When Mom suddenly has to go to the hospital – famPLUS can help

Originally, Hartung Wilstermann wanted to do something good for his employees because, as a manager, he feels socially responsible towards them. "I asked my people in Human Resources to look around and see what we can do for employees who run into conflicts due to personal matters," says the 44-year-old head of Deutsche ACCUmotive, a 90% subsidiary of Daimler.

Hartung Wilstermann could not have foreseen that he would be the first employee of his company to use the service of the caregiver broker famPLUS. In hindsight, he is amused by how fate played out here: "Only three days after our HR department had discovered famPLUS, with whom Daimler already collaborates, I myself became the first pilot customer of the service!" When he suddenly faced the situation of his wife needing to go to the hospital for several weeks, it was anything but amusing for the Wilstermann family. After all, his wife, at 44 years old, not only had her job but also had to care for their three children, who are now six, eight, and ten years old. "And after the five weeks in the hospital, there was also rehab," describes Hartung Wilstermann of his predicament.

Someone had to pick up the children from school and supervise them until he came home in the evening. And the working days as a manager are long, says Wilstermann: "Working ten hours is normal for me. Then there are many out-of-office appointments and several business trips as well.

The father of the family looked around on the famPLUS website and picked up the phone to get advice. "The initial contact was an entirely positive experience. The lady I spoke with was extremely pleasant, which immediately instilled a lot of trust in me," Wilstermann recalls. "We were looking for someone who is quickly available and reliably there for the children for about two months," the 44-year-old summarizes his placement request at the time. The Wilstermanns also wished for a bit of housework to be included so that things wouldn't get chaotic at home.

The very second candidate proposed by famPLUS pleased the Wilstermann family so much that they hired her: "She was a prospective student who wanted to bridge the time until the start of her studies. And she was great, she could have stayed longer." The children were also very satisfied with the childcare, says the 44-year-old: "It was a prerequisite for us that the children accept the young woman, because we have also had less good experiences with child carers mediated by another agency, where even the hiring criteria were not right.

The fact that famPLUS is highly professional and, for him, "a kind of headhunter for childcare providers" was what Hartung Wilstermann liked best. "When I look for people for important positions in the company, we do it through headhunters. And in exactly the same targeted way, famPLUS selects the respective childcare providers.

Whether other employees have used the services of famPLUS or who exactly among them has, the managing director cannot answer: "I don't want to know either. It's important to me that the employees can use such a service and that their privacy is protected in the process." What Hartung Wilstermann does know for sure is that he can recommend the service from famPLUS. He has made it known among the executives and also told his employees at a large company meeting that famPLUS helps with childcare placement.

For Hartung Wilstermann, it was not only a fateful coincidence that he was the first to use the family service, which was actually intended for his employees, but also "the second miracle" that everything fit so well with the prospective student. Now, the Wilstermann family is hoping for the third miracle: that the new placement contract with famPLUS, with which they are looking for a babysitter who occasionally looks after the children in the evenings or just flexibly, will also be such a great success.

famPLUS - Together for your personal PLUS!