Our employees

We want people at O2 Germany to feel proud to work for the company and to see it as a place where they can fulfil their career ambitions as well as wider aspirations. According to the Reflect survey which we conduct each year, 89 per cent of our employees are proud to work for O2 Germany, and 81 percent say that their work makes them feel that they have accomplished something worthwhile for our customers.

We also encourage employees to get involved with the community projects and charities we support. We hope to set up a give-as-you-earn scheme within O2 Germany similar to those run in other O2 operating businesses. The "Can Do Matching" scheme, under which we matched fundraising efforts by our employees, continued to flourish and resulted in an additional grant of more than €9,000 benefiting charitable causes chosen by our employees.

O2 Germany provides an unsolicited employee benevolent fund for employees who find themselves in financial distress through no fault of their own, such as on grounds of ill health. This aims to provide direct help for affected colleagues. A board consisting of employer and works council representatives makes the funding decision. The fund is currently worth €70,000 and can be supplemented by O2 if required. Every employee has the opportunity to donate to this fund.

The health and well-being of our employees is important within O2 Germany and we believe we have extended a well managed health and safety regime in innovative ways, by helping employees improve their health and fitness. During the year we supported a 'stop smoking campaign' run by the German Cancer Research Centre and raised awareness of heart disease. All our employees were also offered free flu vaccinations for the second year running.

Bernd Meierhof, Works Council Chairman at O2 Germany:

"Enjoying your job requires co-operation based on ethical and moral principles. The corporate responsibility programmes are proof of this kind of joint effort at O2 Germany. The support fund for colleagues in need, which started as an employee initiative, underlines this very clearly."

We also launched a major initiative to manage stress in the workplace - seen as a growing reason for ill-health throughout Germany. This includes a specially written theatre performance to raise awareness that will be staged at all major offices. We are also offering anonymous stress tests on our intranet, which allows employees to get advice and suggestions to alleviate stress, such as getting involved in sports or doing yoga. Since its launch, around 33 per cent of our employees have visited the stress pages in the intranet.

In September we opened Studio2, a recreation centre and gym, at our headquarters. All employees can use the facilities for a small charge, and activities are on offer to encourage fitness. Massage and relaxation classes are also available.