"My mother-in-law was single, she lived in Erfurt, my husband and I lived in Zella-Mehlis. They were 60 kilometres apart, my husband and I both worked and didn't have the opportunity to look after her every day. At some point, we realised that my mother-in-law's dementia was progressing very quickly. As she also had difficulty seeing, we commissioned a care service with whom we were in close contact. One day, the head of the care service called us and told us that, in her opinion, my mother-in-law could no longer be left alone as her dementia had simply progressed too far.

That was in 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic. Now it suddenly became acute - but of course nobody would have let us look at a facility in the middle of Corona. And even if they had - you can't just barge in and say, 'Excuse me, would you have a place for your mother-in-law right now? ' I did research care homes on the internet, but with rather limited success.

Then, shortly before Christmas, I found the awo lifebalance address in the job, family and private life section of the employee portal and emailed my request there. I sent the email in the evening - I had a reply the very next morning and a telephone appointment two days later. The employee was really great and committed, she asked everything in the conversation: Should the facility be in Zella-Mehlis or Erfurt, which faith does my mother-in-law belong to, what illnesses does she suffer from, single room or double room...? She really checked everything out once.

Then she took action - and after just one week she sent me a list of around 20 care homes, all of which she had spoken to. She had even sent me the complete application forms for three of them. And she made a personal recommendation as to which facility had made the best impression on her during the interview. We even got an appointment with this facility between Christmas and New Year's Eve, after which they put us on the waiting list.

At first, my mother-in-law didn't want to know about moving. After all, we couldn't and didn't want to force her. But around two weeks later, the care service called me: she had packed all her things and was ready to move into a home. I rang them again. At first it looked like there was nothing available. But that evening I got the call: she could come straight away. We just had to do a corona test.

Incidentally, our AWO contact person always asked again whether everything had worked out, whether everything had gone well. This aftercare was really brilliant, I felt like I was in good hands. And the head of the home told me that she had never heard of an employer being so committed to its employees and supporting them in such matters. Nobody in my circle of friends had ever heard of such employee programmes either.

Yes, we are well paid at REWE. But there are so many things that you can't carry home in your hand, but which are immensely important. You only realise that when you need them. And it's great when your employer supports you."

Susanne Krebs,
area manager, looks after 21 REWE stores in southern Thuringia.