Listening to Lars Burmeister: Two years as a part-time boss

Lars Burmeister is a Team Supervisor at REHAU's Scandium plant, and last year he already gave us an insight into how he shares childcare with his wife on a part-time basis. We were curious and found out in a follow-up interview what has happened since then with him and at REHAU.

You started with 30 hours part-time and said in the May 2022 interview that you would soon reduce to 20 hours. Did that mean there were any big changes again in your position and in collaboration?

No, I was allowed to continue performing my function and duties. Of course, however, the plant organisation had to compensate accordingly for the further reduction in working hours and, amongst other things, fewer projects and topics could be handled by my direct execution. Of course, there was quite a bit of organisation involved, but my approach to working days / attendance times had become well established with my colleagues, and my Supervisor had great confidence in me.

Despite working fewer hours per week, my own commitment as well as my standards for work results were high. If there was a lack of time, I communicated this directly and received support - so a big thank you also goes to my teams and colleagues for their very good support and collaboration.

Were there other employees who followed your example and wanted to take time off for their families?

I know two colleagues from specialist departments in direct support of the plant who have also reduced their hours to improve their work-life balance in relation to their partners and thus also to be able to spend more time with their family.

What else would you like to share about work-life balance?

I think everyone should find the necessary and appropriate balance between work life and private life for themselves and their family. From my point of view, it is important in today's world that not only one family member should take a back seat when wanting to have children, but that a fair and appropriate balance is lived here.

For me, it is also important to communicate that part-time work is just as high-quality work as full-time employment. We often have prejudices in our minds about this.

How could REHAU provide even better support when it comes to part-time work or similar topics?

We have the necessary value framework for working in part-time models at REHAU and it is already being lived in various areas also at the plant. Making the management culture more flexible is certainly an important lever here. The openness for part-time models has to get into the heads of the managers in order to motivate employees accordingly and also to retain them in the long term.

Nevertheless, the areas of application and the framework conditions of the individual departments, subject areas, projects, responsibilities, etc. must be considered separately and are simply different. Thus, part-time models are not possible across the board for every position and must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. I can only encourage everyone to approach their manager and HR if they have a personal requirement and to seek a discussion.

Finally, I would like to ask you for a conclusion after 2 years of part-time work at REHAU.

The past two years have been a valuable and important enrichment for me and my family. With the chosen model, it was possible to support each other in the partnership, to be there for the family on an equal footing and to be able to develop on an equal footing.

After these two years, I increased my working hours again and made arrangements with my wife regarding drop-off and pick-up times at the kindergarten, as well as general working hours and duration within the week, so that we can take care of the children alternately in the afternoon and spend time together accordingly. This is possible because REHAU offers the flexibility of flexitime.

For us as a family, there is no blanket solution for the future. We always adapt to life situations and consider at the appropriate time what we can and must readjust in order to find the best possible solution for everyone involved.

Dear Lars, thank you very much for the nice conversation and the insights into your environment.

You can find the first interview with Lars here.