UMSICHT as employer

Diverse, modern and supportive – Fraunhofer UMSICHT offers ideal conditions for your professional development. Because we know: It is the employees who make our institute special.

On this page, we take a look at Fraunhofer UMSICHT as an employer. The focus is on the institute culture and UMSICHT work as well as on offers regarding work-life balance and further education.

Are you interested in research projects or facts and figures about the institute? Then you will find what you are looking for under Fraunhofer UMSICHT in profile.

Diversity

As a modern research institution, diversity and equal opportunities are important concerns for us, and we work on them together every day. Our conviction: Diversity promotes innovation and makes a positive contribution to individual competence development and the economic success of Fraunhofer UMSICHT.

We are pleased to have a very heterogeneous staff at our institute – with regard to both age structures and the respective cultural background. To ensure that this remains the case in the future, we promote cross-generational cooperation as well as intercultural exchange. Through measures such as participation in Girls' Day or the internal career program TALENTA, we also want to strengthen women in MINT professions.

Diversity statement of Fraunhofer UMSICHT

Flexible working thanks to New Work

New Work @UMSICHT — © Fraunhofer UMSICHT

Fraunhofer UMSICHT is one of the pioneers in the Fraunhofer-wide introduction of flexible working: The company agreement on New Work/ Flex Work has been in effect since October 2020. It forms the framework for location- and time-flexible work at the institute. This has created an environment that offers scientific freedom, promotes both work-life balance and creativity, and is based on a culture of cooperation.

Leadership guidelines

The managers of Fraunhofer UMSICHT are guided by guidelines that are adapted to the area of tension between science and business. They strive for outstanding research results, enable performance and development, place value on cooperation and take time for leadership. And of course, the further development of one's own competencies is not neglected.

Details can be found on the page Leadership Guidelines of Fraunhofer UMSICHT.

Work-life balance

Mit-Kind-Büro am Fraunhofer UMSICHT — © Fraunhofer UMSICHT

Do you want to take off in your career without neglecting your private and family life? Then Fraunhofer UMSICHT is the right place for you. As a research institute that has received several awards for its family-friendliness, we offer you a range of measures to reconcile work and family.

For expectant mothers and fathers, we offer advice on all aspects of parental leave and support them in their return to working life. In cooperation with the pme Familienservice, UMSICHT employees can also take advantage of consulting and placement services related to elder care or life coaching.

Last but not least, thanks to flexible part-time models (also in management positions), you can adapt your working hours to your life situation.

Health management

With our health promotion measures, we want to support employees in staying healthy and feeling well in the long term. The offer ranges from regular "active breaks" to concepts for back training and stress prophylaxis to health days. Courses and consultations take place both on-site at the institute and virtually.

We also take the issue of mental stress very seriously and try to take preventive action. Within the framework of anonymous surveys, for example, we identify areas for action and work on them. In addition, employees receive support from established contact persons as needed.

Further education

Further education is an important part of the UMSICHT culture. The focus is always on the individual needs of the employees: Depending on the direction in which tasks and responsibilities are to develop at the institute, there are various measures to choose from – from executive coaching to team development to classic seminars. In addition, there is a large number of continuing education programs for different target groups. An overview.

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Scholarship

With the UMSICHT scholarship, employees from both research and organization can work at a university or institute abroad for a limited period of time. The duration of the stay is between one and eight months and can be chosen flexibly. Important prerequisite: a close connection to the fields of work at Fraunhofer UMSICHT. Incidentally, stays at German universities or institutes can also be funded.
Invest in me

This program is primarily aimed at employees from the area of organization. Fraunhofer UMSICHT finances a further education for them via the "Invest in me" funding, which is in their interest – be it a coaching training, a language course or a part-time study.

The procedure: Three employees are selected for the promotion each year in an application process. In a letter of motivation, they must explain why they are interested in the respective further training and what participation could contribute both to their individual development and to the development of the institute.
TALENTA

TALENTA is a program of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. It is a comprehensive support and development concept for female scientists in applied research. The special feature: It is directly tailored to individual needs in different career phases. “TALENTA start", for example, is about orientation and qualification for women starting their careers. The objective of "TALENTA speed up", on the other hand, is to support and qualify experienced female scientists on their individual career paths. Finally, "TALENTA excellence" focuses on supporting female managers.

More information about the program can be found in the German flyer or on the website of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.
In-house seminars

"Python for beginners ", "Self-presentation" or "Statistical design of experiments" - Fraunhofer UMSICHT offers a wide range of in-house seminars. The following applies: The measures are continuously planned according to demand as well as after evaluation of previous qualification measures.
Research School

Whoever starts as a doctoral student at Fraunhofer UMSICHT is automatically accepted into the support program of the Research School. Essential components: doctoral coaching as well as an individual training plan, which contains both mandatory and elective seminars.

Further information can be found on the Research School page.

HR Excellence in Research

In December 2017, the European Commission awarded the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft the "HR Excellence in Research" logo in recognition of the outstanding integrated human resources management at Fraunhofer. Fraunhofer was one of the first two applied research institutions in Germany to be allowed to use the logo. It is based on the 40 principles of the "European Charter & Code for Researchers".