background
Mothers in particular often work less than they would like to. In times of an increasing shortage of skilled workers, this is a contradiction. But employers can help to dissolve it.
The young mother Lisa Atzenbeck is creative, has team spirit and has shown perseverance more than once with her two-year-old son. Actually, the studied cultural scientist with these qualities would be a perfect employee – if only she could work as much as she would like. But she had to learn quickly: As a mother, even in a big city like Munich, it’s not easy to get back into the job market. Although they are looking for staff on every corner here.
Only every second mother is gainfully employed
Many parents in Germany may feel reminded of their own lives by this example. While just eight percent of working fathers work part-time, only every second mother has a paid job at all. And according to the Federal Statistical Office, almost 70 percent of those who do are employed part-time.
Not only are these mothers often stuck in jobs for which they are actually overqualified; they also pay little into the pension fund, which threatens them with poverty in old age. What’s more, all too often they put their personal dreams and desires aside.
The classic model is often simpler
Monika Wegat is a job coach at “Power M”, a Munich careers advice center for women. She encounters such missed opportunities and secret desires every day; Wishes that got lost in the hustle and bustle of having children and family life. “These wishes often turn into later regrets,” she reports. Wegat therefore advises all parents-to-be: “The most important aspect is actually to actively ensure the compatibility of family and work.”
Because many couples are surprised by how difficult it is to be equal parents, she says. And how easy it is to slip into the classic distribution of roles: the father might take parental leave for a month or two because he doesn’t know any other way. After that he goes back to work full time. Often because he sees an obligation to bring the money home.
Millions of people in the “silent reserve”
Accordingly, the mother first takes care of the first child, then the second – and then, after a few years, is unsure at home: “What can I actually do? And how does the job market look at the moment?” If this family also includes one of the approximately 378,000 children nationwide for whom, according to the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, there is no place in a day care center or day care, then the way to the so-called “silent reserve” is often paved.
The “silent reserve” in Germany includes more than three million people. You could work, but you don’t. At the same time, however, they do not register as unemployed, so they are invisible to the job placement service. This is often due to the care or nursing needs of family members. And: “Many of these people no longer dare to approach the labor market,” reports Coach Wegat from their everyday work.
Mobilizing these three million people would be enormously rewarding. According to the research institute of the Federal Employment Agency, IAB, there are currently almost two million jobs for them that companies cannot fill in the medium term. A gap that is generally described with the word “shortage of skilled workers” and is likely to develop into a major problem for the economy in the next few years.
Encourage the parents
So the situation is complex. According to Wegat, it can only be dissolved if it is made easier for families to “actively ensure the compatibility of family and work”, as she describes it. But politicians and companies would have to play an active role in this. They would have to set an example that having children and starting families is okay or even desirable – and not an obstacle.
This is the only way employees can build trust in their companies in the medium term and be retained there. A good possibility here are reintegration programs and, above all, open communication that encourages the parents. This is not done with money alone.
“I want to be able to afford things myself”
The young mother Atzenbeck experienced just such open communication: with the head of the theater where she worked 40 hours a week before her son was born. The two have agreed on a middle ground: while the son is cared for 25 hours a week – Atzenbeck could not book more time – she works in the theater in the mornings to look after the social media presence and take care of ticket reservations.
Even if she doesn’t quite fulfill it – the organizational effort is worth it to her: “Because I’m me. And not just my partner’s wife. And I want to be able to afford things myself and go to work for them,” she says. And Atzenbeck will take the next step together with the careers adviser: Lisa wants to set up an agency to manage artists independently. First of all, she takes care of the right infrastructure herself.