Kopfing, 27 February 2023. Think!, part of legero united, has received the “Felix Familia 2024” award. The prize was issued for innovative and exemplary initiatives that make it easier to balance family and career.
Shared leadership as a model for success
Think! took first place for a shared leadership model that is successfully practised on a daily basis in the marketing department at the Kopfing site. Here, two experienced marketing experts share one Brand Management position. This gives them the opportunity to smoothly combine an exciting and senior professional challenge with their family commitments. “We complement each other perfectly,” confirm Christine Käferböck and Bianca Bardwell. “We share our areas of responsibility and keep each other constantly up to date with short daily morning updates.”
For Julia Knapitsch, Director People, Finance and Communications at legero united and therefore also responsible for HR at the Upper Austrian Think! location, the model has potential for the future: “We also want to enable women with children of caring age to move up into management positions. At our Austrian locations, for example, we employ over 70% women and have a female share of almost 60% at management and team leader level – also thanks to measures such as the Shared Leadership model.” Christoph Mayer, Managing Director of Think!, adds: “Here in Kopfing, almost 74% of our employees are female and juggle family and career. That’s why our working time models are as individual as our shoes.”
legero united, the parent company of Think!, is one of Europe’s leading shoe manufacturers. In addition to Think!, the children’s shoe brand superfit and the women’s shoe brand legero are also manufactured and sold in over 40 countries. “Due to our size, we can structure our organisation in such a way that we can flexibly adapt job positions to the needs of our employees,” says Julia Knapitsch. “It is important to us that they can optimally balance work and family life.”