“Everything begins and ends with family,” said ETH President Lino Guzzella at the Executive Board’s drinks reception in 2017. But is it really possible to combine top-class research with a fulfilled family life? And can you have a career at ETH if you are a parent?
“That’s food!” says Mina, trying in vain to open the plastic bottle which is filled with uncooked pasta. The nursery nurse tells her that it is actually a home-made musical instrument, but the Three-year-old will not be deterred. Confident that she is right, Mina repeats her conviction that the bottle contains food and tries with all her might to unscrew the taped-up lid. Two-year-old Florian stands slightly to one side, watching the scene from a distance. They are both children of ETH employees and, on this particular Friday afternoon, they are attending the Flex Zentrum crèche for the first time.
Since October 2017, ETH members have been able to arrange childcare for their children (aged between 4 months and 7 years) on the Zentrum campus as well as the Hönggerberg site by registering them online at least 24 hours in advance. The project was initiated by Director of Human Resources Lukas Vonesch and Renate Schubert, Head of the Office of Equal Opportunities (Equal!) and the gender delegate to the President of ETH Zurich. “We realised that there was huge demand for a service like this at ETH,” explains Schubert. From the initial idea, it took just five months to set up ETH’s first flexible crèche service. Today, both flexible crèches are extremely popular and they are used extensively by students and employees alike.
“Here, the kids are mini researchers”
kihz Flex is part of the broad range of services offered by the kihz Foundation, a joint venture between ETH and the University of Zurich. The Foundation’s main services include eight regular day care centres as well as holiday care and the “kihz Mobil” project, which provides childcare for parents who are attending an ETH event and organises professional nannies for ETH members at short notice.
For Monika Haetinger, the Foundation's director, the quality of care is the top priority. The children get to be mini researchers here. We cater to the individual needs of each child and encourage their interests, creativity and curiosity through our programme, regardless of their background, religion or gender,” says Haetinger.
The director is also keen to ensure that staff teams are mixed-gender. Almost every kihz daycare centre has at least one male nursery nurse, and at one crèche half of the nursery nurses are male.
Care solutions for different needs
Rather than providing concrete care facilities, the ETH “Hello Kids!” service point offers comprehensive information on childcare and helps ETH members to find the services they need in this area. “Hello Kids!” also offers solutions tailored to different needs. Furthermore, the additional costs for the care of babies aged between 4 and 18 months are covered by ETH – Hello Kids! is responsible for managing the payments. Doctoral and post-doctoral students also receive financial support from the Robert Gnehm Foundation if they have to pay additional childcare costs for their young children when attending international conferences.
According to the Director of Human Resources, however, the financial support is not as important as the flexibility offered by ETH. 28 percent of ETH members work part-time. “I'm not aware of such a high proportion anywhere else,” says the 54-year-old, who came to ETH three years ago. Lukas Vonesch is also very open to the idea of staff working from home – a work model that is regularly used by many members of his department.
Awareness of the demands of caring for relatives
It is now 3 p.m. Florian is colouring in pictures of rabbits with a nursery nurse while Mina is trying to stash as many tennis balls as possible in her dress.
45 kilometres away, at around the same time, Marianne Mandrin – assistant to ETH Rector Sarah M. Springman – is driving her 79-year-old mother home from a doctor's appointment. Marianne has taken today off. “The great thing about ETH, and Sarah in particular, is knowing that I can go home straight away if there is an emergency, that I can come in late sometimes or take time off at short notice if necessary,” says Marianne. “Family first!” is the Rector's motto. Marianne has also been able to reduce her workload in order to support her mother who has been recovering from major back surgery.
There is a feeling in some quarters, however, that there is much less awareness at ETH of the demands of caring for relatives other than one’s own children. Renate Schubert and Lukas Vonesch are now putting their heads together to tackle this issue. They want to encourage managers and employees to discuss such situations with openness and trust in order to find efficient solutions together. “This issue affects many ETH members. But unfortunately it remains something of a taboo subject and I understand that that can lead to uncertainty. We are going to redouble our efforts to tackle this issue, because being able to combine family with a career is about much more than just childcare,” says Schubert.
“Top research is like competitive sport”
And ETH already has everything it needs to bring about an improvement in this area. “As long as your work remains up to scratch, ETH offers a huge amount of flexibility in terms of working hours and locations – I have never seen anything like that in the private sector,” says Marianne, taking her mother's walking frame out of the car.
Physics professor Renato Renner agrees that this flexibility is a key factor when it comes to combining family with work. The current ALEA Award winner has lots of parents in his research group and tries to respond to the different needs of his employees and doctoral students with as much flexibility as possible.
For the 43-year-old, becoming a father for the first time while he was a doctoral student at ETH was the best decision of his life. But, he says, it is important to ensure that female doctoral students in particular are not disadvantaged during their maternity leave – they need to be kept informed of everything that is going on and should be able to work on important projects when they return to work. Furthermore, evening meetings should be avoided as far as possible. “Parents often work more efficiently because they have to organise their time more carefully,” says Renner, although he does add: “Top research is like competitive sport. If you take too long a break or reduce your workload too much, you don't stand much of a chance against the enormous international competition.”
Constantly improving conditions
According to Renate Schubert, the greatest challenge comes when both parents want to maintain a professional career. “We are continually improving conditions at ETH in order to help our members combine a successful career with a fulfilled family life,” says Schubert. In order to do this, the university needs feedback from the ETH members themselves.
“I am very grateful that my wife reduced her workload because of our four children,” says Renato Renner, whose wife is a paediatrician. “If I had done that, I probably wouldn't be where I am today,” he adds, running for the bus. His two-year-old son's birthday party starts in 30 minutes, and no work commitment is going to stand in the way of that.
At 5 p.m., following a trip to the crèche's own playground, it is time for Mina and Florian to go home as well. Because thankfully, everything begins and ends with family – including at ETH Zurich.
Further information
Do you have an idea about how ETH can make it easier to combine work with family? Please send your suggestions to Professor Renate Schubert at
All information for parents (and parents-to-be) can be found at www.ethz.ch/parenthood
All information for ETH members who are caring for relatives can be found at www.ethz.ch/elder-care
The new ETH magazine «life» is out
This article is the cover story of the current issue of «life».
In the new edition, ETH Zurich President Lino Guzzella explains the background of the ETH+ expansion project and why it offers ETH Zurich members a unique opportunity to help shape the future of ETH Zurich with their own ideas. The third part of the Insight Series «Research Focus» is dedicated to sustainability. In addition, "life" answers some of the most important questions about the future reduction of the pension conversion rate and much more.