“Happy employees make children happy”

The Swiss childcare network globegarden has been named a “Best Workplace”, placing it among the country’s best employers. Silke Bührmann explains why that is no coincidence.

Ms Bührmann, globegarden was certified as a Great Place to Work® for the first time in 2021 and in mid-May was named one of Switzerland’s best employers with the “Best Workplaces” label. The assessment was based in part on employee ratings. How do you explain their above-average satisfaction?
Since it was founded in 2009, globegarden has consistently pursued a strategy of setting new quality standards in childcare. A key element of this is offering employees a working atmosphere shaped by mutual respect and trust, one that combines professional and family needs as well as possible.
 
What does that mean in practice?
As the leading childcare network we currently employ more than 800 people from different nations and cultures across our 57 centers in German-speaking Switzerland. Fostering team spirit is essential there. At the same time we always want to convey the feeling of being one large family across all centers. But every individual needs prospects too: that is why we pay particular attention to people starting their careers, offer mothers progressive options for returning to work, provide free training and continuing education, and take care to support a good work-life balance.
 
Does this effort pay off commercially as well?
Yes. An appreciative corporate culture combined with progressive employment conditions leads to lower turnover and, on average, longer loyalty to the employer. That is rather untypical for this sector.
 
As a member of the executive board you are responsible for pedagogy and education at globegarden. How is quality of care connected to employee satisfaction?
Caring for infants and young children is a very enriching, but also a very demanding task. It requires a high degree of emotional, social and pedagogical skill. Accordingly, it is important as an employer to retain not only suitable but also motivated personalities. Alongside concrete employment conditions, mutual appreciation, trust and reliability play a very important role. That carries over to the children, too. They sense when the people close to them are content.

Caring for young children is enriching, but also highly demanding.

Is the work of this profession sufficiently recognised?
No. We saw that again during the pandemic, when it suddenly became clear that the care of young children can be systemically relevant. A rethink is needed, not only regarding what the sector contributes to society, but also how demanding the various roles are. People who are sometimes still very young take on a great deal of responsibility very early in their working lives.
 
On the subject of career starters: what does globegarden do for them?
We are the largest training organisation in childcare in Switzerland, with more than 150 apprentices. We therefore place particular emphasis on a quality-oriented employment policy. For years, for example, each childcare center has employed only one intern on average, which is far below the industry average. All interns are moreover guaranteed an apprenticeship at globegarden once they have completed their probationary period.
 
What does the “Best Workplace” award mean to globegarden?
We are delighted by it and proud of it. We see ourselves as a learning organisation, and accordingly we have the ambition to keep developing and improving. That makes it important to be able to compare ourselves with other excellent companies at home and abroad. We want to understand what we already do well, but also where there is potential for improvement. Assessments like these, as well as the other certifications we undergo regularly and voluntarily in addition to the inspections required by the authorities, always serve as a reference point for whether we are living up to our own high standards.
 
What do the children and parents gain from it?
Despite our strong growth we are a family-run company, led personally by the three founders. Thanks to uncomplicated decision-making structures we can act consistently in an innovation- and quality-oriented way, always with the wellbeing of the child in focus. Parents who entrust their children to us sense that. What matters most to them is that their child feels at ease at the center and is supported in an age-appropriate way.