FamilyForward: New initiative supports employees on parental leave

With the start of parental leave, the connection to the company is initially completely cut off. Only when you start again do you find out what has changed for the company during that time, but also for your own situation. BurdaForward wants to change exactly that. The "FamilyForward" initiative is aimed specifically at employees who are leaving their jobs for a certain period of time for family reasons. Tanja zu Waldeck, COO at BurdaForward, and Julia Deutsch, who works in Business Development, want to change exactly that. They have set themselves the task of paving the way for employees to re-enter the company in the best possible way through regular exchange formats.

As a mother of four and COO of BurdaForward, I know the challenges of combining family and career. That is why it is particularly important to me to maintain contact with our employees during parental leave and thus also to avoid concerns about a complicated re-entry. By giving them the opportunity to stay in touch with the company during this time and thus develop further, we not only support the individual careers of our talents, but also strengthen the company as a whole.“

In an interview with Julia Deutsch, we find out what is behind the FamilyForward initiative. 

How did the idea for FamilyForward come about? 

During my own two parental leaves, there was no structured information offer for employees who were taking some time off from work for family reasons. It was up to the colleagues themselves whether and how they stayed on the ball during parental leave and continued to stay in contact. In addition, at BurdaForward, as a digital media company, we work in such a fast-moving environment that an incredible amount happens and changes within a year.  

After my return, my boss Tanja zu Waldeck, herself a mother of four children, approached me with the wish to develop an offer for employees on parental leave. Without further ado, we founded the FamilyForward initiative and had the first virtual meeting with 12 colleagues on maternity and parental leave in January.     

How are parents (on parental leave) supported at BurdaForward? 

BurdaForward is an extremely family-friendly employer and offers parents and families an incredible amount. In addition to the "hard facts", such as a kindergarten allowance of up to €200 per month or an annual children's day on which the children can experience many exciting things and get to know the parents' field of work, I would like to emphasise the "soft facts" in particular:

Leadership positions and exciting training opportunities for part-time employees are no exception at BurdaForward. It's a great feeling to know that my employer supports me so strongly as a mother and my family and responds to family concerns with flexibility and understanding. Be it the free allocation of working hours or meetings where I sometimes have my three-year-old child on my lap, even if it's with our CEO Oliver Eckert.  

What is the biggest challenge and the biggest learning (so far)? 

The biggest challenge so far has been the German bureaucracy, as we were unable to contact the colleagues concerned for data protection reasons.

The biggest learning so far is the realisation of how important it is to establish networks for individual groups of people. The parents from our FamilyForward initiative gain an incredible amount from the exchange among themselves.