Equal rights at ORISA are not just a theo­ry — they can be seen in ever­y­day life. In the way we work tog­e­ther, how decis­i­ons are made and how ever­yo­ne can con­tri­bu­te their own strengths. For us, diver­si­ty is not just a buz­zword, but a lived rea­li­ty. Our employees feel that. They expe­ri­ence that com­pe­tence counts — not gen­der, ori­gin or marital sta­tus. But how does this mani­fest its­elf in ever­y­day working life? We asked our col­le­agues:

When dif­fe­rent per­spec­ti­ves come tog­e­ther, more sus­tainable and inno­va­ti­ve solu­ti­ons are crea­ted. Annett, Team Lea­der of the CREALIS® Ser­vice Team, regu­lar­ly expe­ri­en­ces this: “We bene­fit enorm­ously from brin­ging tog­e­ther dif­fe­rent approa­ches and expe­ri­en­ces. This results in more sta­ble solu­ti­ons right from the con­cept pha­se.” Johan­nes, Con­sul­tant for Stra­te­gic Cor­po­ra­te Deve­lo­p­ment, also sees this as a gre­at strength: “Diver­se teams not only help to dri­ve inno­va­ti­on, but also to ques­ti­on ways of thin­king. That helps us all move for­ward.

Role models? Don’t play a role here.

While women still have to con­t­end with pre­ju­di­ces in many tech­ni­cal pro­fes­si­ons, this is a thing of the past at ORISA. Here, women do not have to pro­ve their com­pe­tence first — they are trus­ted from the out­set. Fema­le manage­ment posi­ti­ons are not an excep­ti­on, but the norm. Vir­gi­nia, a dual stu­dent, quick­ly rea­li­zed this: “I’ve never had the fee­ling that dif­fe­ren­ces are made bet­ween men and women here. Per­for­mance counts — not gen­der.”

Howe­ver, Hei­di, tech­ni­cal mana­ger, knows a dif­fe­rent pic­tu­re from her past. During her stu­dies, she was often one of only a few women in lec­tures, and the­re were hard­ly any fema­le role models. It was all the more signi­fi­cant for her when she expe­ri­en­ced a woman in a tech­ni­cal manage­ment role at ORISA who was not only reco­gni­zed, but was also a mother: “Until then, I had thought that I had to choo­se eit­her a care­er or a fami­ly. At ORISA, I saw for the first time that both are pos­si­ble.” Vitto­ria, Pro­ject Mana­ger, also con­firms that nobo­dy is pige­on­ho­led here: “We are seen for our strengths — regard­less of gen­der.” This is exact­ly what makes our com­pa­ny strong. It’s not about con­forming to cer­tain role models, but about being per­cei­ved as an indi­vi­du­al with your own abili­ties. Vir­gi­nia adds: “I par­ti­cu­lar­ly app­re­cia­te the fact that suc­cessful women are visi­ble here and act as role models — this shows that per­for­mance and com­mit­ment are the focus.

ORISA Role Models

Family and career, please

The importance of fle­xi­bi­li­ty in balan­cing work and fami­ly is con­stant­ly gro­wing — but even more important is a cor­po­ra­te cul­tu­re that enables this fle­xi­bi­li­ty. Annett expe­ri­en­ces this every day: “My working day regu­lar­ly ends at half past three, then I pick up my child — wit­hout fee­ling guil­ty. That feels natu­ral.”
And this open­ness appli­es to all par­ents, not just mothers. Fathers can also com­bi­ne fami­ly and job fle­xi­bly here. “It’s abso­lut­e­ly no pro­blem for fathers to take paren­tal lea­ve for lon­ger than two months or to work part-time. ORISA does not adhe­re to tra­di­tio­nal role models,” says Mat­thi­as, deve­lo­per. Vitto­ria has had simi­lar expe­ri­en­ces: “I was able to work part-time for seve­ral months for fami­ly and aca­de­mic reasons. The sup­port I recei­ved enab­led me to make the most of this tri­ple task.

ORISA: A place to stay

A working envi­ron­ment in which ever­yo­ne can con­tri­bu­te is more than just a nice extra — it is the basis for suc­cess. We are actively com­mit­ted to equal oppor­tu­ni­ties, for exam­p­le by sig­ning the Diver­si­ty Char­ter and through our invol­vement in the “Welt­of­fe­nes Thü­rin­gen” initia­ti­ve. But abo­ve all, it is the day-to-day coope­ra­ti­on that makes the decisi­ve dif­fe­rence. “ORISA is more than just a work­place for me. I have found a home here, in a diver­se team with strong women and men who value and sup­port each other,” sum­ma­ri­zes Hei­di.

This is exact­ly what defi­nes us as a com­pa­ny: diver­si­ty, trust and the con­vic­tion that we are stron­ger tog­e­ther. Becau­se equa­li­ty is not an abs­tract idea — at ORISA, it is tru­ly lived. With this in mind: Hap­py Inter­na­tio­nal Women’s Day!