‘Do you already know what you want to be when you grow up?’ - a question that children are asked from a very young age. While many answer confidently with astronaut, vet, sportswoman or policeman, others still have no idea what their professional future holds for them. The ‘Future Day’ aims to help them find inspiration, especially outside of role models. On National Future Day (formerly ‘Daughter's Day’), the focus is on familiarising young people with professions in which their own gender is underrepresented.
Gilgen Door Systems is putting together its own programme for the Future Day in Schwarzenburg, where all daughters, sons, nephews, nieces and godchildren have the opportunity to create something that they can take home with them. Team leader of the apprentices, Niklaus Gilgen, first gives the future employees a tour of the company. The 13 children then work on their own torch: ‘The children should get an idea of what manual labour means,’ says Niklaus Gilgen. They gain their first experience in areas such as soldering and mechanical work with aluminium.
Father and daughter in logistics
A central part of the day is the insight into the everyday working lives of their fathers, mothers and other relatives. Salvatore Pisciotta brings his 12-year-old daughter Chiara to his work in logistics for the first time. He shows her the huge warehouse world: ‘Being constantly on the move in the different warehouses makes my work varied.’ So far, his daughter Chiara has only seen Gilgen's headquarters from the outside when she has picked her father up from work. ‘I like it at Gilgen and I think it's great that we're learning to build a torch today,’ says Chiara, describing her visit on Future Day. The year 5 pupil doesn't yet know what she wants to be when she grows up.
It is important that family and work are compatible. At Gilgen, principles such as flexible flexitime help parents to reconcile their private and professional lives. The fact that the working week has fewer hours than is usual in the industry is also an advantage. If you want extra holidays to spend more time with children, you can easily buy in holidays. And on Future Day, the employees are particularly pleased when bright-eyed children get their first impressions of the world of work at Gilgen.
