Published on 28 May 2025
"Working on the staff council is not just my current job, it's my passion." Maria Grünewald has been chair of the general staff council at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt since 2021. She initially came into contact with the staff council rather by chance. After she started working at the University in 2015, a colleague nominated her for election just one year later. With a curious "Why not?", Grünewald agreed to stand and was elected as a substitute representative on the committee. She had already been involved in school as a class and student representative and was quickly fascinated by this new task. When a colleague left in 2017, she became a full member. In 2021, she took the next big step: running for chair of the general staff council.
"There is no such thing as a typical working day," says Maria Grünewald, describing her varied job. Even today, she still encounters surprises time and again, because her remit is broad and covers almost all matters at THWS that directly or indirectly affect employees. The 48-year-old's work rhythm is roughly determined by the meeting dates of the general staff council, where the only standard items on the agenda are personnel matters, i.e. applications for recruitment or continued employment, pay scale classifications, grade assignments, civil service appointments or promotions. "These are all issues that have a lot of potential for satisfaction or dissatisfaction and are therefore correspondingly important." The applications arrive on Mondays and the general staff council meets every two weeks on Thursdays.
Regardless of what comes up for discussion, she must gather and compile all the information necessary for the staff council to form an opinion and make an informed decision. This includes reading and preparing the relevant legal texts, commentaries, regulations, and implementation guidelines. Overall, she spends about a third of her time researching and preparing for meetings.
"I enjoy getting involved in this work to ensure that our decisions are well-founded and legally sound," she emphasises. In addition, she is the only member of the University's staff council who is completely exempt from her previous work. As a member of the THWS Department of Public Affairs and Communications, Maria Grünewald is actually responsible for translations into English – whether English-language examination regulations, website texts, or marketing material. As a graduate in English, does she miss her old job? "Sometimes," she says with a laugh. "With translations, there was a clear to-do list and at the end of the working day I knew exactly what I had done and achieved. With staff council work, as with any political work in the broadest sense, it's different."
"You should always have a sympathetic ear for the employees," says Grünewald. Although many employees ask her directly when they have questions about their employment relationship or working conditions, she explains that it is also important to simply walk through the corridors and talk to people. All issues are then discussed at staff council meetings to jointly assess where action is needed. Grünewald is also part of other working groups and committees, such as those assessing psychological hazards in the workplace, the occupational safety committee, the steering committee for e-files, and others. The staff council must and should be involved in many issues, emphasises the staff council representative. Another long-term task is to initiate and negotiate service agreements that regulate certain aspects of THWS’ working environment, such as mobile working. This discussion is very extensive in terms of content and time and therefore takes place with other staff council members and the university management.
Acting as efficiently and effectively as possible in the interests of employees is very important to the chair of the general staff council. However, the special structure of staff council work at THWS makes this not entirely easy. Since the University was founded in 1971, then under the name Fachhochschule Würzburg-Schweinfurt, there have been a total of three staff council committees: one local staff council in Würzburg and one in Schweinfurt, and a third, connecting committee, the general staff council. According to Grünewald, this is unique in the Bavarian university landscape, but unfortunately very inefficient. This is because the three committees have to coordinate with each other to a large extent and have each developed their own working cultures, which makes the work very time-consuming. In addition, the complicated division of responsibilities increases the risk of decisions being legally uncertain. Maria Grünewald sums it up: "This reduces our effectiveness because we cannot speak with one voice. This is not in the interests of the employees." That is why the "Aus 3 mach 1" (From 3 to 1) project is so important to her: under this name, the three staff council committees are pursuing the goal of merging into a single committee – this should eliminate the need for coordination between the individual committees and thus create more time for what is essential: keeping an eye on the big picture without losing sight of the individual.
Maria Grünewald counts among her successes the fact that the staff council works well together and has become more visible thanks to the commitment of all its members. The high attendance figures at staff meetings, even during the coronavirus pandemic, are clear evidence of this success. This has successfully revived in-person attendance. Most recently, around 150 colleagues were present in the lecture hall and around 80 participated online.
In her efforts to give employees a voice, Maria Grünewald sees the greatest challenge in reflecting the diversity of THWS and its staff. According to Grünewald, another challenge is that professors often have personnel responsibility but no traditional administrative background or management experience in the very special world of a university. "That's why it's also my job to raise awareness of good human resources work. This can be achieved through good communication. I enjoy getting to know and connecting the different areas, areas of expertise, and perspectives."
Maria Grünewald describes all her previous managers as inspirations on her journey. Although her employment contract was initially temporary, she felt at home at THWS right from the start. These experiences motivate her to raise the profile of the people who work to achieve THWS's goals, but also to continually build bridges between the university management as an employer and the employees. She has a clear goal in mind: to establish a joint staff council for all THWS locations. With the desire to continue to put her heart and soul into her work, Maria Grünewald looks to the future: "It's a lot of responsibility, but it's also a job that I really enjoy."