Family Time:
How to Manage three Kids and two Jobs
How do Kristin and Walter Bierlmaier manage to juggle three kids and two jobs? Mutual support, flexible working hours, home office days, and a daycare center located directly on the ProSiebenSat.1 campus.
It’s one of those hot summer days when the best idea is just to take off after work and go swimming. In the early afternoon, the Bierlmaier family meets up for ice cream in the ProSiebenSat.1 cafeteria. Walter works as a Senior Product Manager at ProSiebenSat.1 TV Deutschland, and Kristin is Deputy Head of Live Cooperations and Head of Ticketing Sales at Starwatch Entertainment. Kristin picked up the children a short while ago at “Telezwerge”, the campus daycare center just a stone’s throw from her office. They are now going to have some ice cream with their dad before heading for the swimming pool.
All three kids of Kristin and Walter Bierlmaier attended “Telezwerge“.
Walter and Kristin met 15 years ago at ProSiebenSat.1 and started a family. “We just celebrated 30 years at the company — both of us together! Back then, I had to convince Walter that music by Starwatch would make the trailers he was working on even better”, Kristin recalls. Today, the Bierlmaiers have three children aged between four and 13, and all of them have attended “Telezwerge”. “It was and still is a huge help to us. We don’t have to battle our way to another part of town in the morning before work to get the kids to daycare. And we know that our children are receiving excellent care in the building right next door, so we can concentrate fully on our work.” If necessary, either of them could be at the center in five minutes.
The Bierlmaier children are happy about the exciting offers in the daycare center.
Flexible working hours and long daycare opening hours are making it possible to combine career and children
Walter and Kristin are a good example of how careers and children can be harmoniously combined with a little extra support. “As far as our jobs go, we have each other’s backs. If one of us is working on a time-intensive project, the other spends more time with the kids. The center’s long hours also mean we can be very flexible.” The daycare at ProSiebenSat.1 has room for around 70 children. “The kids love going there”, says Kristin. They not only get to spend a lot of time playing but also enjoy stimulating activities like music and foreign language lessons, or field trips into town. Every year, the children spend several days at a farm. “The kids help milk the cows, and feed and pet the animals there. It’s a really special trip”, Walter explains.
»After the children’s birth, my colleagues supported me a lot.«
For Kristin, returning to work soon after giving birth was not a problem. “I received a lot of support from my colleagues. When I came back after having my third child, I was even able to help build the live business at Starwatch, which mainly includes events and concerts.” She is now Deputy Head there. Several times a month, Kristin has to travel for work and sometimes attends client meetings. “We don’t have family nearby, so it’s a huge relief that the kids can stay at the daycare center until Walter is finished with work.”
Thanks to flexible working hours, Kristin can usually organize her day to spend time with the children in the afternoon. Every so often, she pulls out the laptop again in the evening. For all this flexibility, one thing is a must for the Bierlmaiers: fixed family times. “We have breakfast together every day. And if I have time in the afternoons, I squeeze in a short visit with Kristin and the kids before they drive back into the city.” Like today, when they are having ice cream together. What advice do the Bierlmaiers have for would-be parents? “Get to know your future spouse at work”, says Kristin with a wink. “That makes combining careers and family so much easier!”