What makes a company successful? A good product alone does not determine success or failure, nor is it the only decisive factor for a purchase decision. A bad reputation or the lack of a reputation jeopardizes a company’s success. Therefore, it takes more to achieve business success. In other words, board members, managing directors, executives and employees working for Deutsche Telekom need to act lawfully.
This creates, trust, credibility, reliability, and reputation.
Furthermore, it takes everyone’s integrity and personal responsibility for his or her own actions. All these qualities together constitute the company’s value-based compliance culture. This compliance culture is a prerequisite for the business success of Deutsche Telekom Group (Deutsche Telekom). Business success does not stand above the law nor above morals and integrity. How Deutsche Telekom achieves business success is just as important as the very success itself.
The Code of Conduct provides the framework for orientation. It combines two essential aspects: the expectation of all employees complying with the law and the specific requirements for acting with integrity.
For Deutsche Telekom, the Code of Conduct is both an internal claim and at the same time a promise to the outside world. It also ensures that Deutsche Telekom remains a transparent and traceable enterprise for everybody.
The Code of Conduct applies globally at Deutsche Telekom to all board members, managing directors, executives and employees. It also applies, for example, to temporary workers, i.e. persons who are functionally equivalent to employees.
It provides an overview of Deutsche Telekom’s values and the requirements for conduct to its employees. Whenever necessary, the basic principles of the Code of Conduct will be specified in greater detail in internal policies and regulations. Deutsche Telekom’s understanding of values also includes mutual respect as well as recognition and appreciation in our day-to-day interactions with each other. When implementing the Code of Conduct, each business unit of Deutsche Telekom respects both its respective national laws and, based on these, the individual culture of the
country in which it operates.
Yet it would not be sufficient to consider the Code of Conduct simply as a general guideline. It must rather be filled with life and actively promoted by role models. First and foremost, Deutsche Telekom’s executives are role models, not only by acting lawfully and with integrity. They must also ensure that their employees are aware of and understand the Code of Conduct and what behavior is required.
However, the content and the values of the Code of Conduct should not only be lived and applied internally. For this reason, Deutsche Telekom expects its suppliers and consultants to comply with the requirements specified in the Code of Conduct and endeavors to ensure that they also commit themselves to the respective contractual obligations.
For all the reasons outlined above, Deutsche Telekom has determined the content of its Code of Conduct as follows.
