Our Social Commitment

Management Approach

Materiality, Impact, and Risks

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As an internet supplier, we operate in a dynamic and highly competitive market. However, our economic activities aren’t the whole story: we are also part of society and we can only be successful if this functions properly, too. This explains why we are committed to helping ensure a stable society that can meet future challenges.

We are part of society and are committed to helping ensure its stability and ability to meet future challenges.

Our products are targeted at a broad range of people in society and help them connect with each other. In line with this, we take social responsibility within our Company. In addition, we want to ensure this happens throughout the value chain. As a result, we expect our business partners to show responsibility for society and their stakeholder groups.

For many stakeholders, initiatives and projects that see the bigger picture beyond our day-to-day business are extremely important. For example, potential customers increasingly look at companies’ social and environmental commitment and choose suppliers and products on this basis. Staff also increasingly want to be able to identify with their employer – something that is helped, among other things, by the employer’s social commitment and by it supporting its employees in performing voluntary work.

Goals and Measures

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We take good corporate governance to mean that we should not lose sight of the impact our various business activities have on people and the environment, and that we should help ensure a stable and forward-looking society. Our goal is to contribute to people’s prosperity both within and outside our corporate environment. We do this by creating jobs and traineeships, through our products, and through our social commitment. Our activities in the last area comprise the initiatives given below, and the first two of these are described in more detail in this chapter.

United Internet for UNICEF
Back in 2006, foundation donor and United Internet CEO Ralph Dommermuth laid the groundwork for an initiative designed to help children throughout the world. The United Internet for UNICEF foundation, which has been highly successfully in the years since then, supports projects run by UNICEF (the United Nations Children's Fund) worldwide. By doing so, it helps improve equal opportunities for, and the well-being of, children around the world.

1&1 Together
From the fall of 2015 to early 2020, we supported three initiatives – “1&1 Welcome,” “1&1 Language,” and “1&1 Fit for Job” – under the overarching title of “1&1 Together.” Over 300 employees volunteered their time alongside the core team. The focused training modules in our “1&1 Fit for Job” qualification program helped refugees find their feet on the German job market, with employees acting as trainers or organizing events. United Internet supported this commitment by enabling employees to take time off to contribute to the initiatives. Staff involved in the scheme could spend up to 10% of their weekly working time on measures designed to assist refugees.

Supporting inclusion
As already described in the chapter entitled “Climate and Environmental Protection,” we also support the inclusion of, and employment opportunities for, people with physical or mental disabilities. Among other things, we do this by passing on waste equipment to AfB gGmbH, a recycling specialist. According to the latter’s figures, 45% of its workforce are people with disabilities. Another way in which we promote working together with people with physical or mental disabilities is our partnership with disabled people’s cooperative GDW (Genossenschaft der Werkstätten für behinderte Menschen Mitte eG), which has shredded and recycled our old files and records for more than five years now.

IONOS CARES
In 2020, United Internet subsidiary IONOS donated 120 PCs to a community college and two publicly funded schools in the Philippines cities of Cebu, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu. This continues the IONOS CARES approach of facilitating individuals’ academic and professional development, with a particular focus on underprivileged students from the region. The PCs that were donated will account for a large portion of the pupils’ learning journey and open up opportunities that they otherwise would not have had. In this way, recycling computers kills two birds with one stone: not only does it conserve resources, but it also helps people in need.

“Care Packages” project
In addition, “Care Packages” were distributed to employees in the Philippines in fiscal year 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These contained a large number of key products such as food and face masks. This was another way in which IONOS helped ensure the health and wellbeing of its workforce in the COVID-19 period.

Results and Assessment

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The success of our social commitment can be measured in a number of different ways. Firstly, we are recording an increase in donations received and in the number of sponsor members for the United Internet for UNICEF foundation. Secondly, six refugees who took part in our “1&1 Together” initiative have already been given permanent positions at Group companies after completing the program. We are also receiving positive feedback from our long-term partnerships with AfB and GDW, which shows that the cooperation is working well. These partnerships allow us not only to live our social commitment but also to help the environment.

Contribution to the SDGs