What does it mean to be Best Place to Work? Oliver Herrmann, Tribe Lead New Ways of Working, on the conflicting issues of workplace and location, atmosphere and climate, technologies and working models.
Anyone who follows the public discussions about the future of work might think: This future will be decided between "home office" and "office." The impression is deceptive. Simply specifying how many working hours are to be performed at which desk misses the point. What is essential is the question of why we work and how we want to shape our work in the future. The question of what this work really means, what effect it has and how it brings us as a company to mutual success. What is essential is how our work contributes to strengthening us as employees and at the same time fulfilling our ambition: "Leading digital Telco" is what we want to be and will be as Telekom. But we will only succeed if we create an environment in which work is good for us. Strengthens us, not weakens us. That is the seed that will allow our "New Work" to prosper.
That's why our work of the future, our "New Work," is dedicated first and foremost to the "why” and the "how". It is dedicated to the "with whom?", the "when", the "when and why and how with whom?" And as a consequence, it dedicates itself to the "where". Everything leads to our central claim: "Best Place to Work", that's what we want to be and that's what we will be.
Sounds like ... a matter of course, doesn't it? Who doesn't want to be the best employer? Who doesn't want to offer the best jobs, especially at a time when an employer market has turned into an employee market? In which it is all about appealing to high profiles?
"Best Place to Work": These four words represent everything that makes Telekom an employer. They sum up our ambition, our aspiration in the way the company treats its employees, in the way employees treat each other, in a balance of challenging and promoting, efficiency and effectiveness, in all facets and aspects.
"Place" for us, I mentioned earlier, is much more than a physical place with a desk and swivel chair and monitor. "Place" is the place where I am at the moment, where I am working alone or meeting with others, virtually or physically, that can be a strategic online meeting with the team, the chat in the sitting area in the office, keyword relationship work, or a customer meeting across continents. "Place" is the sum of all influences that make up a situation: Technology, space, furniture, people, atmosphere.
"Best" doesn't really leave room for compromise. Yes, we deliberately set the bar so high that we don't just jump over it effortlessly every day. So, let's ask ourselves: Are we really delivering the best in terms of technology, atmosphere, team spirit, equipment and room design? Are we really providing our employees with an environment in which performance can't help but thrive? The task of any company is to support every work situation in the best possible way. Always with a view to people in their entire personality. Ultimately, however, "best" is as different as people, their expectations, their life plans. For us, it doesn't matter where people come from, how they dress, what they believe in, or which gender they feel they belong to.
So for this “best” there is no "one size fits all". That's why we have different ideas about how we organize ourselves as teams, how we expand and share our knowledge, how we lead. In some teams, employees choose their leaders themselves. Why not? "Best" is also always the courage to experiment - to just find the best way. Yes, we also make mistakes. But we learn from them. That is our culture.
"To Work", yes, this is about work. We all, every one of us, have a responsibility to give our best, to contribute to our shared success - keyword "leading digital telco". In our individual work and in our collaboration with colleagues. Yes, that also includes relationship work. And, yes, it also essentially includes doing meaningful work as a Telekom employee - and knowing and feeling that in everyday life.
"Best Place To Work", by which we mean an overall package of requirements, that is the workplace in the office that is available to me, the place where I meet my colleagues, my desk in the home office, that is the digital tools, that is the leadership, that is the opportunity to learn, to grow further. That's our culture, where a concept like employee satisfaction is so central. It's also the pride of helping to shape Telekom through your own meaningful work."
