Employees We are an Attractive Employer 51 A high share of women employees by industry standards q.beyond is inspiring increasing numbers of women to take up a career in IT. At 23.2%, women make up a comparatively high share of our workforce by in dustry standards. On average, women account for only 16% of people working in IT in Germany. At 17.9% (as per eco and Eurostat), the corresponding figure for the European Union as a whole is scarcely higher. In the first half of 2020, 21% of q.beyond’s new staff hires were women. By the second half, this figure had already risen to one third. We have parti cipated in numerous measures aimed at attracting women’s interest in technical careers for many years now. Since 2020, q.beyond has been an official part ner in for women working in STEM careers (“MINT” being the German acronym). This nationwide networking ini tiative promotes dialogue between more than 350 partners from the worlds of politics, business, science, welfare organisations and the media and implements innovative measures. The network also makes it easier for us to attract talented women. “komm, mach MINT”, the national pact We ensure a good work-life balance As a responsible employer, we respect the personal situation of all our employees and account for their wishes within the options available to us as a medium sized company. To the extent permitted by our oper ations, we support our employees in balancing their professional and private lives, and in particular in ensuring that their family and work commitments are compatible. Our company does not stipulate any core working times. Following suitable agreement, employees are free to perform part of their work from home. Generous home office provisions were well used even before the onset of the coronavirus pan demic. At the beginning of 2020, and thus before the first lockdown, around 13% of employees, and here young parents in particular, mainly worked from home offices. Since 17 March 2020, the pandemic means that all employees apart from site security have worked from home. No end this exceptional measure was foreseeable at the editorial deadline for this report. But q.beyond does even more for its employees. We welcome every newborn child with a oneoff gross allowance of € 1,000 and a q.beyond Bobby Car. The Fürstenberg Institut advises parents on childcarerelated matters. Should there be a pro blem with regular childcare for children aged be tween four months and six years, for example, the experts can organise emergency care. It is even possible to organise adhoc care for a sick child at home. Fur ther more, six nursery school places are available for children at the Hamburg location. Parttime work options also assist employees in ba lancing their family and work commitments. In 2020, 132 of our total workforce of 1,004 employees (in cluding trainees, standins and temporary employees) worked on a parttime basis. Managers are also al lowed to work on a parttime basis, with this option currently being exercised by four employees, of which one woman. Moreover, employees are able to move flexibly between parttime and fulltime employment. Not only that, they also have the option of setting up a sabbatical account and “saving up” additional fully paid free time (up to 3 months) to spend with their families or traveling. Fair remuneration Employees with permanent contracts accounted for 95% of the workforce in 2020 (excluding trainees, standins and temporary employees). Where con tracts with employees and executives are limited, these relate solely to temporary customer projects. In cooperation with the Works Council, our company creates an attractive working environment and com petitive remuneration system at its own initiative.