As a TecDax-listed technology company, freenet AG is an attractive employer. The company goes to great effort to ensure the highest possible quality in its employees’ workstations, motivation and expertise. Employees

• participate in decision-making processes via a flat hierarchy, the intranet, CEO dialogues/blogs, ideas competitions, innovation management and in-house suggestion schemes,
  
  
• who perform at a high level are promoted through specific development programmes,
  
  
• benefit from a variety of additional benefits, flexible parental leave/working hours and home-office arrangements,
  
  
• have ergonomically designed workstations, as well as health days, posture training, physiotherapy and sports offers.
  
  

In the financial year 2011 alone, more than 15,000 applications were received forabout 550 job offers.

Nevertheless, in spite of the government’s efforts it is difficult in Germany to find suitably qualified professionals, especially for the very demanding IT jobs within the company. freenet AG is therefore steadily training its own skilled workers: at year-end 2011 it employed a total of 125 trainees from Chamber of Industry and Commerce degree programmes in computer science, logistics, retail and sales. Furthermore, four dual-degree programmes are offered at vocational colleges.

With comprehensive stakeholder value in mind, freenet AG not only has a direct responsibility towards its customers, shareholders and employees, but also to society and the environment.

Therefore, for years the company has supported about a dozen foundations/associations, each with five to six-figure amounts, that work for children, youth, sports and social services in places where the company has sites. In the financial year 2011, these included the Albert Schweitzer Kinderdorf (Children’s Village) in Erfurt, an initiative for parents of children with cancer in Kaiserslautern, and the Olga Hospital for children/teens in Stuttgart.

Since 2001, the company’s Büdelsdorf site has equipped computer rooms in schools and other public facilities with modern PCs, projectors, printers, internet access and computer tables, with the aim of helping users learn how to handle the possibilities of multimedia in a fun way.

As part of its environmental responsibility efforts, freenet has converted its data centre in Düsseldorf to energy-saving systems. The Group’s very complex logistics are provided by a service provider geared to sustainability. A variety of other measures—online invoices and reports, collection of used mobile phones, recycling of packaging, and a preference for video/telephone conferences wherever possible—round off the company’s ecological orientation. In addition, since 2010 freenet has offered inexpensive green electricity to customers through its shops across Germany.