Application & personnel selection for mothers: women at the stove?

Quotas for women and equal rights are always the subject of heated debates. But neither at work nor in privacy we are as far as many think. Insights into personnel selection in a German company.

Open letter to a person

Recently there was on Edition F one looking open letter by reader Anne-Lu. I became aware of this Nina Kalmeyer via Facebook. The letter was addressed to HR one - unfortunately not mentioned - Companywhere the Boy Ms. applied for a job.

The application documents had apparently convinced, the applicant was for Assessment Center had been invited, had also convinced here. In the final lap it was just her and another male Candidate left, both had to have one Presentation hold.

This is how personnel selection in Germany is

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The description says a lot about how staff selection in Germany actually works:

“Four men and one woman sat at the table. She was the Equal Opportunities Officer and looked at me with a smile. I gave you this Hand and introduced me... Everyone took notes. No one asked further about mine Family, or to our way of life.”

Women belong to the stove?

The constellation is definitely good for intimidation, especially when the gentlemen at the table don't even introduce themselves. But the fat dog in this description is still to come: the woman didn't get the job, you guessed it. She was told behind closed doors that she was after Opinions the HR manager is too inflexible for a 40-hour job - because of her two children.

She wasn't even interested in the fact that the childcare was completely organized by the day care center and her husband - they simply had the drawer in them Head opened and put the applicant inside. Complete. For me, the most blatant statement of the text is in a subordinate clause:

“The catch is my kids. The competitor also had one, but the woman was at home there. ”

German companies: more advanced than expected?

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Studies show that German companies are at least officially more progressive: A study carried out by the office outfitter Regus among 11.000 company representatives from 13 countries worldwide showed that almost half (44%) of the companies in Future plans to take on more part-time jobs Mothers to create those who want to return to work.

German companies are even above the global average: 48% of those surveyed stated that they would like to provide more part-time jobs for mothers returning to work in the next 24 months. It remains to be seen whether it can be seen from this that Germany is a mother-friendly country or whether the information is much more just a pious wish.

India - a mother's heart?

India was the most mother-friendly, with 64% of companies to planto hire more mothers. They are followed by Australia and Mexico with 55% and 54% respectively. With 50% of the companies, China is still ahead of Germany.

Behavior On the other hand, companies in the Netherlands reacted: only 24% expect mothers to be employed more often – the Netherlands thus has the lowest rate.

Germany still needs to catch up

Overall, it is clear that Germany still needs to catch up with the flexible workplace design for mothers. In a study by the World Economic Forum, Germany under 58 shows women's 20 among the employed. Place.

Germany ranks 28th in terms of employment opportunities for women and 3rd in terms of educational attainment. Given that Germany ranks top in most other categories, this is a relatively weak one Performance.

Strong sector differences

The outcome of the study conducted by Regus also differed by country Industry. While in the banking (47%) and manufacturing (47%) sectors more mothers are planning to be hired after maternity leave, fewer companies are willing to do so in the information and communications sector (39%).

This may be due to the fact that the information and communication industry is more of a male domain. Therefore, if there are few women working in this sector, it is not surprising that mothers are less likely to be part-time in this area.

In addition, the study found that 77% of larger companies (with at least 1.000 employees) want to employ more mothers part-time. Among companies with 250-999 employees, this willingness is the lowest with 39%.

wish and reality

Even if companies as part of their Strategy want to hire more mothers against the economic crisis: there are big ones Tasks to cope with during the transition from parental leave back to working life. Workplace flexibility for mothers means their challenges and needs to understand and give them the opportunity to work more productively and with less stress - for example, especially outside of the company premises.

Deep-seated prejudices in the mind

What is exciting, however, is: As one of the most important factors in improving the Work-Life-Balance employees have the flexibility to work either completely or partially independently of the company premises.

The example above, however, shows completely clearthat it was not about flexibility in childcare, but simply about advanced arguments and deep-seated prejudices. And it shows once again where we really stand when it comes to equality in Germany - despite all the discussion on the issue of women's quota.

Better to complain right away?

Perhaps it would have been better, Anne-Lu would have tried the general Equal Treatment Act and had complained about this obvious discrimination - the whole of the media had been accompanied. Then the name of the company would have gone through the press as a frightful example, and perhaps at least some of the people with similar attitudes would have led to some frightened reflection.

Personally, I understand very well that they are these Stress, which is also really expensive. And who would want to work in a company where they have filed a claim? However, this shows only once more that the supposed private Problems many Candidate also have a political dimension. And that's why we have to talk about it. So let's do it!

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