A good balance between work and private life

The foundation for our cooperation within the company is a positive view of human nature, which is influenced by trust. We believe that employees are basically self-motivated. They enjoy the effort of putting their skills to use and are happy to take on responsibilities. See also Culture of Trust.

We see it as our job to create the conditions in which employees can grow and learn in their own way. Home Office positions (at the moment used by approximately 60 employees), individualized working models and parental leave, part-time hours (43% of all salaried employees work part time, 13% of senior executives), the Kinderhaus childcare center and trust-based working hours (approx. 100 employees with an upward trend) are only some of the models that should help our employees to realize their own approach to life and therefore maintain health and efficiency.

Above all, dependable childcare that is tailored to the needs of parents is needed In order to unite family and career. The company’s in-house childcare center, the VAUDE Kinderhaus, operating in cooperation with the town of Tettnang, has provided exemplary childcare services since 2001.

VAUDE provides the premises for the childcare center and assumes a significant proportion of the investment – about 50,000 euros per year - see Creating Added Value with Commitment. The remaining costs are covered by the city of Tettnang.

Up to 31 children are cared for in a nursery or mixed age groups with after-school supervision.

See VAUDE Kinderhaus

The birthrate at VAUDE has increased significantly since the opening of the Kinderhaus childcare center and is now almost four times as high as the German national average.

In the year 2015 we once again set a record. With 26 births and a birth rate of 53*, we are on a path of sustainable growth in this area as well.

Birthrate Germany 2013: 8.4 **

Birthrate VAUDE 2014: 32.9

Birthrate VAUDE 2015: 53 *

Source

** Calculation of birthrates:

2015: 26 births / 490 employees x 1000

2004: 5 births / 263 employees x 1000

At VAUDE it has become quite normal that throughout the company, parental leave is taken by women and men across all levels of the hierarchy. 36 employees (30 female and 6 male) took advantage of parental leave in the 2015 reporting period.

All 18 employees who had planned to return to their jobs after their parental leave did so. This gives us a return rate of 100%.

To ensure that our employees on parental leave return promptly to work in a way that meets their personal needs, we support dialogue during and after the parental leave period. We organize parental leave meetings between VADUE and employees twice a year in order to maintain contact and encourage dialogue.

We are convinced that we are on the right track and we are proud of it! We are doing nearly everything possible and yet we know that we are dealing with a major company challenge. In our effort for harmony between professional and private life, a strong orientation toward solutions and achievement for all of us is of crucial importance. In order to find a good balance and create orientation, we are currently working on the formulation of corporate expectations of all employees.