The line between work and private life is becoming more and more blurred while working lives are getting ever longer. At E.ON, we see ourselves as a family-friendly company and create a working environment that allows our employees to strike a balance between their career and their private and family life. Flexible employment models and attractive career opportunities are just as much part of these efforts as sufficient support for our employees when they have or want to start a family. Numerous initiatives and projects support a variety of employment models and options such as telecommuting or extended leave (sabbaticals) in order to meet individual needs.

Wherever possible, we promote part-time employment. In Germany, the law states that every employee who has been employed for longer than six months has the right to part-time employment. At year end 2007, 6,195 employees were employed on a part-time basis, 72 percent of which were women (4,438) and 28 percent men (1,757).

Life balance is a very important issue, which is why it was defined as one of eleven strategic fields of action in our People Strategy "OneHR".

November 2007 saw the launch of the four-part series "Work and Family – Now and in the Future" at E.ON Energie in Munich. Numerous participants from politics, business and science exchanged information on the prerequisites for a family-friendly company culture. The objective of the series is to promote discussion regarding the compatibility of work and family and to encourage the exchange of information regarding possible solutions and outstanding examples. The event series was developed by the Bertelsmann Foundation.

The first OneE.ON Forum in November of 2006 in Düsseldorf focused on the topic of work-life balance and made the first step towards raising awareness of the issue groupwide. Two hundred employees and guests discussed how to balance work and private life. Among them was also German Minister for Family Affairs Ursula von der Leyen.