#21 Pension Gap - the questions to ask yourself before your parental leave, with Laura Gersch

Laura Gersch is a parent. She’s also CFO at Allianz
Versicherungs-AG. So she knows first-hand that having a family
and a career at the same time takes planning - even if you don’t
end up sticking to the plan 


As a manager, she asks parental leavers some tough questions.
"What I want to trigger is the discussion in the family,” she
explains. She doesn’t actually need to know those answers
herself, she just wants the family in question to give it a
think. 


"If the idea is to come back at some point and to somehow juggle
two jobs and kids, then it’s very valuable to ask some questions
up front. It doesn’t mean you will realise the plan because you
cannot plan everything around babies. But I want people to think
before they leave, What actually is my plan for coming back?”


Some of the questions that she says need to be on your
list: 


︎ the starting point: what do you mean by
career? Do you want to just keep a toe in the water for now, or
actively grow your career? 


︎ the working model: once you’ve
established that, how can you make it happen while also being
there for your family? She mentions some options: full time but
flexible hours / reduced hours / job-sharing.


︎ preparing your re-entry:  Talk to
your boss. And build peer groups at work with people who have had
similar experiences and programmes like @mycollective really
help!


︎ your financial
independence, especially long-term: if you think that
your decision to work part-time only affects your income now,
you’re wrong. There are lots of different solutions to protecting
your financial independence later, including having part of your
household money go to pension payments for the parent who is
doing more care-work and earning less money.


What other questions do you think we should be asking ourselves,
as #workingparents with #careers ?


Speaker: Laura Gersch, CFO, Allianz Versicherungs-AG / Young
Global Leader, World Economic Forum


Interviewer: Dr. Ricarda Engelmeier -
Founder @MyCollective


Music: sponsored by @Michaelkadelbach


Picture: Laura Gersch


Graphic & Production: MyCollective


#getinspired #podcast #inspiration #MyCollective #womenchangemakers
#womenleaders #leadership #diversity #paygap #pensiongap
#equality #careers
#femalecareers #getinspiredpodcast #ImpulseSessions
#parenthood #workingparents #parentalleave #elternzeit
#rentenluecke