Diversity
Diversity is one of our most valuable assets: Only the combined individual strengths of our employees turn us into what we are - an internationally successful, innovative company on path to growth. Would you like to contribute to this with your very unique personality and experience?
United Internet represents a corporate culture appreciating diversity. Since only a workforce reflecting the many facets of our society can offer the most optimal conditions for creativity and productivity and makes employees - and the company itself – so very unique. This diversity creates incomparable potential for ideas and innovation enhancing our competitiveness and offering equal opportunities for everyone.
Different cultures, nationalities, genders, religions, social backgrounds, level of education, age groups, sexual orientations as well as people with disabilities: We welcome diversity at United Internet and we promote it. We do not tolerate discrimination, harassment or threats at the workplace. To further strengthen the topic, we also signed the Diversity Charter in 2021, an initiative to promote diversity in the world of work. By signing this charter, we are committing to making diversity an integral part of our organizational culture.
Diversity is taken into account in all sections of our company - in the selection and staffing processes to start with and also later on in personnel development. Individual suitability and commitment are the only criteria for your development and your career with us - and this is accessible and transparently presented to everyone. In addition, network events, lectures, podcasts and workshops on topics such as "Unconscious Bias" help to promote diversity and eliminate prejudice and stereotypes in our everyday business life.
In order to bring the topic of diversity even further into the focus of all employees, we also held a three-day virtual in-house conference for the first time in 2021 - the Diversity Days. As part of the Diversity Days, we organized an exciting program for our employees that provided important insights for diversity into the organization. For us, a real success story! In 2023, we received the Impact of Diversity Award in the categorye "Best company" category for this format.
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Gender Equality
We actively seek to increase the proportion of women - at all levels and throughout the whole company. For this reason we start working on this at a very early stage, for example with programming courses for girls, organized by our trainees or our participation in the annual Girls' Day. We are deliberately present at specific career and networking events for women and take part in mentoring programmes for women, e.g. at Mannheim University of Applied Sciences.
We have initiated special talent and networking programs for our female employees. The Women Explore program, for example, aims to make women with strong performance visible and well-known throughout the company, to promote the sharing of experience and to enable women to address the career issue as well as their own strengths and competencies. In addition, more and more female role models are supporting their female colleagues as mentors.
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LGBTIQ+
For us, "diversity" also means that our employees’ sexual identity is irrelevant. With the queer.united initiative, founded by our employees, we have laid the foundation for a more colorful company. For example, events such as connect@queer.united have created a network for employees to exchange views on issues relating to the LGBTIQ+ community openly. This includes, for example, to reduce any of fear of contact and to create an open and discrimination-free working environment. Furthermore, the initiative offers assistance for LGBTIQ+ specific topics such as coming out at the workplace. The network is comprised of members of the LGBTIQ+ community and other employees who support this range of issues.
In addition to activities inside the company, we also integrate external work. Within the framework of partnerships, queer.united networks with other companies, organizations, and public bodies. The goal is to learn from each other, share experiences, promote discussions, and benefit from best practices.
Through the network, we offer the opportunity to take part in shaping the diversity of the United Internet Group to all of our colleagues.
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Family and career
One condition for diversity and variety is also that all employees are able to combine family and career perfectly. Our flexible working time model gives you the opportunity to work from home for specific days. We will also not leave you on your own with your personal issues. Together with our partner familiy service pme, we offer you individual help if necessary: Support with childcare, e.g. free emergency care opportunities for kids up to the age of 12 years, vacation programs (also online), advice on parental benefits, KITA & Co, arranging domestic help, support with caring for relatives and in personal crisis situations. We also hold regular networking events and lectures on topics such as "Compatibility" (also from a father's perspective): This is where employees share ideas, experiences and best practices.
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Cultural Diversity
The United Internet world has no boundaries: We are not only one of the leading Internet specialists in Europe, but we are also increasingly active and successful in countries such as Canada, Mexico and the United States. Also in Germany, more and more people from other countries are enriching our teams. For years, we have also been training people who had to flee from their own countries and employed them afterwards. Workshops and trainings on intercultural competence promote the cooperation of all our employees. What really matters to us is where you want to go - and not where you come from.
In some business segments, the corporate language is English. We offer English and German language courses to ensure optimal communication, even on professional topics. In addition, we also offer you language tandems for peer-to-peer learning.
Our "International Community" also supports the networking of colleagues across cultures and promotes intercultural cooperation through regular exchange formats. Furthermore we offer needs-oriented support with a wide range of measures, such as a relocation service or specific onboarding for international employees.
"Every person is unique. Every person should be the way they are - we like that. For me, diversity means freedom. The whole world is colorful and so are we, just like our customers. Together and through everyone's different experience, we manage to achieve the best."
"A diverse corporate culture has to be exemplified at management level in order for it to be accepted. As a team leader in IT, I promote talented women and accompany them on their way to leadership at United Internet."
„A major challenge for companies is generational change. The baby boomers are approaching retirement age and taking their implicit knowledge with them. With the initiative "Intergenerational Collaboration", I am involved to find ways to bring young and older colleagues together to exchange professional knowledge.“
"If we see diversity as an entrepreneurial opportunity and shape it with trust and mutual respect, we not only strengthen ourselves as an organization, but also make our contribution to social inclusion as a whole."
"Cultural diversity is vital, not just to understand our customers but also to fuel our dynamic and innovative workplace. Embracing different cultures doesn´t just foster better collaboration; it creates a foundation for a successful globally-minded company."