Management positions and compatibility - flexibility is key

Family is also an important topic for managers. Living and working environments are changing and employees in management positions also have new demands when it comes to the compatibility and interaction of professional and family responsibilities. The desire to spend more time with the family and to share care responsibilities more equally within the partnership is also increasingly felt by employees in management positions.

The reasons for this lie in new lifestyles in which the tasks in the partnership are no longer so clearly divided between "breadwinner" and "housewife". Women increasingly want to work - even with children and a family - and are putting this into practice more and more. As a result, family tasks now have to be increasingly shared between the partners, and this does not stop at managers.

The proportion of women in management positions is still far too low, but it has slowly increased in recent years. As a result, the management culture in companies is changing. Women are demanding flexible working conditions as a matter of course and are probably also able to enforce this more easily. According to a study by the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB), almost 15 percent of female managers worked part-time in 2009, compared to only 1 percent of male managers.

Overall, however, it seems particularly difficult for managers to implement their own desire for a more family-friendly work organization. The world of work is still dominated by the image that managers' tasks can hardly be associated with shorter or more flexible working arrangements. A very high workload, personnel responsibility, constant availability and responsiveness are just some of the reasons why managers still very rarely reduce working hours - even if only temporarily - in favor of family-related tasks.

In the competition for the best minds, working conditions and family-friendly offers for managers will play an increasingly important role in the future. As a company, you can offer attractive framework conditions for good managers without much additional effort.

Family-friendly solutions particularly suitable for managers

Various studies and surveys show that flexibility is a key issue for managers when it comes to balancing work and family life (see also further reading in the infobox).

It is the flexibility in the organization of working hours and also the flexibility with regard to the place of work that help to combine responsible management tasks with family obligations - such as looking after children or relatives in need of care.

Here are some flexible working models that are particularly suitable for management positions:

• Part-time work: Part-time work does not automatically mean a reduction in working hours by half. A "long" part-time arrangement or even "part-time 'light'" with weekly working hours of between 30 and 35 hours can be an attractive solution for managers. Reducing working hours by just a few hours a week can be a great help, e.g. to pick up a child from kindergarten a few afternoons a week.

• Division of working hours: Not every day has to be the same length in order to fulfill a management task responsibly. For example, alternating long and short working days increases the employee's flexibility for family tasks and at the same time the management task can be performed close to full-time.

• Temporary part-time models: the agreement to reduce working hours does not have to be set in stone forever. Managers often only want to work part-time temporarily, e.g. because a child is still small or a relative needs to be cared for. Life circumstances are constantly changing and working models should always be adapted accordingly.

• Job sharing: In job sharing, two people usually share a workplace (see also the explanations under "Flexible working time models"), which is ideal for management tasks. The position is full-time and there is always a responsible person available, while at the same time the two managers can combine their family commitments with a responsible part-time position. 

• (Partial) mobile working: The permanent personal presence of a manager is no longer absolutely necessary in times of the Internet, email, cell phones and the possibilities of telephone conferences, chats or video telephony. Partial home office or mobile office working is therefore also a good and often desired option for employees in management positions to achieve a better work-life balance.

Overall, it is also important for managers to develop flexible working models that are individually adapted to their specific situation.

If managers in the company have the opportunity to take on family duties in addition to their responsible professional tasks, this can be a great motivation for other employees. Achieving a management position in the company does not mean that family and private life have to be sacrificed. This is an incentive. Managers act as role models and also as figureheads for the company.