Opening Ceremony and Open House at Klaus Grohe Daycare Center

New Klaus Grohe Daycare Center in Schiltach Officially Open

Schiltach, December 2023. The official starting signal has been given: on December 8, the Hansgrohe Group and the town of Schiltach jointly opened the Klaus Grohe daycare center. It offers more than 1,000 square meters of space for playing, crafts, singing, gymnastics and splashing around. From now on, the bright rooms with wood as a central design element will serve children of Hansgrohe employees and local parents as a place for education, play, exercise and socializing. Beautifully designed sanitary facilities, as well as an indoor water experience room and an outdoor water play area, bring the Hansgrohe spirit to life for the children.

The daycare center operated by pme Familienservice GmbH was created in cooperation between the Schiltach-based manufacturer of design and premium products for bathrooms and kitchens and the town of Schiltach, which made the project possible as an investor and builder. In her welcome speech, Hansgrohe’s Chief People Officer Sandra Richter greeted the guests, including Mayor Thomas Haas, architect Philipp Groß and Richard Grohe, representatives of pme Familienservice GmbH and the press. On behalf of her colleagues on the Management Board, Hans Jürgen Kalmbach and Frank Semling, who were also present, the CPO thanked everyone involved for their commitment to the daycare center project: "You all worked hand in hand to achieve our goal and actually stuck to the extremely ambitious schedule. We, the Executive Board of Hansgrohe, would like to express our sincere gratitude to you all. Your tremendous performance - especially during the corona period - was impressive. Within four years, the idea has become a wonderful reality."

Following the opening ceremony on the premises of the new Klaus Grohe daycare center, interested parents and their children, as well as members of the public, had the opportunity to explore the group rooms, the water experience area and the children's restaurant in the new daycare center at Bachstraße 4. The team from the operator, pme familienservice, with daycare center manager Alina Krisch, organized a small supporting program for the open house and were happy to answer any questions guests had.

How the Klaus Grohe Daycare Center Evolved

Following an employee survey in April 2019, it quickly became clear that there was a need for childcare places for children under the age of six. Hansgrohe then looked closely at the issue of company childcare and received an offer from the town of Schiltach to use the former elementary school. Since fall 2019, two teams of Hansgrohe managers and external experts have been working to implement the daycare plans. Hansgrohe brought in Dr. Ilse Wehrmann, a qualified social worker and educator, as an external expert for the design of the daycare center. She advises companies and providers of daycare facilities throughout Germany on setting up and expanding their company daycare centers. Schiltach architect Philipp Groß was commissioned with the planning and construction management. The operator of the Klaus Grohe daycare center, pme Familienservice GmbH, runs more than 70 daycare centers throughout Germany, including company daycare centers for well-known companies. Following extensive renovation work in the listed building since the ground-breaking ceremony in May 2022, the first children were able to move into the Klaus Grohe daycare center in September of this year.

What the Children can Expect

The Klaus Grohe daycare center offers space for six groups with a total of 90 children on two floors. Three groups are planned, each with ten children under the age of three and three further groups with up to 20 children over the age of three. The child care concept of the Klaus Grohe daycare center focuses on promoting (multi-)linguistic development, media education, the Pikler approach and animal-assisted pedagogy. "I'm really looking forward to supporting the process of reopening and working with my team to shape everyday educational life," says Alina Krisch, Head of the Klaus Grohe daycare center. "The focus is on participatory involvement and active participation in the day-to-day life of the daycare center, based on the individual needs of the children." The childcare staff will also introduce the children to the topics of science, technology, music, art, exercise and nutrition. Fresh food is cooked daily in the specially designed kitchen and the children eat together in the children's restaurant.

Compatibility of Family and Career

"We are proud that we can offer Hansgrohe employees, as well as local parents an attractive and individual childcare facility with the Klaus Grohe daycare center," says Sandra Richter. In fact, the new facility offers a large time window in terms of opening hours, flexible childcare models and few closing days. Parents can therefore flexibly combine their work commitments and family requirements. "With the Klaus Grohe daycare center, we are sending out a positive signal and providing a ray of hope for a society in which daycare places are in short supply. Hansgrohe is investing in the future of its employees and is also directly promoting our young talent, because they are our beacons of hope," emphasizes the Hansgrohe Chief People Officer.

About the pme Family Service

According to the pme Familienservice Group, it supports employees in achieving a successful work-life balance on behalf of more than 1,400 employers. High-quality and flexible education is offered in over 90 childcare and educational facilities. Whether vacation care, spontaneous needs, booking individual places or even a company kindergarten: parents and employers receive suitable childcare according to their needs. The pme Familienservice Group is represented at more than 70 locations in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic and employs over 2,000 of its own staff and numerous experts from various specialist areas.

About the Hansgrohe Group – Setting the Beat of Water. Since 1901.

With its brands AXOR and hansgrohe, the Hansgrohe Group, based in Schiltach/Southern Germany, enjoys a reputation as a leader in innovation, design and quality within the bath and kitchen industry. Founded in 1901 in the Black Forest, the company gives water form and function with its faucets, showerheads and shower systems. In combination with sanitary ceramics and bathroom furniture, the company offers individual design options from a single source for holistic bathroom experiences. The 122-year history of the company is marked by innovations, such as the first hand-held shower with multiple spray types, the first pull-out kitchen faucet, and the first wall bar to hold a hand-held shower. The company holds more than 20,000 active property rights. The Hansgrohe Group stands for long-lasting quality products and for responsibility towards people and the environment. Sustainable production of resource-conserving products is central to the company’s business activities around the globe. By developing innovative technologies for faucets and showers, Hansgrohe achieves the greatest possible effect on protecting water as a resource and limiting and adapting to climate change during the usage phase of its products. As part of its consistent sustainability strategy, Hansgrohe is equipping all water-bearing products exclusively with water-saving technologies by 2030 within its "ECO 2030" initiative. With 33 subsidiaries and 21 sales offices supplying products in more than 150 countries, the globally active company in the sanitary industry is a reliable partner to its customers in all regions of the world. The Hansgrohe Group, its brands and products have won numerous awards, including more than 700 design prizes since 1974. The products of the Hansgrohe Group are found around the world: on renowned cruise ships, in luxurious 5-star and boutique hotels, in international metropolitan cities, in extraordinary spas, exclusive bathrooms of lodges and luxury villas, public facilities, as well as in countless private homes. The Hansgrohe Group’s high quality standards are ensured by eight wholly-owned production facilities: four in Germany, one each in France, in Serbia, the United States and China. In 2022, the Hansgrohe Group generated a turnover of EUR 1.528 billion. It employs around 5,600 people worldwide, about 60 percent of whom work in Germany.