There is life after work

How people from Adlershof spend their time after work

What do the people of Adlershof do after work? Do they keep working or start relaxing? Can they sit back and unwind? Or is their job firmly stuck in their heads? What does their perfect weekend look like? We asked around.

“Free time? My whole day consists of free time!” says Stephan Leuendorff, developer at the software and consulting company Pokeshot///SMZ. He is joking, of course. But his spontaneous comment on the subject reveals that he does not view his job as a burden. It’s not that he can’t wait to get off duty. This might be due to the way he gets to work: by bike. All the way down from Karow. A brisk journey he does in an hour. This gets the dopamine flowing and kicks off his day. After work, he takes his bike to get home to his family. Leuendorff then pedals energetically to pick up his 3-year-old son from kindergarden and have dinner with his wife Anja, who is also passionate about sports. The eight hours in between he spends at work – which to him is just another form of free time. As a software developer, he can also work from home. Leuendorff tell us: “We work on trust-based work time. It doesn’t matter where or when we do it, as long as there are results and the deadlines are made.”

Many share his passion: almost everybody at Pokeshot///SMZ takes the bike to get to work. The company offers bikes to its employees. If time permits, the team enjoys another ritual at the end of the day: a few rounds of table football. “We have a company league going on,” Leuendorf tells us. After work or on the weekend, Leuendorff, his wife, and a few of his colleagues take part in contests such as velothons and duathlons. Leuendorff unwinds by winding up. “I can relax when I sit on a bike, it’s where I clear my head,” he says. It doesn’t always work though. Sometimes, pedaling makes him think solutions for problems he has to crack at work. “It just happens.”

Working after work happens a lot to Olga Yurlova, who is part of the customer service staff at WISTA-MANAGEMENT GMBH. Like most people in Adlershof, she leaves her office between 5 and 6. Afterwards, however, she is a frequent visitor of start-up events. And Berlin has many start-up events: “There is something on virtually every day,” says Yurlova. “Many events are quite interesting. Ideal to see what’s happening in the scene – plus, new contacts never hurt anyone,” she laughs. As a supporter of new start-up projects, she is up and about when others are already home watching the newest installment of “Tatort”, Germany’s favourite crime series. But she enjoys this part of her job. When she gets home, there is enough time for a book or some yoga to let a good day come to an end.

A good day ends at about midnight for Prof Emil J. W. List-Kratochvil, interdisciplinary professor at the Integrative Research Institute for the Sciences (IRIS). Usually that is when his work is done. “I focus completely on work even after work,” the scientist tells us. “I commute to my family in Graz on weekends, so I use the whole week to work as efficiently as I can,” he tells us. After he leaves the office at six o’clock, he goes for dinner with colleagues on campus for two hours and then goes home to work for about three more hours. He values this time: “In the evening time and at night, I am very focused and get a lot done,” says List-Kratochvil. Sometimes he goes for a run beforehand or goes out with visitors of the institute to show them Berlin. He unwinds when he is with his wife and two children on the weekend. He thoroughly enjoyed a sightseeing trip with his family in summery Vienna.

Olga Yurlova spends her perfect weekend going on small trips: strolling through Potsdam or kayaking on the rivers and lakes of Brandenburg. “I have been in Germany for four years. I still have a lot of exploring to do in Berlin and Brandenburg.” That’s what the weekend‘s for.  She finds herself lucky: “I can completely unwind in moments like these or when I go on holiday.” Sportsman and family guy Leuendorff at least tries: “Sure, I also enjoy being at home doing nothing. The trouble is that never happens.” Getting on the bike or going for a run is just too tempting...

By Chris Löwer for Adlershof Journal