{"id":27477,"date":"2025-05-30T14:03:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T12:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/?p=27477"},"modified":"2026-03-03T16:37:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T15:37:23","slug":"i-was-used-to-stress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/press-and-media\/newsroom\/stories\/i-was-used-to-stress\/","title":{"rendered":"“I was used to stress”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From construction machinery to the cash register and from there to the works council? Or from the church service to the digital office? These unusual paths are no exception at REWE Group. Career changers with non-food-related professions such as pastor or mechanic bring freshness, dynamism and new perspectives to our corporate culture. With their expertise from different professional fields, they are a great asset. They also bring with them the necessary qualities for a change, such as openness, flexibility and a willingness to learn – important skills in a transforming world of work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Story<\/p>\n

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8 May 2025<\/p>\n

“No business without diversity”<\/h2> <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/button>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Antje Br\u00fcckner, originally a construction machinery maintenance mechanic, was unable to find a job as a woman in a male-dominated industry and was forced to change her career path. She quickly rose through the ranks to become a department manager at a REWE store – without any formal training in this area. She now uses her store experience as an independent works council member for her REWE and PENNY colleagues.<\/p>\n

Construction machinery maintenance mechanic, that was my career aspiration when I was almost 20 years old. After I graduated, I was standing in a company with my forklift license and two welder’s passes in my hand. The managing director said to me: <\/q>I need you now, but unfortunately I can’t hire you.” At the time, it was a purely male profession and the requirements for sanitary facilities were high. He would have had to have a separate toilet and washroom built for me as the only woman. He couldn’t afford that. And that was not my only experience: no one hired a woman in this male profession.”<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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About:<\/h2>

\n Antje Bridgeman <\/p>\n\n

Works council for REWE and PENNY<\/p>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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So I went to live with a family in Greece for a year. My only job was to teach the two children German. When I came back to Germany, my brother had already found me a job in catering. It wasn’t really my first choice, but once I had learned the ropes, I very quickly became shift manager and after two years assistant manager. That was around 2002, when the Deutschmark was converted to euros. Those were golden times in the hospitality industry, people still thought in Deutschmarks and tipped generously. Of course, that soon came to an end.<\/p>\n

In the summer of 2002, I saw a notice in a REWE (then still Minimal) in Munich city center: <\/q>Workers wanted.” I went in spontaneously, applied and got the job. First I worked at the checkout for many years and then in the butcher’s shop. Later, with a heavy heart, I moved to another REWE store as a department manager. I didn’t do any training for this. I was able to put my experience from the catering trade to good use in everyday store life: Managing employees, dealing with difficult customers, hygiene regulations – and I was used to stress.”<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Career changers bring experience and often new ideas to the company.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n <\/div>\n

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Antje Bridgeman, Works council for REWE and PENNY<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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Antje Bridgeman, Works council for REWE and PENNY<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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At that time, I had already been a member of the large works council committee for several years before I was elected to the exemption as a representative for severely disabled employees in 2020. Since 2022, I have been responsible for around 40 REWE and PENNY stores in Munich as a works council member on leave. During Corona, I spent a year studying to become a communication and rhetoric trainer on my weekends. Since I’m a restless twin, I need the variety. The knowledge I gained there helps me in my work on the works council, because communication is my daily bread. As a works council member, I am very happy and grateful for the time I have spent working in the store. I understand the concerns of the employees and they in turn perceive me as “one of us”.<\/p>\n

Newcomers bring experience and often new ideas to the company. They are flexible, willing to learn and motivated, as they have made a conscious decision to enter this new profession.”<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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    Join the discussion on <\/h2>\n
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    The path from construction machinery maintenance mechanic to works council member led REWE South colleague Antje Br\u00fcckner via Greece and gastronomy, first to the checkout of a REWE store and then to the butcher’s shop there. What helped the career changer, who quickly made it into management positions, was her experience from her previous jobs, her willingness to learn – and her star sign. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":24798,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"15254,23361,27704,24811,20521,21735","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","nl_adhoc_sent":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"sales_line":[19],"focus_theme":[142],"class_list":["post-27477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-careers","sales_line-rewe-group","focus_theme-undefined"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27477"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27488,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27477\/revisions\/27488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27477"},{"taxonomy":"sales_line","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sales_line?post=27477"},{"taxonomy":"focus_theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/focus_theme?post=27477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}