High performance and work-life balance: RENOLIT SE honoured for its family- and life-stage-conscious HR policy
Company receives the “audit berufundfamilie” certificate for the second time
Worms, 19 June 2026 – RENOLIT SE was honoured on 18 June 2026 for successfully completing the “audit berufundfamilie”. The event took place at the 28th certificate award ceremony organised by berufundfamilie Service GmbH in Berlin, which offers this established strategic management tool under the patronage of Federal Minister for Family Affairs Karin Prien. Prof. Dr Dr Helmut Schneider, Senior Research Fellow at the Ferdinand Steinbeis Institute and certification officer for the Board of Trustees, together with berufundfamilie Managing Director Oliver Schmitz, presented the second certificate to date to Markus Blümle, General Manager Corp. People & Empowerment (Group Head of Human Resources), and Johanna Schlörit, Director Corp. People Strategy & Branding at RENOLIT. The award, which is generally valid for three years, is regarded as a seal of quality for the systematic and sustainable promotion of work-life balance.
With RENOLIT, a total of 250 organisations – 221 companies and institutions, as well as 29 universities – have been recognised for having undergone the ‘audit berufundfamilie’ or ‘audit familiengerechte hochschule’ assessment over the preceding twelve months. In this structured audit process, initiatives promoting work-life balance are (further) developed across eight areas of HR policy, tailored precisely to the organisation’s needs. Furthermore, the aim is to embed a family- and life-stage-conscious approach within the organisation’s culture.
“We are very proud to have been awarded the ‘audit berufundfamilie’ certificate,” said Markus Blümle. “Work and family is a very personal issue, and one that varies greatly from person to person. That is why it is important to take the diversity of needs into account. As a family-run business, we at RENOLIT want to offer a working environment that responds flexibly to the different stages of our employees’ lives.”
This year’s certificate presentation ceremony was held under the theme ‘High Performance: Work-Life Balance and Diversity’. Oliver Schmitz elaborated on this: ‘Work-life balance and performance are not a contradiction – on the contrary: high performance requires good conditions for work-life balance. Organisations that have undergone the audit and systematically pursue a family- and life-stage-conscious HR policy position themselves as progressive and future-proof. They create attractive working and study conditions, boost the motivation and loyalty of their staff and students, and are thus often one step ahead of other employers and universities – including in terms of their performance and competitiveness.”
RENOLIT is one of a total of 16 organisations that have successfully completed the ‘berufundfamilie’ audit process for the second time. Employees at RENOLIT’s German sites can benefit from initiatives designed to promote work-life balance. These include, for example, the RENOLIT children’s holiday programme, more flexible shift patterns offering greater individual choice, and a helpline that employees can contact for advice on professional and personal issues. In the run-up to the next re-audit in three years’ time, RENOLIT plans to introduce further measures to support employees in looking after children and relatives in need of care, and to promote a sustainable work-life balance.
The ‘berufundfamilie’ audit and the ‘family-friendly university’ audit
Suitable for all sectors and organisations of all sizes, the ‘berufundfamilie’ audit and the ‘family-friendly university’ audit assess the current status of family- and life-stage-sensitive or family-friendly measures already in place, systematically develop each organisation’s individual potential, and ensure – through binding target agreements – that family awareness is embedded in the organisational culture. Upon successful completion of this process, an independent board of trustees – comprising prominent representatives from business, academia, politics and professional associations – awards the audit certificate. The practical implementation is reviewed annually by berufundfamilie Service GmbH. After three years, further HR policy objectives may be agreed as part of a re-audit. The organisation may only retain the certificate if the re-audit is successful. Since the audit was introduced in 1998, over 2,000 companies, institutions and universities have been awarded the certificate. Currently, a total of around 1,000 organisations are certified under the ‘audit berufundfamilie’ or ‘audit familiengerechte hochschule’ schemes.
berufundfamilie Service GmbH has its roots in an initiative launched in 1998 by the non-profit Hertie Foundation and has around 30 years’ expertise in process support and organisational development. As a service provider and think tank, it supports companies, institutions and universities in shaping an attractive, modern working and learning environment in which the individual needs of employees and students, the interests of the team and operational requirements are balanced against one another. Its core, well-established offering is the ‘audit berufundfamilie’ and the ‘audit familiengerechte hochschule’ – strategic management tools for the systematic design of HR policies that take family and life stages into account, and for creating family-friendly working, research and study conditions. Federal Minister for Family Affairs Karin Prien is the patron of the ‘audit berufundfamilie’ and the ‘audit familiengerechte hochschule’. Together with Charta der Vielfalt e.V., berufundfamilie runs the ‘audit beruf&vielfalt’ and the ‘audit hochschule&vielfalt’ – tools for strategic and organisational development aimed at establishing and expanding a holistic and sustainable diversity management system. www.berufundfamilie.de
The RENOLIT Company
The RENOLIT Group is an internationally active expert in high-quality films, sheets and other polymer-based products. With more than 30 production sites and sales units worldwide and a turnover of 1.191 billion euros in 2025, the company, headquartered in Worms, is one of the world’s leading plastics processors. Around 5,000 employees are constantly and responsibly building on the expertise gained from 80 years of company history. In doing so, they are contributing to a sustainable future with innovative and resource-efficient solutions.
