responsible_employer

Responsible Employer

As an employer, Deutsche Telekom emphasizes a collaborative relationship with its employees, the trade unions as well as employee representatives.

We consider our committed employees to be our greatest asset and our most important success factor. The Guiding Principles and the group-wide Code of Human Rights have been introduced throughout the Group to standardize employee relations.

As a responsible employer, it is important to us to maintain trusting relationships with our employees, trade unions and employee representatives. We give our employees the opportunity to develop their potential and contribute their individual strengths and ideas. In a market characterized by change, we provide our employees with forward-looking methods and tools that enable them to respond flexibly to changing requirements and adapt to new technological developments. For example, employees can use learning platforms to further their education individually. These include the offerings of Coursera or Percipio. They offer a wide range of courses, videos, books and audio books on topics such as leadership, technology and development and digital transformation. 

We also place a high value on fair remuneration. Our executives are compensated on the basis of our group-wide Global Compensation Guideline. We offer our employees additional benefits such as our company pension program. The collectively agreed wages of our employees are based on the respective national labor markets. In our company, men and women receive the same pay for the same work. We do not tolerate any form of direct or indirect discrimination or harassment, including sexual harassment, in the workplace - either online or offline. We also do not accept any form of racism. 

We support working models that are tailored to the needs of our employees. Flexible working hours, virtual working and digitization make it easier for our employees to balance work and private life. Our employees can save up on lifetime work accounts for time off, early retirement, a sabbatical, or for a switch to part-time work.

In addition, our employees have the opportunity to participate in various relevant training formats and courses on human rights and employee relations. Topics covered include discrimination, freedom of expression, diversity and data privacy.

Deutsche Telekom is committed to respecting and promoting the right to freedom of expression. In doing so, any activities that could have a negative impact on human rights are being avoided. We regularly conduct human rights risk and impact assessments and use due diligence processes to identify, mitigate and manage risks to freedom of expression and privacy. In this context, an open dialog with our employees on freedom of expression and diversity is particularly important to us. 

We are committed to socially responsible workforce restructuring with comprehensive support for our employees. These activities are based on our integrated planning and management process. The Group Executive Board meets annually to review and approve implementations. We document the progress of socially responsible workforce changes in our monthly Group reports.

To assess the current situation and mood in the Group, an employee survey is initiated regularly and a pulse survey twice a year.

Labor relations based on partnership

Deutsche Telekom maintains a close and intensive dialog throughout the Group as well as close cooperation with employee representative councils.

Deutsche Telekom attaches great importance to sustainable, cooperative and, above all, constructive relations with employee representative councils in general. We are always interested in a good relationship, which is also reflected in our Code of Human Rights. Consequently, we value all our social partners, whether trade unions or works councils, and seek constructive relationships with them.

Freedom of association and participation

In the group-wide Code of Human Rights, Deutsche Telekom is committed to "mutual respect and cooperation based on trust." We respect and recognize the right to freedom of association and collective action within the framework of national laws, agreements and customs. A commitment to respect freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining is also part of our Code of Human Rights & Social Principles.

Industry-specific social dialog

At European level, Deutsche Telekom has for several years been an active member of the Telecommunications Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee, which evolved from the Joint Telecommunications Committee founded in 1990 and is supported by the European Commission. The committee organizes regular dialogs between employer representatives of ETNO (European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association) and employee representatives of the central trade union UNI Europa on economic and social developments in the ICT sector.

Group-wide Code of Human Rights (pdf, 203.7 KB)

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