WU has been continuously implementing measures for improving the balance between work and family life for years, for example by establishing dual-career services, expanding its occupational health management activities, and providing detailed information for employees with responsibilities as family caregivers. “For a large organization such as WU, helping employees achieve a good balance between family life and work is a topic with many different facets. Creating and maintaining improvements in this field requires continuous work and a diverse mix of measures. Under the hochschuleundfamilie audit, we are firmly committed to working towards this goal,” says WU Rector Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger.

More blended learning and family-friendly leadership

In connection with its digitalization strategy, WU plans to increase blended learning options for students and look more closely at the needs of students with caretaking responsibilities. For its employees, WU plans to further promote a family-friendly management culture. WU has also adopted a policy for creating a family-friendly workplace culture. Among other items, this policy includes regulations for family-friendly scheduling, family-friendly meetings, and guidelines for how management personnel should communicate with their teams. WU’s occupational health management measures, which are subject to continuous further development, include a healthy leadership checklist for management staff. WU offers regularly scheduled workshops on balancing work and family life for all employees, and also plans to hold a special focus week to communicate these topics more actively to its employees. Some of the measures implemented previously that have proven to be successful include services such as psychological counselling for employees facing particularly stressful situations and job re-entry coaching for employees who return to their jobs after extended leaves of absence.

An audit for custom-tailored results

The hochschuleundfamilie audit is a framework that supports Austria’s universities in improving the balance between work and family life on a continuous basis. This government certification records all the steps WU is taking to enhance the balance between family life, work, and academic studies, and it also sets targets for further measures. The audit procedure is defined in close detail, and the audit certification is valid for three-year periods and guarantees results tailored to each participating university, based on the specific needs of employees and students.