Work-life Balance Policy

CEITEC MU aims to be an institute with an open, international, fair and friendly environment. To achieve this, CEITEC MU focuses on building an excellent working environment through the development of coherent, transparent, and supportive conditions of employment at any stage of career. An emphasis is put on inclusiveness of the institute, and facilitation of work and family obligations.

CEITEC MU is aware of the fact that that there is no perfect, “one-size fits all” work-life balance. People are different, and have different priorities and life goals. Therefore, a set of tools and measures is proposed to be varied; some of them will be suitable to parents, some to researchers, other to administrative staff; some tools are preferably offered to senior staff, and others to junior staff.

At CEITEC MU, employees are offered these tools for a better work-life balance:

  1. Flexible working hours
  2. Work@Home ("home-office")
    • With no regulation for academic employees
    • Non-academic employees: written agreement with head of workplace has to be signed
  3. Part-time positions are offered
  4. Events for family members (Children's Day, St. Nicolas Day)
  5. Joint events to get know each other better (Christmas Party, Ski Trip, etc.)
  6. Adaptation of meeting hours:
    • Core meetings are preferably organized in "core hours" (9 am - 3 pm)
  7. Nappy changing tables in CEITEC MU buildings
  8. Breastfeeding/Lactation premises:
    • Unfortunately, we cannot offer special premises for breastfeeding/lactation. Indeed, all breastfeeding women are entitled to use meeting rooms in A35 and A26 buildings for this purpose if these are not currently booked and used.
  9. Shower rooms in CEITEC MU buildings
  10. Regular sports lessons (courses) for MU employees and students (https://is.muni.cz/obchod/fakulta/fsps/zamestnanci/?lang=en
  11. Keep in touch policy (upon agreement with the head of workplace)
    • Access to intranet, internal newsletters, invitations to institute (or team) events, etc.
  12. Individual personal return plan (upon agreement with the head of workplace):
    • All heads of workplaces and employees are strongly recommended to agree on an individual personal return plan after maternity/parental leave (template of such a plan can be found in the brochure Grants, Research and Parenthood)
  13. Grant support for researchers returning from maternity/parental leave
    • Grant Agency of MU (GAMU) offers a grant scheme "GAMU G" – Interdisciplinary Projects up to 5 million CZK for 3 years, opened annually in autumn: https://gamu.muni.cz/en/pro-vedce/g-mezioborove-vyzkumne-projekty 
    • Extra 500 thousand CZK may be requested if at least one member of the research team is on or returning from maternity or paternity leave and will be involved with at least 0,5 FTE throughout the whole project duration. 
  14. Consultancy services by HR Department:
    • Areas related to maternity and parental leave and related allowances, work-life balance tools, etc.
  15. WLB Module (libra.ceitec.cz
    • Offering self-development tools focused on development of competencies both in professional and personal life
  16. Children@Work:
    • According to some people, children should not be at the workplace, but sometimes you can face a situation in which you do not have babysitting, and you really need to be present at work for at least a few hours.
    • If there are no serious operational constraints, employees can take their children to work for a definite period of time. On the other hand, it is expected that the parent will ensure proper behaviour of his/her child/children and their presence will not disturb other employees in their work.
  17. Babysitting during selected events:
    • As a standard part of event organization, it is assessed if it is relevant and feasible to offer babysitting during the event.

For more information on individual WLB tools offered to CEITEC MU employees contact us at HR@ceitec.muni.cz.