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Klaus vom Hofe

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"Never violence!"

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The words "office job" describe what I do for a living very well. Though I don't spend all my time behind a desk – I'm very often out and about. Still, I do spend most of my time in front of a screen and on the phone, surrounded by friendly colleagues. However, there are of course times of stress and disagreement between us. Nothing, you understand, that can't be sorted out over a cup of coffee.

I suppose you could say I live to some extent in a bubble. But there is one thing I'm starkly aware of, even by looking at the daily news: bullying, stalking, increasing radicalization and violent fantasies, sexual harassment and even gun rampages are all real phenomena. There are people who for some reason or another treat the people around them with aggression. Both in their private lives and at work. Whether verbally, physically or digitally – using social media, for example. And such behavior can have life-changing consequences for those affected by it. Fear and insecurity can become daily factors in their lives. 

The risk of suffering such behavior is of course greater for people who deal with dozens of people every day, whether they work as officials, in social sector, in hospitals, schools or in customer service, for example in public transport – or even in Deutsche Telekom.

And by the way, our Group employs about 115,000 people in Germany alone. That makes Deutsche Telekom the equivalent of a large town. At least in relation to the number of people who work with us. Add our customers into the mix and you might as well be talking about an entire country. Both for good and bad, our company reflects the society in which it is set, which means that it is is logically going to be the setting for transgressions of boundaries, such as threats of violence or stalking.

But anyone at risk of experiencing violence can get support from the experienced colleagues at Threat Management. Personally, I find that reassuring. I can imagine that there are situations that I simply could not deal with alone, particularly situations that are completely new to me. Deutsche Telekom's Threat Management team is at your side to provide you with effective ways of resolving any such problems.  What we understand by "threat" and what the Threat Management team can do for you is described (in German) in the guidelines set out by the German working group for security in the workplace for all companies intending to set up their own threat management unit. Aside from that, they also explain their work in an interview (in German) published on telekom.com.

The team works in conjunction with other units, including the Compliance and Health units, and employee representatives. Everything it does is handled in the strictest confidence. The team cooperates with a network of external specialists, including the police, women's refuges and victim protection organizations. Something else that impressed me during our conversation was that they also deal with employee cases that have no obvious connection with the workplace. Because the unit's credo is that it is not always possible to separate one's professional and private lives, as one can imagine through the example of stalking behavior. Anyone experiencing violence in their private life will inevitably carry the burden with them into work.

The trust of employees is absolutely essential

Our threat managers have even won an award for their work and received an official certification for their expertise – the first such unit within a DAX-30 enterprise to have done so. Their work is close to the heart of our top management team. "Every employee has a right to a workplace free of violence," says Thomas Kremer, our Board member for Data Privacy, Legal Affairs and Compliance. "Together with our Threat Management team, we're determined to leave no-one on their own. Our employees can put their faith in that commitment, which we consider an essential precondition for achieving a good working atmosphere, effective teamworking and shared success."

One measure of how important the work of a threat management unit is can be seen in the number of workplace accidents that occur due to violence. Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung, the German statutory accident insurance association, puts the number of such incidents at well over 20,000 for the year 2014 alone (link in German). And that figure includes only reported cases.

The unhappy truth is that violence is extremely present in our society. And we can debate endlessly what the causes of the phenomenon might be. But I must say that I find the acceptance speech made by Astrid Lindgren on winning the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade back in 1978 ("Niemals Gewalt!"  – or "Never Violence!") very moving. She declared: "Whether a child grows up to be a warm-hearted, open and trusting person with a concern for the common good, or a cold, destructive, egoistic person, will be determined by those to whom the child is entrusted on this earth, depending on whether they show that child the meaning of love or fail to do so."

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