Work-Life Balance

WACKER is dedicated to helping its employees to successfully integrate their careers and private lives. Our company has a wide range of flextime models, even including a self-regulated system based on trust. Wherever possible, we offer both full-time and part-time jobs. In individual cases, WACKER enables employees to work from home (an option that may be combined with part-time work).

Our employees have access to a variety of leave options and part-time models for personal situations, such as providing care for family members with serious health conditions, pursuing further education or taking a sabbatical. Unpaid leave can be taken up to a maximum period of two years. These arrangements are based on the “Working Life and Demography” collective-bargaining agreement and offer employees a wide range of options for balancing their careers with different stages of their lives.

WACKER was one of the first companies to sign a joint declaration on Germany’s “Family as a Success Factor” business network, which has its origins in an initiative launched by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs and the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce. In this declaration, WACKER commits itself to taking into account the needs of employees with family obligations and to offering suitable support.

We support childcare and the return to work after parental leave. One example is the annual return-to-work workshop at the Burghausen site. Day care and after-school care facilities are available at the Wöhler-Kinderhaus, located very close to the plant. At the Munich and Stuttgart sites, pme Familienservice GmbH helps employees find kindergarten and preschool places.

Since 2016, the service for family emergencies offered by WACKER at all its German sites has been provided by a new, specialized service provider: whether employees themselves or family members fall ill or need nursing care, advice can be obtained from Amiravita GmbH.

WACKER is one of Germany’s most family-friendly companies with more than 500 employees – these are the findings of a survey conducted by Eltern magazine and the Statista statistics website. In 2016, the magazine and the market research firm joined forces to ask roughly 19,000 employees what mothers and fathers expect from their employers. WACKER received three of a possible four points in each of the following categories: “Work-life balance,” “Flexible working hours” and “Would you recommend your employer?” Those results make the Group one of 274 companies in Germany to receive the “Best Companies for Families” seal of approval.