Start-up and family – how to make it work?
Published on August 25, 2020
2 min read
XOM Materials in conversation with Minister for Family Affairs Dr. Franziska Giffey
XOM Materials in conversation with Minister for Family Affairs Dr. Franziska Giffey
Dr. Franziska Giffey, Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, visited the start-up platform "startport" in Duisburg's Inner Harbour on 20th of August 2020. XOM Materials was also involved in an exciting panel discussion on the compatibility of family and entrepreneurship.
As part of this year's summer trip, Family Minister Dr. Franziska Giffey visited startport GmbH, a start-up accelerator for logistics and supply chain based in Duisburg's Inner Harbour last week. It is also the "host" of XOM Materials’ Duisburg location. The question of how to reconcile family and work in a start-up was on top of the agenda, as well as the topic "Women in management positions". The Minister was accompanied by Duisburg's Lord Mayor Sören Link, Mayor Manfred Osenger, SPD Member of Parliament Mahmut Özdemir as well as duisport CEO Erich Staake and startport Managing Director Peter Trapp. In a subsequent panel discussion, representatives of the local start-ups XOM Materials, ForkOn, Limbiq and Heuremo also shared their perspectives and experiences.
(In the foreground from the left: Mayor Manfred Osenger, SPD Member of the Bundestag Mahmut Özdemir, Chairman of the Board duisport Erich Staake, Federal Minister of Family Affairs Dr. Franziska Giffey, Managing Director startport Peter Trapp and behind him Team startport, ForkOn, Limbiq, XOM Materials)
Panel discussion:
What kind of support is needed to achieve a work-family life balance?
Among other things, the discussion focused on the special demands that the start-up sector places on employees and what it means to reconcile entrepreneurship and family life. Can one’s private life perhaps also offer some relieve of the pressures of a demanding job - or is it an additional challenge? How can a good balance be achieved and what kind of support is needed? What skills do you need and how can you acquire them? - The topic raised many important questions.
XOM Materials offers employees with children special support
As a forward-thinking and responsible employer, XOM Materials is keen to address these issues and already offers innovative solutions to support them. After all, 17 out of 50 employees, a good third of the workforce, have children and are confronted with this challenge on a daily basis. A special benefit of the start-up is, for example, a five-day salary continuation in case an employee's child falls ill. With a female share of 38 percent, XOM Materials also shows that the materials industry does not have to be a male domain - which is still the case in many places.
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