnipresent skilled labour shortage.

The initiative "Erfolgsfaktor Familie" consists of four elements: the enterprise network as a central platform for exchange of experience amongst all members, an enterprise competition awarding the most family-friendly businesses in Germany, the initiative "Familienbewusste Arbeitszeiten" (family-conscious working hours) and the sponsorship programme "Betriebliche Kinderbetreuung" (on-site corporate childcare). In future, the IBB will contribute to all four categories its wealth of experience, especially in the areas of organisation of working time, family-conscious management and recruitment marketing.

The Federal Minister of Family Affairs, Dr Kristina Schröder, aptly summarises the initiative's goals on her homepage: "Family-friendly working conditions are a three-fold asset: Mothers and fathers gain - time for responsibility. Enterprises gain - attractiveness as an employer. And our society gains - sustainability and future viability. Let us jointly make family a success factor!" This is a proclamation the IBB wholeheartedly embraces.

The IBB was established in 1984; today, it is one of the largest private providers of education in Germany. Already in 1996, the enterprise was the first supraregional provider of education to receive certification according to DIN ISO 9001 ff. Since six years ago, the IBB maintains its Virtual Online Academy "VIONA®", which focuses on live lessons in virtual classrooms. Here, currently more than 1,500 participants from across the entire nation study daily under the guidance of specially trained tutors. The IBB thus is one of the largest German providers of virtual learning scenarios in the field of vocational education and training.