I can still remember last spring when Corona “hit us” and for a bit pulled the rug out from under us. Practically everything in this pandemic was new to us, and we were unsettled by many things. Today I would like to show you how Communardo supported the parents of smaller children in particular in this difficult situation, and thus especially appreciated them in their “dual role” as parent and employee.
Communardo had moved very quickly and, from my point of view, quite smoothly to working from the home office. But with the closure of schools and daycare centers from mid-March 2020, new problems piled up in front of all parents:
- organizing care for their offspring within the family (or, with a bit of luck, among relatives or acquaintances)
- ensure that the children suffer the least possible damage, e.g. from the lack of contact with their peers
- “on the side” also do as much as possible for the job.
So to speak, the squaring of the circle was required. And then there was the matter of money: Parents who could not show up for work because of the necessary care of their children and who could not work in a home office were paid wage compensation by the federal government in the amount of 67% of the net income for up to 10 weeks per parent (in Germany). But this only partially compensated for the loss of earnings – should these parents now be left with the remaining loss of earnings in addition to the hard work they had to do?
In this situation Communardo came on the scene with what I consider to be a very successful idea under the motto “employees help employees” to support parents in this issue. The “Communardo Childcare Fund” was founded, into which every employee could “pay in” – in the form of vacation days, overtime or bonus.ly (of course completely voluntarily and anonymously).
The rest is now quickly told. With the help of the funds from the Communardo Fund, the parents’ loss of earnings was replenished. By the way, more than fabulous twenty-four thousand Euros were collected! Of this amount, about 130 full-time days were used by the parents alone, during which they did not have to accept any financial losses despite childcare.
And why am I writing this at all? The problem does not concern me myself (my children are grown up). But for me, it’s important how Communardo positions itself on parenting (and the whole diversity spectrum). And I just think we see a nice example here of how words can be followed by action. Who knows, maybe this can also serve as an inspiration for other companies?
