The City of Offenbach Has Been Awarded the “Family-Friendly Employer of the State of Hesse” Seal of Approval for the First Time

“This state award shows that we, as the city of Offenbach, are on the right track to enabling our employees to achieve a good work-life balance,” says Mayor Dr. Felix Schwenke. “Family-friendliness applies to all stages of one’s professional life—whether returning to work after parental leave, organizing daily family life with children in daycare or school, or caring for relatives who need assistance.” Family-friendliness is also an important location factor: “As a city administration, we compete with other employers in the Rhine-Main region when searching for qualified professionals. For many employees, family-friendliness is an important criterion when looking for a job.”

The award was preceded by a development process lasting several months within the city administration. At the initiative of the Commissioner for Women and Gender Equality, the City of Offenbach participated for the first time in the certification process of the State of Hesse. The focus was on how a modern city administration can continue to develop as an employer in order to better meet the diverse demands of work life and personal circumstances.

To this end, a cross-departmental working group was established, in which twelve employees from various departments volunteered to actively help shape the process. In a series of workshops, they jointly developed goals and key areas of focus for family-friendly human resources and organizational development. The agreed-upon goals were subsequently submitted to the Hessian Ministry of the Interior, Security, and Homeland Protection and recognized as the basis for the award.

The jointly developed goals are aligned with the four areas of focus of the seal of approval: leadership and culture, working hours and work location, information, and employee benefits. Concrete measures will be developed from these areas of focus in the coming years and implemented step by step. The focus is on the practical further development of work and organizational structures within the city administration. In this way, a modern work culture is emerging step by step, one that positions the administration for the future and provides targeted support for employees’ day-to-day work.

Simone Schmoll, the Women’s and Equal Opportunity Officer who coordinated the certification process, particularly highlights the commitment of those involved: “I was especially impressed by the great willingness of colleagues from a wide variety of areas within the city administration to contribute to this process. Despite heavy workloads, they took the time to share their experiences, perspectives, and the realities of their day-to-day work. It was important to us not to dictate the process alone, but to consciously keep it open: The employees are the experts in their respective fields. They know best where structures work in everyday life and where we reach the limits of family-friendliness.

It is precisely this open, cross-departmental approach that has made it possible to jointly develop concrete goals, which now form the basis for our further work. To me, this clearly demonstrates the importance of family-friendliness within the city administration—and just how much potential lies in collaborative planning.”

Receiving this award does not mark the end of the process, but rather the beginning of the implementation phase. In the coming years, the City of Offenbach will further develop the agreed-upon goals and translate them into concrete measures.

The goal is to further strengthen the City of Offenbach as a modern and forward-looking employer and to sustainably promote the balance between work, family, and caregiving.