Right at Home Between the Worlds

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#Beschäftigte & Sicherheit|  4 Min.

Right at Home Between the Worlds

Flexible Working Hours, a Knack for Organization, and Self-Discipline: This is How You Reconcile Your Family and Your Job

For Dr. Matthäus Wuczkowski it is quite normal to ride his bicycle on his daily commute between his workplace at NPorts’ Headquarters and his apartment in Oldenburg. Often times, he drops off his son beforehand at the kindergarten or picks him up afterwards. To the Sustainability Manager, the smooth transition between job and private life is a life principle.

When Dr. Matthäus Wuczkowski applied for the job of a Green Port Officer at the Port of Emden in 2016, his wife was pregnant with their second child. His slightly unorthodox request to take parental leave while still in his probation period was not open for delay: The baby's birth was non-negotiable. “We have no grandparents in the area, and I had to commute to Emden every day. It was my challenge to juggle the new job and the new life situation.” Dr. Matthäus Wuczkowski asked for parental leave while working part-time: A few hours of work each day and a few hours of parental time - this is how he started to build the sustainability area at NPorts.

The PhD economist soon came to an agreement to choose a broad approach, so that sustainability could not only be introduced in Emden, but in the entire company: “I found it exciting to be able build a whole new area at NPorts from scratch: Strategy, projects, measures for the maritime environment. This is awesome!”

Nowadays, Matthäus Wuczkowski has long been back to full-time work, which is far from the ‘daily grind’. Because only when you make the work times flexible to some degree, you can manage the workload that he encounters at his large construction sites successfully. His day often runs in multiple time blocks: When he wants to spend some time with the children once in a while, he moves his project work into the home office, even in the evening hours. The chance to freely schedule his time, Matthäus Wuczkowski views as a success: “It pays to speak transparently and openly with your superiors about it”, recommends Wuczkowski.

His family is quite satisfied with the flexible division of time. Once or twice a week, he works at his home office. “To me, it's easy to jump around between the different worlds. I’m there, when I’m needed. And I am more present as a father.” Together with his working wife, Matthäus Wuczkowski plans ahead for the week in regard to important appointments: Child care, school, pediatrician, what have you. “In the beginning, we all had to find our ways. The kids had to learn: Dad is here, but work dad is not play dad.”
 

Zertifikat berufundfamilie

 

Good planning and self-discipline is indispensable for his multi-faceted tasks at NPorts. Sustainability is a classic cross-sectional topic, and Matthäus Wuczkowski works closely together with many male and female colleagues in specialized departments and in all of NPorts’ ports. He is involved in numerous projects and he even pushes research and development works with external partners. In addition, there are international and national project meetings and conferences that he intends to represent NPorts at.

He is convinced: “Most people here don’t even realize, where I am currently working. I am always on the road, but yet, I’m there. Many things are done by phone or video conferences”. But even in everyday-work life, presence and visibility for Matthäus Wuczkowski are everything: “You have to take people along, enthrall them, talk to them, and: listen. Sustainability is not a job you do. You have to really live sustainability.”

Matthäus Wuczkowski knows that his flexible working hour model cannot be applied to every work place at NPorts: But I believe that in every work place there is something that can facilitate your life and bring more balance between job and family - even for industrial jobs. The family-friendly offers at NPorts are there, and they continue to be developed. We just need more people, especially managers, that dare to lead the way as role models.”

 

 

 

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