A good reason for companies to encourage employees to exercise their rights. We spoke to Lara Körber about this. She is the founder and managing director of Bildungsurlauber.de, the largest nationwide platform for educational leave.

The interview

Lara, how long has your start-up been around and how did the idea for educational vacationers come about?

We came up with the founding idea when the father of my co-founder Anian talked about his Tai-Chi educational vacation. He had chosen this educational leave because of his persistent back pain. There he was given health and exercise exercises. That was the starting signal for us: Why aren't many more people taking advantage of their entitlement to educational leave? Why do so few know about it? And why is the application process so complicated? This is where we wanted to get started. In 2020, we started in line with the first Corona lockdown — it wasn't easy. Today is Bildungsurlauber.de The largest information and booking portal for educational holidays in Germany — I am very grateful for that.

What exactly is educational leave? Can you briefly explain that for us?

By law, employees in Germany are entitled to five to ten days of special leave per year for continuing education, which is officially recognized as educational leave by the federal states. In addition to professional qualifications or language courses, seminars that promote the mental or physical health of employees are also officially certified. What kind of educational vacation seminar you would like to attend can be freely chosen in most federal states and the courses can take place worldwide. During the seminar, the salary continues to be paid — the seminar costs are borne by the employee himself.

What are the benefits of actively using educational leave for employers and employees?

Educational leave is not only a unique opportunity for professional and personal development for employees — companies also benefit, because educational leave makes employees healthier, more loyal and happier. Ours current survey With over 1,000 people on the effect of educational leave on working life, for example, shows that 43 percent had fewer days off from work after taking part in health-oriented educational leave. In addition, 78 percent of companies that are positive about educational leave find more attractive — at 67 percent, this attitude even influences their willingness to stay with the company for longer. In times of a shortage of skilled workers, educational leave thus becomes a great competitive advantage.

What specific problem do you solve with Bildungsurlauber.de?

Our aim is to make educational leave easily accessible. We explain the law, offer help with applications on our portal and simplify the course search for your own federal state, which, for example, allows you to filter by “interest”, “price range” or “period of time.” Hurry helps our 30-second educational vacation check to quickly get an overview of your own requirements.

How do you choose the providers on your platform?

All providers listed on our platform must offer officially recognized educational leave or be certified as educational leave providers themselves. In this way, we check whether the courses comply with the legal requirements of the federal states.

Which states/regions do you cover with your offer and are there differences in requirements?

Our offer covers all federal states in which there is educational leave — i.e. 14 out of 16 federal states (Bavaria and Saxony have no legal regulation yet). The requirements differ from state to state, in particular with regard to the minimum number of hours and the content of the courses. We ensure that all courses are clearly marked so that employees know which seminars are officially recognized in the federal state in which they work.

How do you help employees apply for their educational leave from their employer? Can you briefly explain the booking process to us?

We have automated the application process. This means that as soon as employees have found a suitable course, they can download the application documents with just one click. The only thing missing is the signature. No further paperwork is required. Depending on the federal state, this educational leave application must then be submitted to the HR department four to nine weeks in advance. However, we always recommend checking beforehand what would be a good period for educational leave. Because even if you have the ambition, the planning must fit into the entire vacation planning of the college, for example.

What were the biggest challenges in founding and growing your start-up?

Starting up with Corona on the back of my neck wasn't easy — I mean, the first lockdown came with the launch of the site. Very unfavorable for a startup that has something to do with travel and physical education. And of course, you are always one of the biggest challenges yourself: your own perfectionism, livelihood concerns, and keeping your beginner spirit even for the next challenge...
But despite the adversities, for me, educational leave (he) is very close together with work and vocation.

In discussions with our customers, we are currently seeing that the issue of employee retention and employee benefits is becoming increasingly important in the company. What is the score of acceptance of educational leave in companies? Were you also able to observe changes there?

Yes, absolutely! While many companies used to be rather critical of educational leave, more and more companies are recognizing the benefits. Because educational leave is like a 360-degree benefit for individual employee satisfaction: Being free to choose from a range of certified educational vacations enables employees to take responsibility for their current needs. It is impossible for many companies to set up such an extensive range of continuing education programs internally.

At Regional Hero, we are experts when it comes to employee benefits. One of them is the so-called Recovery allowance. Could you also support your employees' educational leave with a recovery budget, for example?

That would be a great combination! Educational leave doesn't just have to be professionally oriented — many seminars focus on burnout prevention or resilience training in order to maintain employee performance in the long term. Companies could use the recovery allowance to actively encourage employees to use educational leave for health-promoting seminars. I personally think that could be a great competitive advantage and your own occupational health management (BGM) supplement.

Finally: What do you want for the topic of educational leave in the future?

More uniformity in the regulations of the federal states would be great and that even more companies actively use educational leave as a benefit. Educational leave makes working life better by law — which is why we want an insider tip to become a matter of course.

Thank Lara for the exciting insights into your platform and the topic of educational leave.

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