With heart for care

• Jürgen Frank is a Technical Product Manager for the Corporate Clients division and has been working for Commerzbank for many years. For almost 40 years, he has devoted himself to volunteer work – today primarily in the caregiving network “Netzwerk Pflege”.
• He supports colleagues whose family members are in need of care, helping them to find orientation and develop solutions.
• His aim: not to leave people alone in difficult care situations, but to find ways together to organise life well despite the new challenges.

Jürgen, how did you become involved in volunteering in Netzwerk Pflege?

I joined Netzwerk Pflege out of very personal interest – because I myself receive care and know the associated challenges from my own experience. I know how many questions suddenly arise when care becomes an issue, and how quickly one can feel left alone with it.

What exactly do you do in Netzwerk Pflege – and how do you support colleagues?

In Netzwerk Pflege, the focus is mainly on very practical questions: How can care be financed? What aids and equipment are available? Which powers of attorney make sense? What new legal regulations affect people in need of care or family caregivers?

We often experience that a relative suddenly becomes in need of care and that someone in the family wants to actively stand up for their loved ones. At the same time, the family members affected develop a desire for support from their employer, for advice on financing or on finding care services.

Our Commerzbank internal employee network, Netzwerk Pflege, can help with all of this. We have a broad range of expertise because we pool different experiences and knowledge from many care situations. We provide guidance on how and in what sequence those affected can best proceed, where they can find valuable information, and we arrange contacts – for example with external service providers. For many people, this is like a gateway to a new world: suddenly it’s about care levels, applications, deadlines, and benefit entitlements.

Direct, personal contact is often more effective and saves time – especially because care situations frequently arise suddenly and can change life from one day to the next. When colleagues take up our suggestions and we can noticeably relieve them, it is a very rewarding experience.

How do you organize yourselves in Netzwerk Pflege – and how much time do you invest?

In Netzwerk Pflege, there are regular virtual meetings that are open to all colleagues. In these sessions, we create a confidential space: what we discuss there stays there. The topics are very personal, which is why confidentiality is a basic requirement for us. We listen carefully, take concerns seriously and always look for individual solutions.

In total, I invest around three hours per week in my voluntary work, sometimes more. A large part of this consists of tracking current developments: new laws, regulations, developments in the areas of care, disability, and family law. These are topics that are strongly shaped by society and politics, where a lot of changes occur.

What motivates you, and what do you take away from your volunteer work?

What drives me is what happens when people move beyond passive participation and start shaping things together. When we can shift perspectives, offer guidance and open up new options – those are the moments that remind me why this commitment matters to me.

It is particularly rewarding when colleagues come back to us after a difficult situation and say: "That really helped me." Such a simple thank you feels very good. It shows that the effort is worthwhile and that the time invested has very concrete effects on people’s lives.

The experiences from my voluntary work are also valuable for me in my job: they make me more sensitive in dealing with special life situations and in recognising and reducing obstacles at an early stage.

What would you advise colleagues who are thinking about volunteering – perhaps even in Netzwerk Pflege?

Quite simply: do something. Get involved. Life doesn’t take place on the internet. Every association, every network offers opportunities to get involved, even if only on a small scale at first. You don’t have to take on a major role right away, but you can start by taking responsibility for our community.

Especially in Netzwerk Pflege, we are always happy to welcome people who get involved, even if their own care situation has already been resolved. There are always new topics that affect many people. And we need new volunteers: demographic change cannot be stopped. Care and special life situations will concern us as a society – and in the bank – even more in the future.

Do you believe that volunteering strengthens democracy?

Yes, absolutely. In associations and networks, people represent their shared interests; they discuss, argue, weigh things up and ultimately make decisions that they stand behind together. This creates orientation and cohesion. You experience democracy as something very concrete: talking to each other, listening, finding compromises, sharing responsibility. In this sense, volunteering is, for me, an important building block of a strong democracy.

Thank you very much for the insight into your commitment, Jürgen.