I frantically grab my bag, clamp the keys between my teeth, dry my daughter’s tears, and zip up the pink zipper. We rush to the car. After dropping the little one off at daycare, I struggle through the honking rush hour traffic. I nervously glance at my watch. “Damn, I’m late again,” flashes through my mind. When I arrive at the office, I quickly grab a coffee. I take a deep breath, collect my thoughts, and get started. I throw myself into my work: preparing a media pitch, team meeting, writing blog articles. Then, shortly before 11 a.m., I get a call from daycare: my little one has thrown up and I have to pick her up immediately. With little hope of understanding, I go to my team leader to ask for the rest of the day off. I briefly brief my colleagues before saying goodbye, feeling guilty towards them. On the way to daycare, I realize that things can’t go on like this. There must be employers who make it possible to balance family and career without stress. So I start searching and find what I’m looking for.

Family and career at thepublic®

At thepublic®, we live and breathe New Work, which goes beyond the familiar concept of trust-based working hours: every day, all publicans not only determine their own working hours, but also their place of work. Of course, this is always done with customers and projects in mind. Nevertheless, this principle enables a largely stress-free work-life balance. And situations such as the one described above do not exist among us publicans. We want to demonstrate this and communicate it to the outside world. We also want to exchange ideas with other companies.

thepublic® is a member of the “Success Factor Family” business network.

That is why we have been a member of the “Erfolgsfaktor Familie” (Success Factor Family) business network since January 2024. The program, which is run by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs in collaboration with leading German business associations such as the BDA, DIHK, and ZDK, as well as the German Trade Union Confederation and other industry and professional associations, aims to make family friendliness a hallmark of the German economy. To this end, the central platform offers opportunities to exchange success stories and experience reports. In addition, practical examples, studies, and guidelines on relevant topics such as working time models, corporate culture, father-friendly personnel policies, and general personnel marketing are offered.

At thepublic®, we are family-friendly. Our colleagues with children and our only father in the team so far can confirm this. However, we are also aware that such a culture, which above all provides security for parents, is by no means a given for all employees. This is one of the reasons why we participate in the “Success Factor Family” corporate program: With our thepublic® New Work approach and the resulting opportunities for stress-free work-life balance, we want to show other companies how it can work in practice. On the other hand, there are certainly other hurdles to overcome, which we can only master if we continue to develop, learn from other successes, and adapt in order to offer even more support as a family-friendly employer. Which brings us to the second important point of membership in the network: becoming even better.

What exactly does thepublic® New Work mean?

At thepublic®, there are no time cards and no attendance requirements. Our New Work approach replaces attendance time with availability and productivity times. At our company, each employee determines their own working hours and location every day. So if your child needs a little longer to wake up in the morning or can’t go to daycare because they have a stomach ache, our mutual trust makes it possible to restructure the daily routine at short notice, as long as the focus remains on customers and projects. Working from home, reliable team and appointment arrangements, and clear substitution rules are standard practice for us. Mobile working is easy thanks to digital tools, Macbooks, and iPhones. Fully digitized workflows, meetings, and data access from anywhere support this. In addition, a staggered return to work at thepublic® after the birth of a child makes it easier to return to work while offering sufficient scope to find your own personal balance between work and family life.

Added value for parents and children

Whether they are of nursery age or in their teens, all children need one thing: a safe environment and time spent with their parents. Even if, as a parent working from home, you can’t always give your child your full attention, simply being present in the next room is an important factor. This creates added value for parents, enabling them to balance family and career. And there is also significant added value for the children: a stress-free daily routine. Our publicans hear this again and again from their children: “It’s great that you’re here.” We therefore consider it forward-looking to engage in dialogue with other companies within the corporate network in order to jointly establish family-friendliness as the standard in the German economy. This also improves the quality of work and job satisfaction.