In July 2019, the working conditions at Deutsche Telekom Außendienst GmbH (DTA) were reviewed based on the Employee Relations (ER) Policy. The background to this is Deutsche Telekom AG's commitment to meet its obligations as a responsible employer and to regularly review its own employee standards.
Since the field service has been challenged by high work intensity and restructuring in recent years, the decision was made to review the implementation of the ER policy at the DTA. Comparable reviews take place regularly in various Deutsche Telekom AG companies. Examples are the reviews at T-Mobile Poland, T-Systems Malaysia and ITS Hungary.
The DTA is divided into seven regions throughout Germany. As an example of the complete DTA, interviews with management and employees were conducted in Operations Department 7 in Munich (Field Service in the South).
Employees express satisfaction with employer
Most DTA employees expressed great satisfaction with their employer. Leadership culture, appreciation, very good team cohesion and support between employees were seen as particularly positive. The positive development of the results of the employee surveys, which take place twice a year, deserves special mentioning. A clear, positive upward trend can be seen here. The working atmosphere is characterized by performance motivation and satisfaction. Employees identify with the company and are proud to be part of Deutsche Telekom Außendienst GmbH.
Employees and management face new challenges with rapid technical progress, new business fields such as e-mobility, and new automated processes. This means, for example, that employees must constantly develop themselves, learn new skills and develop new training formats. One positive aspect here is that there are, for example, competence workshops where technical, internal experts pass on their knowledge directly to their colleagues. Employees greatly appreciate this format and the "Service-Day-Life" format, which enables employees to learn from employees.
Health rate at a very good level
Work on the topic of Health & Safety (H&S) has been going on for years. The orientation of the H&S division is based on DTAG's annual work program and is also tailored to the special features of the DTA. Together with the B.A.D. as a service provider, various health-promoting measures are carried out. In addition, there is a wide range of training opportunities on accident prevention, dealing with heavy workloads and stress management. Overall, the health rate has been at a very good level for years.
Especially in the summer months, the work intensity of employees can be very high if, for example, thunderstorms frequently lead to technical disruptions. In order to ensure the necessary flexibility in the processing of orders and customer volumes and to relieve the workload, a certain percentage of external employees is assigned in addition to the internal workforce.
Development of talents
The development of own talents is particularly important in order to ensure outstanding quality and technical know-how in the future. Therefore, more apprentices have been hired during the last years. In addition, the DTA has developed a so-called “Talent Circle” to promote its own talents. The temporary takeover of a management position enables junior managers to gain intimal experience.
Overall, it has been observed that the DTA is well positioned in Operations Department 7 and has implemented the key elements of the Employee Relation Policy in its daily work.