Between care and career

• Current Stepstone study shows that every second candidate under 35 has already seen that inappropriate questions about their age and family plans were asked in job interviews.

• Missing care options in particular keep women part -time – with consequences for their career development and the labor market.

Discrimination and false prejudices

“As a woman at the age of 30, I unfortunately often get a cancellation of companies on the grounds ‘feeling of gut’. I assume that many worry that I could get a child as a woman in the following years and that my application is rejected, although the specialist knowledge fits and the rest was also described as very coherent.” Many of the feedback on the “Recruiting without Age limits” in the digital recruiting platform Stepstone, for which over 3,000 people were interviewed in Austria, including 350 recruiters. The data was weighted to reflect the age, gender and training of the Austrian employment population.

Employees need a family -friendly environment

The versatile challenges that parents experience in the agreement of care and career deserve attention: one Stepstone study from last year shows that every fourth woman (26 percent) has to work part -time because there is a lack of care options for children or relatives. Only 37 percent can fall back on flexible work agreements in order to effectively organize childcare and at the same time maintain their labor productivity. At the same time, two out of three mothers would like to work full -time or full -time after maternity leave – provided the framework is correct.

“The successful balance between professional and family obligations uses all – employers included, “emphasizes Nikolai Dürhammer, managing director of Stepstone Austria and Switzerland.” We can need every working hour on the labor market of the future. It is time to overcome prejudices and to reduce their stress, increase motivation and keep them in the company in the long term through targeted support for work.“

Stepstone researches and informs a lot about the compatibility of work and family – and takes on himself.

„Our study last year showed us how important the topic is for us as an employer“, Explains Dürhammer. Stepstone recently awarded the state quality mark of the Republic of Austria as a family -friendly employer by the Ministry of Family Affairs.

The certification “professional family“ is an externally accompanied process in which family -friendly measures are systematically collected and, based on it, tailored measures are developed. “”We take family friendliness seriously and set an example for all colleagues: with local and group -wide measures. We promote a modern corporate culture that is clearly committed to reconciling work and private life“, Elisabeth Beil, People Lead Austria and Switzerland. The measures by Stepstone range from flexible flexitis and hybrid forms of work to additional vacation entitlement, for example in the case of fertility treatments, and targeted communication measures during and after maternity leave to support reintegration.

Über The Stepstone Group

The Stepstone Group is a worldwide leading digital recruiting platform that brings companies together with suitable talents and helps people find the right job. With the help of AI supported job marketplaces and programmatic marketing solutions, around 140 million applications reach more than 130,000 employers every year. In the 2024 financial year, The Stepstone Group generated sales of more than 900 million euros. The company is active in more than 30 countries – including Stepstone in Germany, with AppCast in the USA and with total jobs in Great Britain. The Stepstone Group, headquartered in Düsseldorf, employs more than 3,000 people worldwide. In Austria, Stepstone operates the job platforms Stepostone.at, unijobs.at and hotelcareer.at and employs around 70 people.

More information at: www.thestepstonegroup.com/deutsch