Career and family

Our family-friendly personnel policy helps parents strike a better work-life balance. This is a prime concern at GIZ.

Our sustainable and family-friendly personnel policy is designed to set an example and mark us out as a leader in the field of social responsibility. Drawing on the results of the berufundfamilie® audits, we continually adjust this policy to meet the changing needs of our employees. Our efforts in this area have won us the family-friendly company award from the Hertie Foundation on several occasions.

Organising working hours

Working in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development requires both our staff and their families to be mobile and extremely flexible. We therefore support our employees in number of ways in order to help them achieve a healthy work-life balance. This support includes over 350 part-time arrangements, options for organising work on the basis of annualised working hours, long-term working time accounts, flexitime and sabbaticals. A further option is unpaid leave, for instance if a close relative becomes ill. Support for family members who accompany staff on assignments abroad is another important component of GIZ’s family-friendly policy.

Child care

GIZ knows how important child care is to its employees. We opened our own nursery in Eschborn in 1993. ‘Magic Land’ [Zauberland] is open all year round. During the week, children aged one to six are looked after every day until 18:30.

The ‘Kleine Wolkenstürmer’ day nursery followed in Bonn in May 2013. It can accommodate forty children and has similar opening hours. For a trial period, children aged four months and over can attend the nursery. Both facilities are open all year round, giving parents a chance to combine career and family more easily.

At our Bonn and Eschborn offices we have a ‘parent-child office’. If child-care arrangements are unexpectedly cancelled, this enables our employees to bring their children into work with them.

Staying in touch during parental leave

Employees on parental leave are encouraged to stay in contact with the company. During this time, they can conduct staff assessment and development talks with their managers and attend training courses.