Honoured for her promotion of women: Katrin Feiertag one: Ms Feiertag, last November you were honoured by the city of Recklinghausen for your women-friendly commitment*. How did you come to be honoured?

Katrin Feiertag: I want to empower and encourage women and give them the chance to take the lead. We've had a female store manager in Gelsenkirchen for a long time and have recently added one in Bochum. Women are more empathetic, more reflective. We trained two mothers part-time 15 years ago. Both of them still work for us and manage the demanding Mopro department.

one: They have been in the business for many years. Do you still have to prove yourself as a businesswoman today?

Katrin Feiertag: No, I never had the feeling that I had to prove myself. It was a challenge to be fully responsible early on. But I have built up a great team. I love my job, dealing with people and numbers. There are lots of great things about our job because it's very varied. You can retreat to the office or throw yourself into the hustle and bustle with customers. The only downside is that you're never finished.

one: Does leading predominantly female teams in an industry that is very male-dominated from the outside make a woman feel exotic? Or is that a cliché?

Katrin Feiertag: No, I don't feel exotic at all. I'm proud of the fact that I can juggle everything: two shops, two teenage children and my family. I have always had the feeling that I am fully recognised and accepted. I'm relatively self-confident (laughs).

one: How do you create good working conditions for your employees?

Katrin Feiertag: It's challenging to take employees by the hand and guide them so that they can work independently and on their own responsibility. It's important to keep an eye on the success of the company, for which everyone is jointly responsible, because it's the people in the shop who make the difference. I endeavour not to let the management lines become too rigid, but to give my employees room to develop. If employees can be deployed flexibly and variably, this opens up new opportunities. If things don't work out so well in terms of climate, it's still possible to move to another branch. This has already proved its worth several times.

one: What are the challenges, but also the opportunities, in organising a majority of part-time employees?

Katrin Feiertag: We mainly have part-time employees who work 30 to 35 hours a week, i.e. almost full-time. These employees are more likely to identify with the company than temporary staff. With part-time employees, I have greater flexibility to compensate for staff shortages.

one: Women's teams are often said to be "bitchy" with each other. What recipes do you recommend for avoiding "catfights"?

Katrin Feiertag: First of all, men can also be bitchy these days. Of my 130 or so employees, 70 per cent are female. I let new colleagues try out working behind the counter and in the shop. This quickly reveals who fits into the team and who doesn't. You have to value their performance and conduct staff appraisals if necessary. I take the employees by their honour to do a good job, which usually works wonders. Recognising, listening and engaging with employees are the key factors for good cooperation. And very important: never forget birthdays!

one: What are the 'male-dominated' professions in which you train and employ people?

Katrin Feiertag: We train butchers and butchers in our stores and are keen to promote them. One trainee has decided to go on to become a butcher after completing her specialist sales assistant training. REWE Dortmund now has its own technical college for inter-company training in these professions, which is great. We also give women the chance to take on responsibility, right up to store management. Our flower market and lottery shop are also run by women. Unfortunately, there are only a few women among the independent retailers at REWE, so there is some catching up to do.

one: Is there a female product range?

Katrin Feiertag: (laughing) Do you mean the sparkling wine on the shelf...? Perhaps women are more health-conscious and more concerned about their appearance. That's why the range of low-calorie foods probably appeals mainly to women, just like our flower shop.

one: And finally: How do you organise yourself and your family life?

Katrin Feiertag: I'm usually in the shop from 8am to 2pm/15pm. Some days I don't leave until later. And I also work at home. I don't keep that exact schedule. Admittedly, it's not always easy to juggle everything.

REWE saleswoman Kathrin Bräuer "I came to Neustadt in Saxony in 2014 with the aim of becoming a shop assistant. I was told that the new store was coming soon. Due to various adversities, it came in the summer of 2021. I had set myself a deadline in terms of age and told myself that if you're not a businesswoman at 55, then don't do it. I just about managed to get my act together..

I like responsibility, I'm very determined and assertive. But I don't always lead like that. I tend to lead according to the situation, for example my six trainees. If I hadn't brought up my own children and realised how this generational change has taken place, I would be shocked at how different today's young people are. So I adapt to each and every one of them individually, from motherly to 'everything listens to my command'. And my seven men in the team, they also have to be treated a little differently.

I'm a career changer, a woman - and you can't forget my age: People are already looking to see if she can do it, can she do it? But I simply know who I can approach. When I was still a store manager, a young man stood in for me during my foot operation, and we still help each other today.

Otherwise, I live by the motto 'it's up to the woman' and rely on my team. If you have a team that is behind you, that is behind the cause, then it works. If I have a problem, I can sit down with my team and gather ideas on how to get the cow off the ice. Most of the women I employ are part-time workers, many of them from the old store. The organisation of work in the new, larger store is totally different. There are sometimes tensions among the women. You can't ignore them, so I deal with conflicts calmly and listen to both sides first. And then I deal with it vigorously, there's nothing worse than when anger is swallowed up. You can see it in the employees' faces. And I expect them to be particularly friendly. That also sets us apart here, where we have various competitors in close proximity. You can read in our reviews on the Internet: particularly courteous, always endeavouring to find a particular item, helpful, friendly ..

But friendliness only works if it's also right internally, if everyone feels comfortable. I perhaps think about that more than a male boss. But maybe it's also my life experience that plays a role here. And I thought about it in advance: How do you want to achieve what? How should the atmosphere be so that everyone feels comfortable? That's why, for example, I use the word "you"; only those who can't bring themselves to do so can address me as "you". I learnt this from a very young businessman who told me about his experiences at an employee management seminar.

At first I struggled a bit with the idea. But then came the Monday before the reopening. On Saturday evening, all was still well with the world, the frozen food department had already been pre-opened, and Wednesday was to be the opening day with the mayor, speeches and a champagne reception. Monday morning the whole store was dark. Two and a half days before the opening we had a power cut. Monday evening the fault was fixed, Tuesday it was repaired. On Tuesday evening we had cooling and light again. Wednesday morning, a few hours before opening, we brought four lorries of chilled goods in and two lorries of frozen goods out for disposal. My team worked at full speed and three stores sent employees to help out. I was and still am very grateful for that.

We were able to start the reception at 2 pm. Right on time. We all just hugged each other and then the decision was made to say "you". If we hadn't been a team, we wouldn't have made it.

Do I view the range differently as a woman? Probably yes. I looked around before the opening and realised that there weren't any toys on offer in the whole of Neustadt. So I insisted that we change the range a little to create a toy corner. From my point of view, it was a golden decision. And as a woman, you might also look differently, from toddler to grandma, so to speak. What do young people need, for example? It's good that we have young people in my team who keep me up to date: Mrs Bräuer, this or that is hot now, we really need it! Products that I would never have used otherwise. That's why I think it's important to have a mixed-age team. After all, our customers are of all ages.

I think it's ideal that I've only started my own business now, at my age. As a young woman, you have to decide whether to have a family or be a businesswoman. I find it difficult to do both at the same time. I don't want to come home and do homework or housework. I have a husband who is passionate about cleaning and cooking. We've both grown into our new roles. He usually comes home from work before me, then we talk about our day in peace and quiet and then he makes dinner."