For Ramboll it is clear - only satisfied, committed employees develop creative ideas and innovative approaches to solutions. That's why Henrike Jürs, Senior HR Business Partner at Ramboll Germany, believes that it is important to provide all employees with various measures and tools to promote their well-being.
Auntie is a valuable building block that promotes open and respectful interaction within the company and tells employees: "It's okay to talk about problems.“
Since opening its first office in Hamburg in 2000, Ramboll has also been growing strongly in Germany. However, the roots of the company lie in Denmark, where Ramboll was founded in 1945. The core themes that founders Børge Johannes Rambøll and Johan Georg Hannemann focused on from the beginning were equal innovation and social responsibility. Their passion developed into a globally active consulting company with over 16,000 employees, which has never lost its sustainable approach.
The Corona pandemic has changed our everyday working life
Like most of us, Henrike Jürs and the staff at Ramboll are feeling how the impact of the outbreak at the beginning of 2020 has changed our everyday working lives. For an innovative company like Ramboll, home office was already self-evident, but the double burden that resulted for many from the new situation was a new challenge.
In the challenging time of the Corona pandemic, we were looking for a tool to help our staff and managers ease the new double burden of work-life balance.
Even during this difficult time and and beyond, it is clear that the mental health and resilience of the staff play a key role.
Germany still talks far too little about mental wellbeing
According to Henrike Jürs, it is still not easy to talk about mental health issues in Germany, especially in the workplace, the topic of mental wellbeing is still an absolute taboo. And this despite the fact that sick leave due to mental stress in Germany has been increasing steadily for many years.
"In addition to this, most health care providers on the German market offer solutions that primarily aim to combat negative impacts, instead of using preventive and effective improvements." This is exactly where Auntie comes in, where employees receive support before their stress and challenges lead to serious problems.
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Anonymous, simple and fast
"I was looking for a solution that could achieve maximum impact with minimum effort. Moreover, it should be absolutely anonymous and would not have negative connotations", Henrike Jürs reports.
In the end, she was also convinced by the "unagitated" and non-stigmatising offer of the Auntie Service, which focuses on self-efficacy and improvement. "It's just ideal for us; anonymous, simple, quick." Auntie does not collect any personal data and does not communicate to the employer which employee contacted an Auntie Professional and why. The only metric Auntie shares with Ramboll's HR department, and the most important, is in which of the six business areas the services are used. As a result it is easy to evaluate which teams need additional support and to act accordingly.
"In fact, there was one area where an above-average number of Auntie Packages were used. And it is precisely from this team that we have already received feedback of some positive effects", Henrike is pleased to report. Henrike was also convinced by the fast implementation and the intensive support of Auntie: "I am thrilled with the Auntie customer service, which implemented my wishes and suggestions at all times. In addition, the service was carried out by German-speaking professionals and the communication with the colleagues was also done by a German employee.“
Auntie perfectly complements Ramboll's existing benefits
At Ramboll, well-being at work and a good work-life balance have always played a major role. There is no such thing as a typical "German after-work", but instead there is trusting atmosphere in which everyone can organise their own working day in accordance with the client and project requirements. In addition, there are various measures and programmes that promote health and well-being and thus also contribute to identification of the employees with the company.
These include services such as training in setting up an ergonomic workplace, sports and physical activities as well as the opportunity to use a job bike. However, the focus is on a regular anonymous survey of all employees, which is evaluated on a team-specific basis. The company uses the resulting suggestions and conclusions to implement further improvements.
By using Auntie we want to maintain the mental well-being of our employees and offer them the opportunity to tackle challenges with the help of professional support,” says Henrike, describing the situation in the company.
From work-life balance to work-life blending
For Henrike Jürs, it is clear that Auntie will continue to play an important role in the services offered to the staff by Auntie. Especially in highly motivated teams who can freely plan their working hours, it is important to organise everyday life so that no overloads are generated and that private life is not neglected.
This is precisely where Auntie can help. "It's often a subtle process towards burnout and overexertion. In project management, important decisions often have to be made outside of working hours, so the boundary between work and private life becomes blurred. These two areas are interconnected and that's why we should talk about work-life integration or work-life blending. We therefore want to offer our employees support where they need it, and this help must be as individual as possible. And this is exactly what Auntie offers us.”
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