Going to work at Carlsberg
Dive into these historical fun facts about working at Carlsberg and learn more about nicknames, child care, and women entering the brewery.
The first Carlsberg employee
The first employee at Carlsberg was Niels Westrup who worked as a malt maker. Shortly after, nine other brewery workers joined the company. Together, they brewed the first beer at Valby Bakke in 1847.
A lot has happened since then. Today, Carlsberg has more than 30.000 employees worldwide.
The women at Carlsberg
Several decades would pass from Carlsberg's founding in 1847 until the first female employees set foot in the brewery.
At first, there was a significant imbalance between genders in terms of work tasks and paychecks.
The women at Carlsberg slowly fought for better conditions, culminating in 1971, when the union ensured the same pay for everyone, regardless of gender or geographical location. A huge victory for equality. A few years later, the 40-hour working week was also introduced.
In the following years, women also began working in offices as punch card operators (who were responsible for digitalization and data storage at the time), bookkeepers, and laboratory assistants.
Read more about the women at Carlsberg here.
Carlsberg Bryggeriernes Børnehave
Once, Carlsberg had its own daycare. It was inaugurated in 1948 by Queen Ingrid and consisted of both a nursery and a kindergarten, making it possible for female workers to manage their everyday lives.
The daycare centre had space for 100 children, who were provided with baths and meals on-site. Additionally, there was a designated area for mothers to breastfeed their children during the day.
Solvej Buchleithner attended the Carlsberg's kindergarten from 1963 to 1967. She says:
"They took great care of us. We enjoyed a lot of fresh air and went on many trips to Søndermarken and Frederiksberg Garden. We used to sing whenever we passed through the Elephant Gate. We had hot meals for lunch, and there was a dental clinic set up above the playrooms where we got our teeth fixed.
When I was in kindergarten, my mother was a single parent, and many other children in the kindergarten also had single mothers. Thanks to the children's home, the mothers had the opportunity to work, as it wasn't common for women to have jobs back then. Some kids at home in Ballerup used to say to me: "She doesn't look like a real mother." The other mothers would go down to the laundry in dressing gowns with curlers in their hair. In contrast, my mother had short hair, wore trousers, took part in demonstrations, and commuted to work by train. This was unusual for the suburbs. Many of the other girls in the daycare centre also had short hair like me. I really wanted to have long hair, but there was no time to style it."
Nicknames at Carlsberg
Carlsberg has a long tradition of nicknames among the employees. For example:
The King of India, the Giant Baby, the Greek. The Turtle, the Frog, the Poodle. Beautiful Thorvald, who loved his looks, and Christian Gold Watch, who always said: ‘Look at my gold watch’. There was Talking Børge, who talked a lot, and Passport Jensen, who forgot his passport on a business trip. The Baby Bird, the Viper, the Stove, and Kurt Tie, who wore a… tie.