The new Parent-Child Office gives parents with childcare responsibilities the opportunity to bring their children to work with them in emergency situations or when their regular childcare is unavailable at short notice. The premises are equipped to suit children's needs and at the same time offer a quiet working area for academic work. This bridges the gap between family commitments and professional responsibilities – an important signal for greater compatibility.
“The parent-child office shows that family friendliness is not just a buzzword for us. We want to create an environment where parents and children are equally welcome, because an academic career should naturally be compatible with family life,” explains Iordania Constantinou, professor at the Institute of Microtechnology at TU Braunschweig, who launched the initiative to set up the parent-child office.
The new parent-child office is part of a series of measures with which TU Braunschweig is responding to current developments in the world of work. Home offices, hybrid event formats, flexible working time models, and remote workplaces have long been part of everyday life—also at universities.
Employees can find the parent-child office in room 422 of the PVZ. They can book the room themselves via the Outlook calendar. The office is suitable for children of all ages. Baby toys and a play mat are available for the little ones, and there are numerous other activities for children aged around two to six. Older children can play with building blocks, painting supplies, and larger puzzles. A Tripp Trapp chair also ensures flexible use when feeding. A sleeping area for small children is also available in the form of a foldable bed. For older children, the play sofa offers a place to rest.
In addition to the parent-child office at the PVZ, there is a similar room on the main campus and in the form of the “Still.Bar” on the main campus. There are additional parent-child rooms at Faculty 6 and at the research airport. “The institutes also like to set up their own parent-child offices, but not everyone is always aware of their existence. It's always worth asking if such a facility is currently available. The Family Office is happy to provide support and advice on setting up a new room, as we did at the PVZ,” says Anne-Christin Eggers from the Family Office at TU Braunschweig.
Click here to read the article in the TU Braunschweig magazine.