Christmas à la Kreuzwerker

What better time to join the kreuzwerker family in Berlin than right before Christmas? One handsome Christmas tree? Check.
15.12.2016
Hadar Badt
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What better time to join the kreuzwerker family in Berlin than right before Christmas? One handsome Christmas tree? Check. Stockings filled with yummy surprises? Check. Family members showing up at the office and helping decorate our Berlin office, bringing along the jolly Christmas spirit and its German counterpart, Weihnachten? Check. Delicious pastries cooking in the kitchen, making it virtually impossible to resist “just one more small bite?” Check, check, check.

tree
Isn’t our Christmas tree a handsome one?

Why Christmas Is a Big Deal at Kreuzwerker

The holidays are always trickier for us Ausländers—being away from our families can, at times, be rather challenging. That’s why I was so pleased to realize just how serious kreuzwerker is when it comes to making its employees feel at home. Although I’m a newbie ‘kreuzwerker,’ it hadn’t taken me long to get to the bottom of the kreuzwerker state of mind: regardless of the job which needs to be carried out, kreuzwerker always gives it its all. Just like our company goes the extra mile to provide its clients with the best possible services, so does it take celebrating Christmas to a whole new level!

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These are no ordinary stockings!

Weeks of preparations, involving both our employees as well as devoted family members; long hours of gift packing and office decorating; days of exploring recipes and finding some of the best chefs in town, had come to a brilliant end with kreuzwerker’s famous annual Christmas party, which had been held on Friday, December 9.

Is This Our Kitchen?!

It all began in the kitchen, of course. The ‘kreuzwerkers’ who had come to work early Friday morning were surprised to discover two highly-acclaimed chefs from the five-star hotel industry working their magic in the kitchen. With at least three humongous ovens, a gigantic fridge, and loads of fresh produce and food products, our kitchen seemed more like the kitchen you expect to see on Hell’s Kitchen or MasterChef, minus one grumpy Gordon Ramsay, that is. Needless to say that the food was exquisite, resulting in us eating much more than we had planned—we’ll leave the diet until after the holidays.

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Early Friday morning, when our kitchen still looked “normal”

Including the Families in on the Fun

Unlike other companies that hurry to declare themselves big work-life balance supporters, using it as worn-out cliches, kreuzwerker actually delivers: in addition to providing its employees with a collaborative, supportive, flexible, and healthy work environment, kreuzwerker doesn’t neglect their families and always includes them in on the fun.

In the afternoon, the families started to show up, bringing along the Mini-Me versions of our fellow ‘kreuzwerkers,’ the children, who had eagerly waited to commence with the important mission they had been given—letting their imagination run free and architecting complex gingerbread structures. When you make the children happy, you make the parents happy, right?

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Work of art no. 2

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Everybody was gingerbread-house-building!

Meeting the Polish Kreuzwerkers for the First Time

As many of our colleagues are out and about, traveling throughout Germany and Poland, attending international conferences and training sessions, and consulting our clients, catching up can sometimes be difficult. Luckily for us, Christmas serves as the perfect excuse to do just that.

In the evening, after a long day of commuting, our colleagues from kreuzwerker’s Polish branch in Warsaw finally showed at our doorstep. For us new ‘kreuzwerkers,’ it was a great opportunity to meet the entire Kreuzwerker family and exchange travel tips for both Germany and Poland.

mingling
Mingling!

Dinner Time!

After some mingling, it was finally time to eat. During our five-course feast, our CEO, Tilmann Eing, honored us with a delightful 2016 wrap-up speech, which was simultaneously translated into Polish by our project manager and Polish-branch liaison, Małgorzata Wojciechowska.

Our back-office manager, Ulrike König, a renown superheroine at kreuzwerker and the mastermind behind our Christmas party, had also surprised us with a heart-warming speech of her own.

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Less talking, more eating, please!

2016 was a terrific year here at kreuzwerker.

May 2017 be even greater!