We are committed to enabling fair opportunities and are committed to inclusion. Our value-based corporate culture is characterized by diversity, equal opportunities and participation. It not only influences how we work, but also the satisfaction of our employees and our business success.
We present these topics in detail in the audited Sustainability statement in the Annual Report 2025 and in the HR Factbook 2025.
Lived values: facts and figures 2025
We want to offer all our employees the opportunity to develop professionally and develop individually – regardless of age, nationality and ethnic origin, gender and gender identity, physical and mental abilities, religion and ideology, sexual orientation or social background. Our employees are committed to these diversity dimensions in various communities and actively shape our corporate culture.
We implement legal requirements that we encounter in the area of equal treatment with various measures.
The following key figures from the reporting year show where we stand in terms of corporate culture and inclusion:
Women on the Board of Management and Supervisory Board: As in the previous year, the proportion of female members on the Supervisory Board was 45 %. The proportion of women on the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom AG was 25 % (2024: 37.5 %). In addition to the proportion of women, different international experiences and professional backgrounds contributed to broadening the range of perspectives on the Executive Board.
Employees with severe disabilities: The proportion of our workforce in Germany was 7.7 % (2024: 7.6 %).
Part-time: 10.1 % of our employees (excluding T‑Mobile US) used part-time models (2024: 11.9 %). In Germany, the figure was 11.6 % (2024: 12.2 %).
Employee networks: Over the course of the year, employees (excluding T‑Mobile US) once again committed themselves to our corporate culture in over 50 communities.
We are continuously working to strengthen diversity, equal opportunities and participation. In addition, we want to ensure that our employees also find support in their private lives. We want to relieve them so that they remain healthy and productive and can develop individually.
Reconciling work and private life
With flexible working models, we want to make it easier for our employees to reconcile work and private life and help to prevent possible symptoms of overload. Our regulations are diverse and cannot be presented in full for the entire Group at this point. In Germany, the focus is on the following measures:
Promotion of part-time and partial retirement
You can find out more about partial retirement in our
HR Factbook 2025Employees in Germany can reduce their number of hours in accordance with the legal requirements, provided that there are no operational reasons against it. You can return to your original weekly working hours at any time. Trainees and dual students can also be trained part-time or complete their studies under certain conditions. In principle, partial retirement can be started from the age of 55.
Mobile working
Mobile working is established at Deutsche Telekom. Our employees in Germany, but also in other European countries, can arrange their work flexibly at their location. In Germany, the regulations on mobile working are anchored in collective law. In addition, since 2024, employees in Germany have had the opportunity to work remotely from other EU countries for up to 20 working days per year.
Time off from work
With a lifetime working time account, most employees in Germany can save up a credit balance and use it for a sabbatical, an earlier exit from working life or the top-up of a part-time salary. At the end of 2025, almost 18,000 employees were using the model. In addition, employees in Germany can take unpaid leave from work at short notice, e.g. to raise or care for children, care for relatives or to work for another employer.
With the employee-financed “Buy Vacation” model, all employees in Germany have had the option of financing additional days off through their salary since January 2024. In contrast to the lifetime working time account, it is more flexible, because there are neither application deadlines nor savings periods. More than 1,200 employees applied for the model in the reporting year.
To study or do a doctorate, employees in Germany can take up to four years of so-called educational leave. During this time, the employment relationship is suspended and no remuneration is paid.
Holistic support for families and challenges using Germany as an example
As a family-friendly employer, we take the everyday requirements of our employees seriously and want to support them in mastering them with a wide range of offers.
Childcare: In addition to company-owned daycare centers, employees at many Deutsche Telekom locations can use parent-child offices, e.g. if regular childcare is canceled. In addition, we support our employees all year round in their search for childcare options, even for the holiday periods. As part of this, Deutsche Telekom is offering additional holiday offers during the summer holidays. If, for example, regular care is cancelled, emergency care can be organized at short notice.
Parental leave: Through the “Stay in contact” network, which is anchored in Germany, employees on parental leave have the opportunity to stay in touch with the company and also receive support in re-entering working life. Our “Fathers’ network” promotes the open exchange of experiences between fathers. In addition, we offer (expectant) mothers and fathers in our company the option of being digitally accompanied on their “parental leave journey” with a specially designed app. Support in balancing the work-life cycle is also provided by the counselling and mediation services on care, support and household-related services.
Inclusive working environment: In order to equip the working environment of our employees in a way that is accessible to the disabled and also inclusive, we promote physical and digital accessibility with various measures, e.g. by providing technical aids.
Programs for better work-life balance: We offer various training courses and workshops that are specially tailored to employees in the early family phase. In the reporting year, for example, we once again implemented the mentoring program “Careers with children”. In addition, we have provided learning opportunities such as the lecture “Parent couples between kitchen table and laptop” as well as lectures on the topic of menopause.
You can find out more about our workplace health promotion measures in our audited
Sustainability statement in the Annual Report 2025-
Support in dealing with professional and private challenges: For concerns from everyday professional and personal life, our employees are supported by the Employee and Management Advisory Service (MFB) throughout the Group. For example, our employees can turn to MFB’s external experts in the event of stress at work, private changes, but also problems in the partnership, in the family or with children.
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Family Fund and Social Fund: In Germany, we also support our employees with financial resources: As a start-up aid, the Family Fund supports employee projects that make it easier to reconcile work and private life – such as specially established childcare services, parent coaching or courses for family caregivers. Employees in an economic emergency can receive support from the Social Fund. We also subsidize recreational measures for children with severe disabilities.
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Betreuungswerk: We support our employees in Germany in emergency situations and in regeneration. They can turn to the care center in the event of family deaths, serious illness, social emergencies or natural disasters, for example. For example, we offer courses for women with cancer. We also provide help for the children of employees who are students.
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ErholungsWerk: The ErholungsWerk offers inexpensive holidays in attractive European holiday regions, e.g. in one of the 16 own holiday resorts.
Looking ahead
For 30 years, our values have formed the basis of a corporate culture in which we want to empower everyone to reach their full potential. Our brand, the “T”, stands for connection and cohesion – both externally and internally, today and tomorrow.
Deep Dive for Experts
Management & Frameworks
Our values form the basis for our corporate culture: We have laid them down in our Guiding Principles. They form the basis for our internal cooperation, but also for cooperation with our customers, shareholders and the public.
Based on this, the codes of conduct of Deutsche Telekom and T‑Mobile US define the rules for our daily work – both internally and externally. In this way, they bridge the gap between the corporate guidelines and the many different guidelines in the Group as well as the legal requirements.
Our Diversity, equity, and inclusion policy and our Code of Human Rights provide the basis for promoting the various dimensions of diversity and eliminating discrimination within Deutsche Telekom (excluding T‑Mobile US).
Relevant Standards
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
GRI 2-7 (Employees)