Now, more than two months later, it turns out that the farewell was apparently less clear than it appeared at the time. According to several insiders, Telekom still employs a significant number of people at its Russian locations. Internal reports also indicate that security measures have been relaxed again in the meantime.
Apparently Telekom can only slowly part with its Russian specialists. The IT chief of the group, Peter Leukert, is said to have spoken internally in mid-May that the majority of the colleagues originally employed in Saint Petersburg are still working there for Telekom today. Full settlement is not expected until next year. In Bonn, however, even executives had assumed that no more software was being developed for Telekom from Russia.
A company spokesman leaves open on request when the deduction will be completed. He merely states that “the vast majority of services are now provided from outside Russia”. Telekom is closing its Russian locations. This is a “complex process” that one does not want to comment on in detail. Customers could assume that “all conceivable threat scenarios” are taken into account in the security assessment.
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After the outbreak of war, Telekom initially maintained software development in Saint Petersburg and at two other locations. The management even had money and IT equipment brought to Russia in order to remain able to act for months, if necessary, despite sanctions. “Fortunately, our employees in Russia are safe at the moment and can work,” said Claudia Nemat, Chief Technology Officer, in an internal email at the time. In addition to the well-being of the colleagues on site, the management was obviously primarily concerned with being able to deploy them without interruption despite the Ukraine crisis. It has been ensured “that they can continue to work in most scenarios that we can imagine,” Nemat reassured.
The headquarters in Bonn, meanwhile, increased the security precautions: New program code from Russia now had to be checked before it was fed in. There was a fear of secret services that could possibly compromise Russian colleagues.
Russians are working on crucial projects
This is one of the reasons why many employees experienced the decision to deduct as a relief. It was preceded by two public letters from works councils calling on the board to take action. Additional pressure arose because Telekom had been included in the “Hall of Shame” of the American elite university Yale – a kind of pillory for corporations with continued involvement in Russia. The closure of the Russian locations was announced just one day after the listing.
Many Western companies are currently facing the challenge of completing their business in Russia. For many, it’s an expensive, frustrating goodbye. Corporations like Henkel and Siemens only reacted when public pressure threatened to jeopardize their business. SAP, which initially hesitated for weeks, recently reduced its sales forecast for the current year by 300 million euros as a result of the deduction.
Telekom had no significant business in Russia. It made itself dependent on software developers from Russia who were driving fiber optic expansion in Germany or a uniform customer app. Strategically important projects that the board obviously does not want to postpone.
According to reports, colleagues at other Telekom locations cannot take over the tasks of their Russian colleagues at short notice. In Germany, corresponding skills have been reduced in the past. The actions of the corporate management make it clear how much they are apparently dependent on the Russians.
As early as the end of March, it was said that the Russian employees had been offered the opportunity to continue working for Telekom from other countries. “Many” of them would have used this option. The group does not want to give specific figures today either.
Hundreds of Russian IT experts were flown to Turkey.
(Photo: dpa)
At the general meeting on April 7, however, Telekom boss Höttges revealed what was meant by foreign countries. When asked by a shareholder representative, he spoke of almost 2,000 people – Russian Telekom employees and their families – who the group had accommodated in holiday hotels in Antalya, Turkey. An unusual approach that some top managers in Bonn consider at least tricky.
Extended business trip to Antalya
At the end of April, “Wirtschaftswoche” visited a Turkish five-star resort that Telekom had booked. According to the report, around 400 Russian programmers and their family members were housed there alone. They were happy and grateful to be able to leave their home country – but faced an uncertain future.
A stay in Antalya has little in common with vacation. According to insiders, the experts were immediately reinstated. As a safety precaution, the group IT equipped them with new computers beforehand.
Since the Russians are now abroad, some of them are said to have enjoyed extended access rights as so-called “trusted users”. According to reports, they were tasked with checking new program code from their colleagues who remained in Russia.
It remains unclear how long the stay, which is internally referred to as an “extended business trip”, will be extended. Normally, Turkey allows guests from Russia to stay for three months. In the medium term, the Russian employees are to move to Telekom locations in Europe – including to Germany. Höttges and CFO Christian Illek had already announced such options in February. Apparently, some programmers have left Antalya for home.
At the Annual General Meeting in April, Höttges called the unusual departure program a “deeply humane solution”. At that time there was no mention of the colleagues who remained in Russia.
They probably have no future in the group in the long term. A few days after Höttge’s statement, Telekom announced that it would no longer employ employees “who cannot or do not want to work outside of Russia”. A generous transitional period will probably suit both sides.
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