Martina Wicher, Dr. of Chemistry, is Senior Project Manager in our Research & Development Department in Osnabrück. She has been working for the Felix Schoeller Group for almost 30 years now and today is an important factor in the fact that she enjoys her work, the variety of her tasks and the project-related work across the most diverse product areas. But anyone who has worked for one and the same employer for so long can tell a lot of stories, has seen and experienced a lot. At the beginning of her career she deliberately chose Felix Schoeller because, in a company of our size, she had the opportunity to be involved in development really from the very beginning, from the new raw materials, through product development to the marketing of the products. What's more, then - as now - working in an international environment was very important to her. In the 1990s, we were not yet as international and global as we are today, but Martina, after an intensive training period in development, worked in product management for a few years and looked after our customers in Japan. "That was a great experience for a relatively young woman who had no family ties," she says about that time.
I could travel the world, I could get to know other countries, other cultures. And that interested me very, very much.
Then she decided to start a family and became a mother. Even in the early years, she says, "everything worked out wonderfully and we have two children and I always had the opportunity, and I am very, very grateful to be able to combine job and family." Her children were able to stay at the nearby kindergarten, for example, where Felix Schoeller has been reserving places for employees' children for a long time. But for the then young mother it was never just a matter of taking. Rather, it was a matter of "give and take", which must be balanced out in a healthy way. For her, flexibility is not a one-way street but should be taken seriously and lived by employer and employee alike. For her, her job is a real bond with her heart: "I have been here for so long and have been able to experience a lot of good things," she says and is happy to give her best in return.
When I first started here, everyone always said, "Give me best regards to your dad." and I didn't even know who was standing in front of me.
That Felix Schoeller is a true family business is something the doctor of chemistry can tell you a lot about. But she doesn't just mean the shareholders, who all come from the family of our founder Felix Herman Maria Schoeller and are now in the 6th generation. No, she also means family sequences within the staff, so to speak. So it is not unusual for families to work for Felix Schoeller in the second, third or even fourth generation. There can hardly be any greater praise for an employer - after all, you only want the best for your children. That was also the case with Martina. Her dad also worked for Felix Schoeller. When she first started working here "she always said 'Greetings to your dad' and I didn't even know what was in front of me. That was so funny," she says and laughs at this old memory. For her colleagues she has only good things to report. You know each other. Appreciate each other. Vouch for each other. And also sends warm greetings to former colleagues - parents, for example. Or grandparents.
