What does “family friendly” actually mean? Everything that serves, accommodates and promotes the family and equality is family friendly. In the world of work, it is important to take into account the needs and concerns of families, to foster a good work-life balance and promote equality. 

Both men and women benefit from a good work-life balance

A good work-life balance is no longer something that primarily affects mothers. It is also seen by many working men and women in different life situations as an important element of individual aspirations. More and more fathers want to reduce their working hours or organize them more flexibly. In this respect, family-friendly measures help employees to share childcare tasks and to achieve equality in their private lives as well. There is also a growing number of employees who look after relatives who require care. 

Examples of family-friendly measures

Family-friendly companies create family-friendly working conditions. The measures include, for example, flexible working time models such as weekly working hours or flexitime, part-time employment, home office or childcare options such as daycare centers. 

Family-friendly and competitive

Companies that invest in family friendliness have a clear competitive advantage, as they are perceived as attractive employers. This is particularly beneficial in times of a shortage of skilled labour. And they ensure that employees are happy, motivated and committed. This has a positive impact on the company. In the Prognos study titled “New opportunities for compatibility!”, 82 percent of the companies surveyed indicated that childcare is a key factor for their company’s productivity.  

A family-friendly corporate culture is essential

But offering family-friendly measures alone is not enough. These can only be effective if it is widely and generally accepted that employees will make use of them. In other words, family friendliness must be anchored in the corporate culture and actually put into practice. 

Interview with Stefanie Haag, Sustainability Manager at PostFinance, and Anja Magariños, Employer Branding Lead

What makes PostFinance a family-friendly company?

Stefanie Haag: At PostFinance, it’s primarily the opportunity to work part-time, to have flexible working hours (thanks to flexitime models, for example), covering of childcare costs, maternity and paternity leave that goes beyond the statutory minimum, the striving for equal pay  and the general family-friendly culture in the company. There are also offers such as the holiday week in Bern and support for individual regional childcare services during the school holidays, which make PostFinance a family-friendly company, as well as pilot projects such as “Learning programming” in the eduLab. PostFinance offers employees who have children in their care a lot of work flexibility. Ultimately, however, it is also up to the employees themselves to make the best possible use of this flexibility.

In what ways does the family-friendly culture at PostFinance show itself? Can you give us an example?

Stefanie Haag: All parents are familiar with the situation where their child falls ill, they can’t find childcare at short notice and as a result have to postpone or cancel a meeting. Our leaders and teams are accommodating and understanding in such situations. Another example of our family-friendly culture is the high proportion of men we have working part-time compared to other banks. There is a high level of acceptance of part-time work – regardless of gender. This is important in order to break down traditional role models so that men can also get involved in some of the childcare. PostFinance also offers the opportunity to take up management positions as a co-lead. 

Why are family-friendly measures so important?

Stefanie Haag: They make it easier for employees with children to organize themselves and perhaps also increase their work level. Mothers in particular often work a 60 percent work level without realizing that a 70 percent work level is often regarded as the critical lower limit for obtaining more responsible projects or to get promoted. With family-friendly working conditions such as home office, part-time and flexitime, you can organize your own working hours. More specifically, this means that anyone who increases their work level from 60 to 70 percent, for example, is free to decide how, when and where they do the additional 10 percent.

In practice, what are the challenges of achieving a work-life balance?

Anja Magariños: Although PostFinance offers family-friendly working conditions, we are still unable to recruit enough women for management positions. We offer the opportunity to make a career even with a part-time work level. As an employer, we want to offer a lot of flexibility in this respect, and our leaders encourage this. Ultimately, however, you have to take the step yourself.

Try something out for a change

How can PostFinance provide its employees with even better childcare support? New ideas are constantly being tried out. Some are not retained, such as setting up a company daycare center. Others have been implemented, such as a childcare service for the “Welcome Day” or the Wednesday afternoon programme “Learning programming” in the eduLAB. The latter was organized for children of PostFinance employees in spring 2020. Our video shows how the kids and their parents benefited from it.

Short interview with the eduLAB founders Andrea Berset and Miriam Wälti

What can children and young people expect at eduLAB?

We offer programmes for pupils, apprentices and children who would like to gain skills that they can use later in a playful way over three days as a school class or in their free time. Using the design thinking process, the kids learn skills relevant for the future such as creativity, communication, cooperation, critical thinking and the ability to innovate. They work in a team on a project of their own choice and present it at the end in a snappy pitch. We work with secondary school students in our future lab. Here, participants use the Design Your Life method to develop their personal future, get to know themselves, their strengths, interests and skills better, taking an important step towards building a bridge to their future working environment or lifestyle.

What joint projects have PostFinance and the eduLAB carried out so far?

We began with an afternoon programme for the children of PostFinance employees in the form of an innovation workshop. There were focus areas on offer such as LEGO building, creative afternoons, Girls rule the world – find your superpower, making Christmas gifts, first programming with MakeyMakey or designing sketch notes and learning journals. The aim of the programme was to support parents in childcare and promote equal opportunities. This was followed by the programme “Girls rock ICT: for the movers and shakers of tomorrow!” in the 2024 holiday week, which introduces girls aged between 12 and 14 to ICT professions in a fun and easy way. 

What are the benefits of such projects for the children, the parents and the employer?

The children can acquire skills that are important for the future in a playful way. They broaden their horizons and learn to identify their strengths. Our supervised programmes discharge parents from childcare and give them the peace of mind that their children are learning something valuable during that time. And employers are likely to benefit from greater employee loyalty. 

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