Hi, my name is Madlen, happy mom and wife, passionate globetrotter and “juggler” between worlds (family and job). Currently, of course, much more than usual, but with wonderful family support.
Soon I already “marked” the 5 months at PHMU. Wow, I’ve been here for almost half a year and notice once again how time is running! “Run” in a positive sense, because for me personally that also means movement. And I’ve moved a lot in the last 5 months. After more than 15 years, I gave up a secure job as a management position in a completely different industry (printing industry – logistics). So I’ve been there for almost half my life.
In addition, I am the super happy mom of a 3 year old daughter. And it’s not that easy to get it all under one roof. But all parents know that. 😉
So a new start in my career, being a mother from the heart and then “Corona”.
At the time, many people asked me with irritation why I am daring to start over from scratch, considering this as a rather difficult time. But my thoughts on it were very clear: “If you don’t dare, you won’t win!” Fortunately, I’m naturally endowed with the “glass half full, not half empty” approach. So it was actually clear to me from the start that this path could only be the right one. For me there are only one-way streets in traffic. 🙂 You can find happy paths and roads everywhere. Even with detours.
At that time I found the job advertisement on the web. When I visited the PHMU website, I was immediately attracted by the open, versatile and creative concept of PHMU – I got excited. I thought to myself that whoever stands there casually with Chucks on his company pictures can only be wonderfully creative, innovative and open. 🙂 That was exactly what spoke to me immediately.
After the interview with Philipp, it quickly became clear to me that I could imagine working at PHMU and so I canceled the other offers.
I used to be an absolute workaholic at times and didn’t understand that batteries have to be recharged and that not only on our many long-distance trips. I immediately found it super-likeable that PHMU is so understanding and flexible when it comes to life and work. Unfortunately, this cannot be taken for granted. Philipp and I are both parents and therefore understand what this balancing act means.
Despite the 21st century, we are unfortunately lagging a little behind in Germany when it comes to flexible time models, part-time, 4-day weeks and so on. But I am confident that there will be a lot more positive changes in the coming years and that the work-life balance will become even more established. Modern and flexible home office models will certainly establish themselves even more due to current developments.
My fresh start in February was of course not completely normal. After almost a month of working in the office, the new normal with Corona had now “caught up” with us. Like many other companies, we then all switched to working from home. Of course, it wasn’t that easy at the beginning. But after a few days we also had a great daily routine with fixed meetings and conference calls.
One thing I learned relatively quickly during this time: “The further away you are from each other, the more you have to communicate”. So we finally found a great way in the team to not lose sight of each other during this long time of not seeing and to continue to act together as a “team”. In the meantime I even have the feeling that we sometimes talk a lot more to each other than in the office.
We even conduct team workshops and developments online and it really works wonderfully!
Even during these tough times (also from an economic point of view) we even hired a new employee (in the home office) and integrated him into the team. I found that really remarkable and by no means a matter of course.
Unfortunately, I know a few people in my immediate vicinity who are currently on short-time work, have financial worries and cannot work. So that we continue to receive such great projects and customer inquiries and are allowed to work at all during this time, I feel very lucky!
Personally, I hope that everyone continues to see the positive, look ahead and not back! And even if the glass “appears” to be half empty, it should be refilled after a period of relaxation and a sigh of relief. 🙂
Kind regards, Madlen from PHMU