Introduction
We do not make any gender-specific distinctions in our texts and always speak, for example, of “the employee”. For this reason, all apparent gender-specific statements are always addressed equally to every person employed in the company or otherwise associated with it.
ATIX provides Linux and open-source solutions for data centers. The company pursues the vision “We will be the number-one choice for automation of Linux and open source in the data center”. We believe in open standards, flat hierarchies and always transparent communication, both among ourselves and with our customers.
“Meet man with the same courtesy with which you receive a dear guest. Treat them with the same respect with which the great sacrifice is offered. Do not do to others what you yourself do not wish. Then there will be no anger against you – neither in the state nor in your family.” – Konfuzius
With this in mind, we deliver customized Linux and open-source solutions for customers in the banking, insurance, trade, administration, development, and industrial sectors.
How we as a company are perceived externally and internally depends greatly on the behavior of each individual employee. By formulating our ideas and making them publicly available, we define the code by which we can and must be measured. This Policy includes principles and binding requirements for responsible conduct towards other employees, customers and suppliers as well as compliance with requirements, laws and the defined ethical and moral principles of the company. Particular attention is paid here to the members of management and department heads, who act as role models in complying with and monitoring the compliance with the policies. They also serve as contact persons for questions about company values and for addressing misconduct. Nevertheless, every employee, be it a consultant, developer, freelancer, trainee, or intern, has the right and duty to promote and stand up for compliance with the code of conduct.
The human being is the focus of our actions.
The ATIX employee is the highest asset and foundation of our company. For us, all employees are valuable and equal. Therefore, we do not tolerate harassment or discrimination against employees, applicants, customers, suppliers, etc. on the basis of ethnicity, gender, pregnancy or parenthood, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, age, origin, appearance, disability, or any other reason. We support our employees in optimally combining family, career, and leisure time. Ultimately, this also benefits our customers.
The health of our employees is important to us. We are therefore committed to providing the best possible workplace in terms of health and safety. We make optimum use of our employees and colleagues, so that there is neither too much nor too little demand. In addition, we pay attention to fair working conditions, working hours and provide employee benefits, e.g., free drinks, fruit, discounted fitness studio subscriptions, company bicycle. We are a family-friendly company, which is why we support the motto “Family First”. All this should contribute to an optimal working environment. We support our employees in personally challenging situations. If an employee is confronted with personal challenges due to external circumstances, we do not leave him or her alone. If, for example, a daycare center is suddenly closed or a person close to the employee needs his or her support, we will find solutions together in a personal meeting. These can be reflected, for example, in flexible working hours, a special day off, or financial support. Our compensation and benefits are in line with the basic principles regarding minimum wages, overtime, and legally required social benefits. At a minimum, working hours comply with applicable laws, industry standards or relevant ILO conventions, whichever is more stringent.
The safety, physical and mental health, and well-being of all employees is our top priority. We strictly comply with the occupational health and safety laws that apply worldwide. In accordance with the applicable law, there is a safety officer who is responsible for compliance with and implementation of emergency preparedness measures, accident and incident management, workplace ergonomics, and fire protection.
We have excellently trained employees who are essential for the success of ATIX. All employees give their best for the good of the company. ATIX focuses on the individual development of its employees to strengthen their skills. In addition to vocational training, the programme also includes further training measures and on-the-job training together with qualified managers. Every employee therefore has access to further training days. We leave it up to the employee whether he or she takes part in internal or external further training or whether it is an online offer. In the case of long-term further training courses over several years, we find an optimal solution to arrange private, professional, and further training in the best possible way.
Our actions are in accordance with laws, ethics and morals. In the international context, this also means respecting the laws, value systems and morals of other countries. We recognize and respect the right of all employees to freedom of association and collective bargaining. The company does not apply a collective bargaining agreement. Should the application of a collective bargaining agreement occur at a later date, we recognize collective bargaining as a right of employees.
Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of basic human rights. It manifests itself in various forms, such as slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labor, and human trafficking. All of these forms have in common that a person is deprived of his or her freedom by another person in order to exploit him or her for personal or commercial purposes. We are committed to acting ethically and in a proper manner in all our business activities and relationships, and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure that modern slavery does not occur in our business.
Child labor is not tolerated by us. The statutory age restrictions in accordance with the Youth Employment Protection Act apply, on the basis of which we do not employ children under the age of 15 and young people who are required to attend school full-time. Exempt from this are student internships or other company placements during full-time compulsory education that support the child’s development. When employing adolescents and young employees, we also pay particular attention to compliance with legal regulations on working hours, breaks, and hazardous work. This includes prohibiting any activities that are considered hazardous and could jeopardize the young employee’s physical or mental health and development. Furthermore, we support the dual training system by offering apprenticeships in our company. In addition to the Youth Employment Protection Act, the Vocational Training Act also applies here in particular.
Every employee undertakes to protect the interests of ATIX. Possible conflicts of interest that may result in a biased decision or action are discussed without delay with the respective supervisor. We do not tolerate any secondary employment that could lead to a competitive situation with ATIX. Therefore, every initiation of a secondary activity has to be coordinated with the management. However, we are most definitely pleased when employees perform honorary activities, such as joining the fire brigade, the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), or societies, get involved in political parties or in the open-source community.
ATIX provides employees with working materials such as computers, notebooks, monitors as well as work tables and chairs. These and all other assets are the property of ATIX, which we deal with responsibly and for the purpose for which they are intended. Company facilities such as office supplies, printers, copiers, fax machines, telephones may only be used for company purposes unless otherwise specified in the individual case. The use of the company pool vehicles is only permitted for business purposes.
ATIX provides the departments with the necessary infrastructure for their work in the form of servers and services, including backup and monitoring. This infrastructure is dimensioned and configured in such a way that it meets the requirements of the usual framework. The use of resources is for corporate use only, not for private use. The departments, and therefore every employee, are responsible for ensuring that the use is reasonable and that resources that are no longer needed are released before any extensions are requested.
Internal and confidential information about the company or its customers may not be passed on or discussed in public. In particular, information from the areas of finance, personnel, law, corporate development or insider information about other companies is treated strictly confidentially. Especially when it comes to fast, electronic correspondence via e-mail and instant messaging services, we take great care to ensure that no information falls into the wrong hands and that laws, morals, and ethics are respected. ATIX also complies with all data protection laws and regulations to protect the privacy of its employees and customers. Internal ATIX documents (e-mails, reports, plans) are and remain the property of ATIX even after the employee has left the company, and may not be passed on to third parties without prior agreement. Everybody has to ensure proper data destruction. Documents, patents, software, programs, source code, and everything else that arises during working hours at ATIX is the property of ATIX.
As a company in the Linux and open-source sector, we increasingly rely on open source for our customers, but also concerning out own tools and applications at ATIX! We are actively involved in the development of open-source software. Bug fixes and extensions to existing open-source software will be released as open source again. New software components are licensed under an open-source license after consultation with the management. The copyright for new software components is held by ATIX, which is why ATIX is noted in each case for all participations. Open source stands for innovation—for new tools, new products, and new ways of thinking. We are happy when employees have ideas that move us and our customers forward. We promote innovation and offer freedom to work on new technologies. But not only new technologies can be innovations, we also value improved processes, structures and working practices.
The ATIX team is more than the sum of its parts. We support each other and pull together in the same direction! We are mutually respectful and encourage cooperation between all employees and departments through a variety of measures. In order to ensure communication between all employees (internal and external), ATIX provides an internal protected company chat (no data is transmitted to the outside). There are special event days (“CrewDays” and “OfficeDays”) to ensure that the consultants, most of whom work away from home, and the employees, most of whom work in the office, meet regularly. All employees come together in the office for an event day, each of which is held under a specific motto. In addition, we try to agree with our clients that consultants are at our office every other Monday (“OfficeMonday”) to ensure the mutual exchange of experience and communication.
We rely on an open meeting culture between and within departments. For an efficient meeting, we invite only the necessary people, set goals and agendas, define location and time, and ensure that the meeting begins and ends on time. We respect the common rules of conversation and other opinions. We make decisions (e.g., in the context of customer and internal projects) only after a thorough analysis of the date and consideration after all possible alternatives. The implementation takes place after appropriate preparation and, if necessary, in coordination with the customer or other departments.
We are in favour of an open, fair and trusting relationship with each other. Conflicts also occur in the business environment between colleagues and managers. We talk WITH each other—not about each other. We deal openly with conflicts, and discuss objectively in order to find a solution together; if necessary, we call in a mediator. We accept that we all make mistakes and try to learn from them.
We value ideas, as they are the basis for new projects and products, and can improve the company culture. ATIX therefore promotes the development of ideas on the employees’ own initiative and grants work resources and 50% of the working time for agreed idea developments; the remaining working time is to be spent privately. In addition, suggestions for improvement made by employees are discussed openly and objectively.
ATIX managers are responsible for the best possible working conditions, fair cooperation, and excellent quality of products and services for customers. A clear, balanced, and unambiguous communication with the employees is essential. Every manager is a role model for the employees and is committed to ensure trusting and reliable dealings within the company.
ATIX can only be as successful as its customers are. People and their needs are the focus of our joint activities. ATIX offers specialized know-how in the Linux and open-source environment and focuses on individual, tailor-made solutions for customers. We are open to new, modern technologies and approach our customers’ challenges with a corresponding foresight. We reduce complexity and bring joy into your daily work. Our top priority is to meet the requirements of our customers in the best possible way so that we can maintain a high-quality, long-term cooperation with the customer. We want to be perceived by our customers as a reliable, serious, competent and trustworthy partner. Every employee is thus called upon to do his or her best. We pay attention to fair dealings with our customers and always deliver work results of high quality. In order to achieve the best possible results for our clients, we listen, perceive and seek dialogue. We demand from ourselves and from our customers mutual respect and esteem and pay attention to truthful information when communicating with our customers. We do not provide misleading or untruthful information. The products and services offered by us respect data protection. We treat personal data with the utmost care, with the retention of laws and regulations.
Regardless of whether certain forms of taking or giving advantage may be permitted by law, ATIX refrains from actions that fall under the commonly used terms corruption, bribery, or extortion. For example, it is not permitted to accept or give gifts to customers and suppliers that could indicate a possible benefit or advantage in type and scope. In case of doubt, a case-specific distinction should be made with the help of management. Furthermore, the respective specifications of the customer/supplier are to be observed in order not to unintentionally violate regulations of the customer/supplier. Special attention must be paid here to the interaction with authorities and other state enterprises. The term “gift” covers a number of possible points and must therefore be questioned on a case-specific basis, e.g:
ATIX behaves fairly in competition and observes applicable laws and regulations. A competitor yesterday might become the best partner or customer tomorrow. We do not spread bad news about our competition, but present the advantages of ATIX. When dealing with the competition, we observe not only laws but also basic moral principles and refrain from illegal activities, such as espionage or copying of ideas, products, documents, etc.
We win others over with our advantages, pay attention to antitrust regulations, and refrain from silent or explicit agreements regarding price, market, territory, and customers.
ATIX supports the concept of waste prevention, e.g., by avoiding the unnecessary use of paper and plastic (e.g., for packaging) and other unrequired resources. We receive food and drinks for employees in returnable packaging as far as possible. We promote the use of public transport for employees’ journeys by locating the branch in the direct vicinity of public transport stops, and CO2-neutral travel by promoting company bicycles and making bicycle parking spaces available. We support natural resource management by participating in various projects, such as Save the Rhino, a project to protect wild animals and their natural environment, directly purchasing tree sponsorships as part of reforestation projects, and recommending our employees to use Ecosia as a search engine, which funds tree planting with a portion of its proceeds from search results. We try to keep the greenhouse gas emissions we generate as low as possible and to act as energy-efficiently as we can. Among other things, we rely on the concept of using renewable energies as far as possible, starting with the purchase of our electricity from hydroelectric power plants in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and the use of electric vehicles instead of combustion engine-powered vehicles. We source our food provided within the company—where possible—from local producers in organic quality. ATIX does without the usual industry attention for customers and suppliers during the holidays and donates the saved budget for selected social projects. Each working team receives a fixed budget per year, which can be used for social purposes and projects as they see fit.
The ATIX Code of Conduct is intended as a positive guideline for good cooperation and is strongly based on generally accepted standards. Nevertheless, individual agreements may not be observed. Whether this happens intentionally or unintentionally does not matter. In this case, any employee who becomes aware of such noncompliance has the right and duty to ensure compliance with the agreements. He or she can communicate this directly (e.g., from colleague to colleague) or contact the head of department or the management directly. Changes and additions to these values will be openly communicated. Remedied noncompliances are also communicated openly if, one, this does not undermine the personal rights of the person concerned and, two, it is to be expected that further noncompliances will be prevented as a result, e.g. because the noncompliance is presumably due a mistake or accidental ignorance of a legal situation and might happen to the next employee.
Contact ATIX
If you have any questions about our products and services or any other topics, please do not hesitate to contact us.
