We at Unic know that balancing your work and personal life can be a challenge, and as an employer, we’re passionate about getting it right. That’s why we offer our staff a trust-based work environment that is tailored to their requirements and situations. Our employees really appreciate the high level of flexibility around working time and workspace set-up and make active use of it. In this way, we create a framework offering equal room for both personal and professional lives.
In the following, we find out more about individual colleagues’ requirements and look at all the options Unic offers.
Read More on How Corinne Wydler-Roelli Sees Work-life Balance at Unic.
Introduction
I have been with Unic since April 2016, am a passionate Senior Frontend Developer and am known to love effective, efficient and sustainable frontend design. I have a 60 per cent part-time position and get to arrange those three days of work the way it suits me best – sometimes I work at the office in Zurich, and sometimes I work from home. Alongside my different roles at Unic and my core tasks, I lead a fulfilling family life with my husband and two daughters.
Smart Work
Smart work has become a bit of a buzzword. What it means is optimising your own way of working while increasing job satisfaction. To do this, our staff members use new technologies and developments in peripheral devices they’re already familiar with to reduce their overall workload and create more breathing space.
How flexibly can you arrange your working time at Unic?
I work on three fixed days since I share the care work with my husband who also has a 60 per cent part-time job. I really appreciate the flexibility I have in distributing my workload. It is up to me whether I work fixed full days, fixed half days or complete a fixed amount of work on x days per week. I find the solutions for parents particularly helpful. After my parental leave, I got to choose when to go back to work and what kind of workload I felt comfortable with.
After my maternity leave, I got to choose when to start again and what workload I felt comfortable with.
Corinne Wydler-Roelli, Senior Frontend Developer, Unic
How do you achieve a good balance between working in the office and working remotely?
At the moment, I mostly work from home, even though I do miss having lunch with the Unic team. But right now, this is just the easiest option, because the commute takes a full hour and it is much easier to drop off and pick up my kids from daycare this way. Plus, to be honest, working in a project team distributed across several locations makes it easier to work from home. In Zurich, I would hardly ever meet anyone from my project. All our meetings are online now and it works like a charm.
Which of the many technologies and tools available do you draw on for support?
The tools we use and the way we have organised our work in the project enable me to decide whether I want to work from home or the office. I can use the time I would usually spend commuting to see my family and get some exercise.
Work-life Balance
To achieve a good balance between your work and personal life, you need to plan well and be prepared to compromise. This is something everyone needs to figure out individually.
How do you personally achieve that balance?
The freedom that Unic as an employer grants me makes many things easier. I sleep more, I get to spend more time with my family; I also have more time for myself, which in turn gives me the energy to master the challenges in our project successfully. It is this give-and-take that helps me balance things so well.
How does Unic support you as an employer?
There are no compulsory office days, and everyone gets to decide when they work. I can do shorter days without feeling guilty, for instance, on the days when the kids are in daycare. And I just make up for that time on a different day. But I get to do this guilt-free. I can also take paid leave when one of my children is sick. This is also the law, but at Unic, everyone understands if you need to take time off for a family emergency. It makes working together much easier and takes away a lot of pressure.
There are no compulsory office days, and everyone gets to decide when they work – which allows me to shift my working hours when important things come up, not the other way around.
Corinne Wydler-Roelli, Senior Frontend Developer, Unic
Flexible Working Time Models
Fortunately, flexible working time models are no longer the exception.
And yet we often see that people very much appreciate having the flexibility to adjust their workload to suit their home situation.
How do you distribute your workload?
Since February, I have been working 60 per cent part-time. After nine months of parental leave, I started with a 40 per cent part-time position, which is how we did it with our first child, too. I really appreciate that I can flexibly adapt my hours to the situation I am in. I am very happy to have Unic as an employer, supporting me in every phase of my life.
When you work part-time, you run the risk of taking on more work than your working model actually allows. How do you achieve balance in your daily life?
Thanks to good planning in the team, it has always worked out well so far. With my part-time model, I never take on more than one project, though. Otherwise, the ratio of meeting time to working time would just not work out for me.
Leave and free time
At Unic, we see flexible workloads and working times as a given. As well as taking unpaid leave, employees can purchase additional time off.
This option has been very well received. You’ve made use of it, too. Is it a valuable addition to your existing leave quota?
Very much. If, for example, you are on parental leave, you can take unpaid leave and spend more time with your family. However, you can only do that for full months. This year, I am purchasing additional time off to be able to have six full weeks off, before our older daughter starts nursery school and we will have to stick to school holidays. And even though project work is hectic, this type of holiday planning works really well, whether it is unpaid leave or purchased time off.
Summary of Work-life Balance at Unic
What’s your take on work-life balance at Unic?
Well, the icing on the cake would be a shorter workday before public holidays, because the nursery school and many shops in Switzerland also close early. But so far, we have always managed okay.
Which freedoms do you particularly appreciate?
The general flexibility.
Spotlight on
It is the people who make Unic and drive it forward. The section "Spotlight on" gives an insight into what distinguishes our experts. They not only present their field of expertise, but also show their very personal perspectives and tell us what drives them and what fascinates them.
