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Living diversity also means questioning and breaking out of traditional gender roles. Manuel, Charlotte and Carina believe gender should not play any role in professional and private life decisions.
Manuel: Temporary stay-at-home dad
Manuel Pfister has been working at PSW in the field of wiring system development since 2019, is married and lives near Eichstätt. When his daughter was born in 2021, it was clear to him straightaway that he wanted take parental leave and enjoy this first phase of his young family. In the interview below, he tells us more about his experiences and the support he received in reconciling work and family life.
Manuel, how long did you take parental leave?
I took parental leave for a year from the birth of my daughter in May 2021.
What do you remember most about those early days with your daughter?
I can still clearly picture her first attempts at crawling or when she spoke her first words. There are so many emotional moments when you are able to watch such a small person learning something new and making progress every day. I think you have to enjoy every minute with your child as time passes so quickly.
What is your advice to other fathers who are considering parental leave?
I wouldn't spend too much time thinking about it, but just take advantage of the opportunities offered by your employer. You can never repeat this first time with your child and in the 21st century it should no longer be a question of whether men or women take parental leave.
How was the off and onboarding in the projects at PSW before and after your parental leave?
Offboarding went very smoothly. We agreed on a time plan in advance so that I could hand over my topics to my colleagues. We were able to cover this well in the team and my “deputies” were all people who had been involved for quite a while in the projects and were familiar with the structures and processes. Things happened very quickly when I returned to PSW. I was able to get working on my projects right away.
What was your perception about the company's support for your parental leave?
The support was excellent. I had full support from the first thoughts about taking parental leave to returning to work afterwards. Especially when it came to applications and deadlines, I was always able to report to the HR department without a guilty conscience and I received a quick answer from the HR manager responsible for the numerous questions I had.
In 2023 Manuel is taking time off for two more years of parental leave – we wish you a great time with your family!
Charlotte & Carina: Managerial style has nothing to do with gender
In addition to the freedom to make family decisions, PSW also supports employees in their individual career paths and offers a wide range of opportunities. In the following interview, Charlotte Trost, Head of the Legal / Insurance Management Department and Carina Ottinger, Head of Project and Department Controlling, talk about their understanding of leadership, their careers at PSW and chance encounters at the coffee machine.
At PSW, those who are motivated always have opportunities to develop their skills through further training.
What does “leadership” mean to you?
Carina: For me, leadership above all means that I create the right conditions so that my employees can perform optimally and enjoy their work. It is also important to me to promote the strengths and thus the self-confidence of my employees. Project controlling is sometimes understood as a pure service provision. However, we have an important management function because we develop appropriate decision-making options based on analyses. It is important to me that my employees structure their working day with this in mind.
Carina, you have been working at PSW since 2008 and started as a clerk. Today you lead a team of eight. How have you gained your leadership skills over the years?
Carina: On the one hand through further education and training. PSW has a wide range of offerings here and, especially in recent years, there has been a very strong focus on leadership. On the other hand, it’s something that I have just grown into through applying the principle of “learning by doing”. And of course, I have learned a lot from my superiors.
Charlotte, you have been at PSW since January 2020 and are now in charge of the Legal / Insurance Management Department. What does “leadership” mean to you?
Charlotte: For me, leadership means recognising employees’ individual skills and strengths and making sure that they can develop their potential with the right tasks while enjoying their work. In this context, communication is particularly important to me. I can't provide leadership if I don't engage in a dialogue. That's why I attach great importance to transparency and dealing openly with each other.
Leadership styles can be very individual and, in my opinion, have more to do with someone’s personality (...) than gender.
A keyword here is communication. Working together has become more digital. Meeting face-to-face in the office is becoming less common. How has this changed your leadership role?
Carina: We have to think about communication more consciously. It is no longer something that just occurs, as in the past. When everyone was still working in the office, employees could just come to my office if they had any issues. For this reason, I think it makes sense to hold a team meeting two or three times a week.
Charlotte: I cannot agree more. I think it is important in a leadership position that you plan professional and personal dialogue even more. For example, by holding more regular meetings or team meetings. This is how to succeed in working together digitally.
Carina: Definitely, we all enjoy the flexibility of working away from the office, but it's always nice to bump into someone at the coffee machine.
Do women lead differently to men?
Charlotte: I don’t think so. Leadership styles can be very individual and, in my opinion, have more to do with someone’s personality or a preferred leadership style than gender.
Carina: I can only agree. Of course, the proportion of men in the engineering services industry is very high, especially in technical areas. But in my career so far, I have not had the experience that management styles are fundamentally different.
What opportunities does PSW offer women in particular to take on a leadership role?
Carina: As already mentioned, the engineering services industry is very male-dominated, but a lot has changed in recent years. When I started at PSW, there were maybe six women, today there are several hundred. And during that time, I never felt like I had fewer opportunities as a woman. On the contrary: if you are motivated there are always opportunities at PSW to develop your skills through further training.
Charlotte: Absolutely. There is a wide range of training courses and further education at PSW. Especially on the topic of leadership, so that line-managers can constantly develop their skills.
Last question: what advice would you give to young managers?
Charlotte: Stay open-minded for new things, critically evaluate your performance and always listen to your employees.
Carina: Take the time to explain things as they are. Anyone who communicates clearly and authentically will be rewarded with the trust of employees.
Women’s Empowerment @PSW
Women's empowerment is an important focus of our diversity strategy, so that even more women can follow the example of Carina and Charlotte and the teams at PSW can become more diverse. PSW's first women's network, PSW_WE was launched in 2022 with the aim of creating even better conditions in dialogue with the company for more diverse teams at all levels of the organization.
A network as a platform for dialogue
PSW_WE offers all PSW’s female employees a platform to exchange information in an informal setting, to discuss common topics and to receive new stimuli and input from external business coaches. “The automotive sector is still a very male-dominated industry. At PSW women currently make up around 20 percent of the workforce. However, we are convinced that diversity is a real success factor, both for project success as well as for our corporate culture,” explains Sascha Hattemer, Board Member for Personnel, Legal and Organization. “As members of the board, we want to send a clear signal with this network that we want more women at PSW and also more women in management positions.” The aim is to have a lively dialogue in order to create even better conditions for women.
Around 60 women employed at PSW took part in the network's kick-off event in November and learned more about the advantages of diverse teams in the key-note speech given by business coach Ms. Kinga Bartczak. They also received suggestions for personal branding to enable them to optimally make use of and show their own potential and qualifications. In the discussion that followed, participants exchanged individual experiences from the world of work.
“Visibility is about effectiveness. For this reason, it is important to create a network of strong and creative female role models. At PSW_WE, multipliers, innovators and mentors join forces. Together we will continue to develop and find solutions to today's structural problems through intensive dialogue,” says speaker Kinga Bartczak.
