{"id":27716,"date":"2025-03-10T09:38:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T08:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/?p=27716"},"modified":"2026-03-03T16:07:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T15:07:34","slug":"women-in-leadership-so-much-power-comes-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/press-and-media\/newsroom\/stories\/women-in-leadership-so-much-power-comes-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Women in leadership: “So much power comes together”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n \"Portrait,Of,A,Young,Businesswoman,Looking,At,The,Camera,While\"\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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Women’s Empowerment<\/h2>
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“Women’s Drive takes the advancement of women seriously”<\/h2>\n

Business IT specialist Dunja Surendran joined REWE digital (then REWE Systems) in 2020, first as a Scrum Master, then as an Agile Coach. in 2023, she moved directly from parental leave to the management position of Engineering Manager in the Agility division:<\/p>\n

So I only know the role of a manager from a part-time perspective. New to the role of mother, new to the role of manager: the start was a little bumpy, mainly because I had very high, perhaps too high, expectations of myself as a mother and as a senior manager. I then subjected myself to a <\/q>reality check” and reflected: Do others have such high expectations of me and my roles? Or am I putting myself under pressure because I want to meet everyone’s expectations? My senior manager, for example, had no problem at all with me working part-time. The support from my team of 22 also helped me to find my way into my role. It was also helpful that I set very clear priorities and communicated transparently – given my 28 hours per week, spread over four days. For example, my team knows when I am available, what I can do and that they have my full trust. Of course, being a part-time senior manager requires flexibility, given the diverse demands of our day-to-day work. But the same applies to my employees.<\/p>\n

I’m not just a part-time manager, I also manage part-time employees, including more and more fathers who work between 60 and 80 percent. I think that’s a great development. Part-time employees have many strengths; they work in a more focused way and are role models when it comes to setting priorities. And they are often happier because they can balance their private and professional lives.<\/p>\n

I have been a senior manager since 2023 and a participant in Women’s Drive Advanced since fall 2024. When I see how much power comes together there and how much we learn from each other, it gives me a good feeling. At Women’s Drive, I am a mentee, a mentor for my female employees in my day-to-day work, who I consciously and proactively support in becoming aware of their strengths, developing themselves further and taking space for themselves. A program like Women’s Drive takes the issue of promoting women seriously, and we are on the right track at REWE Group. Nevertheless, we still need more role models internally – including part-time ones – to empower us women. I hope that more and more women will have the courage to go their own way.”<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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About:<\/h2>

\n Dunja Surendran <\/p>\n\n

Engineering Manager in the Agility division, REWE digital<\/p>\n \n

\n Participant of Women’s Drive Advanced <\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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“If you form teams according to their strengths, then it works”<\/h3>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Monika Ringart joined the former REWE Systems, now REWE digital, in 2017 as a project manager. As Engineering Manager, she has been responsible for the further development of a staff of around 30 business analysts in various product teams since 2020.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, I was able to take part in Women’s Drive Start. On the one hand, to develop myself personally, and on the other, to be able to support my employees even better in their further development as a senior manager. Support and empowerment, especially for female employees, is also important to me in my immediate working environment. Every four weeks, I have an exchange meeting with each of my 30 or so employees. I also use this to motivate them to regularly think about their next career steps. I make my network available to them and recommend that they network well within REWE Group, for example via our internal women’s network f.ernetzt.<\/p>\n

I want everyone to have the best possible opportunity. This also includes regularly providing my employees with offers for further training or internal job advertisements. This close support definitely pays off, many of my employees have moved on to other product teams, other technologies, higher positions…<\/p>\n

As a senior manager, you can’t have any barriers in your head when it comes to employees. Everyone can develop. You just have to find the right approach and recognize their strengths. For me, employees are an important and valuable asset that needs to be encouraged and challenged. If you form teams according to their strengths, they are highly efficient. Then it works. It sounds simple, but is often not taken into account.<\/p>\n

In my team, there are also part-time employees, both women and men, who combine work and childcare or caring for relatives, for example. These employees are often particularly well organized and efficient. I have had very good experiences with regularly asking them whether they can imagine working two, three or four more hours because their private situation has changed and their children have become more independent. I prefer to let my good, proven and well-trained employees increase their hours before I recruit new ones.<\/q><\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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About:<\/h2>

\n Monika Ringart <\/p>\n\n

Engineering Manager REWE digital<\/p>\n \n

\n Participant in the Women’s Drive Advanced program and soon to be a mentor for the third time in a row. <\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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“Logistics is an exciting field for women”<\/h3>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ina Meyer, who has a degree in business administration, started her career at REWE Group in 2007 as an international trainee. As a controller in process management, she was offered a management position in PENNY logistics in 2011:<\/p>\n

I found that exciting, because during that time the logistics divisions of PENNY and REWE separated and I set up the central process and IT management for all ten PENNY logistics locations in Germany. Ten years later, I had the opportunity to move to the larger REWE logistics unit and became Head of Transport Processes and Systems. In the same year, I became the mother of a now three-year-old daughter – and since the end of 2023, I have been the central contact person for Retail Germany Logistics in a Group-wide program.<\/p>\n

Despite or perhaps because of the challenging triad of department management plus Group-wide responsibilities plus child, it became increasingly important for me to find time for my family and myself. That’s why I decided to reduce my working hours to 80% at the beginning of 2025. My team and I prepared for this step for around six months and found solutions for how I could relinquish some of my management roles. Fortunately, we developed and promoted a female colleague from my team to team leader.<\/p>\n

Since I’ve been in logistics, i.e. since 2011, I’ve hired a majority of female project managers, six of them, and all of them are still working in their teams. And I’m happy to see more women in logistics. There are many opportunities here, both in the regional logistics locations and in the central units. Good structure, organizational talent, a spirit of innovation and effective teamwork between the regions and the central units play a major role in creating optimal logistics solutions. So it’s a very exciting field of work for women.<\/q><\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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About:<\/h2>

\n Ina Meyer <\/p>\n\n

Head of Transport Processes and Systems, REWE-Marktplatz GmbH<\/p>\n \n

\n As a mentor at Women’s Drive Start, she accompanied a mentee because she considers a strong women’s network to be very important. <\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The REWE Group’s “Women’s Drive” programs<\/h2>\n

The REWE Group’s Women’s Drive programs are development programs designed to support women at different stages of their leadership development. Women’s Drive – Start is for women with one to two years of professional or disciplinary management experience or those who will soon be taking on their first management role, while Women’s Drive – Advanced is aimed at experienced female disciplinary senior managers. There are also “Know Yourself” and “Develop Yourself” programs for all REWE Group women. All programs are group-wide in scope and integrate peer counseling and group coaching sessions that create a protected environment for personal development. A unique feature is the accompanying mentoring at Women’s Drive Start and thus the mentor-mentee relationship, which promotes learning on both sides. Men make up around half of the mentors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Read more<\/h2>\n \n <\/div>\n
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    24 February 2026<\/p>\n

    Sebastian Stein: From nahkauf sales manager to REWE retailer<\/h3> <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/button>\n<\/div>\n <\/li>\n
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    From market manager to independent retailer in Kiel<\/h3> <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/button>\n<\/div>\n <\/li>\n
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    Pawsome dream jobs: Malte Kramer is Category Manager at ZooRoyal<\/h3> <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/button>\n<\/div>\n <\/li>\n
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    5 December 2025<\/p>\n

    “Kill it with kindness” – Johannes Fiebers on his journey from Lidl world traveler to REWE independent retailer<\/h3> <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/button>\n<\/div>\n <\/li>\n
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    24 November 2025<\/p>\n

    Pawsome dream jobs: Tim Heiler is an aquarist at ZooRoyal<\/h3> <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/button>\n<\/div>\n <\/li>\n
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    20 November 2025<\/p>\n

    Innovative plant-based protein products: “Our guests love the vegan range”<\/h3> <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/button>\n<\/div>\n <\/li>\n
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    6 November 2025<\/p>\n

    Pawsome dream jobs: Andrea Ozekker is a groomer at ZooRoyal<\/h3> <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/button>\n<\/div>\n <\/li>\n
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    Story<\/p>\n

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    25 September 2025<\/p>\n

    “A clear commitment to diversity”<\/h3> <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/button>\n<\/div>\n <\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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    Join the discussion on <\/h2>\n
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    Our LinkedIn feed has all the latest information from the REWE Group and the sector, with the most important developments from the worlds of retail, e-commerce, food, CSR and policy.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n

    \n \n To LinkedIn feed <\/a>\n <\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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    On International Women’s Day, female senior managers talk about the opportunity offered by the Women’s Drive development program, about leading part-time and managing part-time employees, promoting and challenging, networking, courage and breaking down barriers – in their own minds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":24339,"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":"27116,23488,23520,27322,23506,19596","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","nl_adhoc_sent":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"sales_line":[19],"focus_theme":[142],"class_list":["post-27716","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\/27716","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=27716"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27733,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27716\/revisions\/27733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27716"},{"taxonomy":"sales_line","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sales_line?post=27716"},{"taxonomy":"focus_theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rewe-group.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/focus_theme?post=27716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}