GEI Receives Total E-Quality Award

The Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research (GEI) has been awarded the Total E-quality award for the first time in recognition of its commitment to equal opportunities for men and women and to being a family friendly employer. The award is intended to establish equal opportunities as a fundamental, long-term policy. A particular focus is to further the number of women in management positions. In addition to being a family-friendly employer, the aim is to promote equal opportunities in personnel recruitment and development, to promote collaborative relationships in the workplace and to take equal opportunities into account in mission statements and Institutional principles. Equal opportunities are a fundamental pillar of the Leibniz Association and a key component in the strategic development of the research community. At the GEI the commitment to equal opportunities is a keystone of the Institute, as demonstrated by the fact that 71 percent of the academic staff is female, and 66 per cent of the staff in the technical and administrative departments is female. The management positions are equally balanced.

On awarding the Total E-Quality certification the jury said: ‘At the Georg Eckert Institute, equality is firmly rooted in the structure of the organisation - at management level and throughout the Institute’. The success of these programmes is the result of excellent cooperation between the management, the staff council, the equal opportunities officers and the representatives for employees with disabilities at the GEI. Together they have implemented measures that include flexible working hours and education and training courses for diverse career paths.

‘Equal opportunities and the ability for employees to successfully combine work and family life continue to be enormously important, particularly against the backdrop of the digitisation of working life’ said Professor Eckhardt Fuchs, director of the GEI. Equal opportunities are a fixed component of the GEI’s strategic outlook and of the everyday working life of the Institute.

Website Equal Opportunities

Further information on the Total E-Quality logos and their significance can be found here: www.total-e-quality.de/logo/