3 Reasons Women Love Working at Continental

Continental is proud to have women leading innovation and change at the top of the company.

Sponsored by Continental

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Continental prides itself on its proven track record of attracting and retaining diverse female talent. The global company, on a mission to make mobility safer, smarter, more accessible and sustainable, employs more than 235,000 professionals in 58 countries — many of whom are successful women who feel valued and supported in their careers.
“Age, gender, nationality, ethnicity, religion and worldview, sexual orientation, disabilities — our differences make us human.” says Continental. “And they enrich us with many different skills, experiences, strengths and talents. At Continental, this is what powers our engine for growth and gives us the drive we need to develop pioneering ideas, innovative products, and new business models.”
Here are three reasons why Continental is a great place for women to work.
1. Offering Benefits Women Actually Want
Continental offers benefits that women on the team value highly. This includes health benefits ranging from stress-management programs to vaccinations and mammograms. It also includes a Women@Work mentorship program, maternity and paternity leave, 17 days paid time off in addition to holidays, paid time off for volunteering, support for working mothers, and more.
Flexibility is a key benefit, as well. This includes the ability to work remotely, work part-time and flexi-time hours, take a sabbatical, and more. Continental employees have flexible working opportunities in 21 countries across the globe, which covers more than 90 percent of its workforce.
The company also offers tuition reimbursement and continuing professional development programs for employees. A digital solution for learning management allows Continental to empower its employees across the world with robust training solutions. 
“Continental has a great working culture; it’s very international,” Maria Militaru, an engineering manager in Software Planning, says. “I feel there’s a lot of good spirit and focus on people here at our company. We back each other up and it’s a good culture for helping each other solve problems. I’ve had six different positions since I joined the company as an intern and now, in my current role, the most important work I do is share my knowledge with the newer people that come on board. I also help them get the training they need to be able to best perform their jobs.”
2. Prioritizing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Efforts
Vincey Chui, an algorithm engineer at Continental, says that she always feels respected at work. “I don’t even feel like I have to say, ‘As a woman at Continental…’ I just feel like part of the team,” she says. “We have a Women’s Network, and they’ve organized conferences and luncheons and career workshops for women at Continental. While I feel very comfortable working as a woman at Continental, it’s nice to know the support is there even if I don’t feel like I need it all the time.”
Continental is committed to its diversity and inclusion efforts. The company has reinforced its commitment both internally and externally by signing the PwC CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion pledge, aimed at increasing inclusion within the workplace so all employees can bring their best and whole selves to work. 
“We are committed to a corporate culture which is free from prejudice and values each individual, and which leaves no room for conscious or unconscious discrimination,” according to the company. “We not only live this commitment within Continental, but also communicate it to the outside world.”
3. Supporting and Promoting Inspiring Women
Continental is proud to have women leading innovation and change at the top of the company. Many of the women at Continental express feeling engaged and involved at the forefront of the innovation. Take, for example, Allison Ridder, who, with her team, is working on in-cabin monitoring for autonomous vehicles. “I never thought I would have the opportunity to oversee this kind of project,” Ridder says. “I only started working at Continental in 2018 — initially on the team for interior innovations. After only two months at Continental, my boss approached me and told me about this project and the idea of in-cabin monitoring. We then soon decided to pitch this idea to co-pace - Continental's startup program. The company created co-pace to support whatever innovative idea you have. The type of ideas that you would like to start your own company with.”
Ridder’s experience is a byproduct of Continental’s belief that learning and sharing information across business units is key to meeting the challenges of the future.
Continental believes that there is talent hidden within every individual and is committed to discovering and developing each employee to their full potential. 
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