New Work : CSR-Report 2023

• About us
• Company profile

• Market positioning and business model

5 New Work SE at a glance

6 Our CSR mission statement

• A message from our CEO
  8 CSR goals and strategy

1. Our action areas

1. Governance

1. Employees

1. Products and Services

1. Environment

1. Society

53 GRI content index

56 More information

56 Independent assurance practitioner's report

58 Publishing information/contact

Our

action areas

Governance

01

→ page 16

Employees

02

→ page 28

Products and

Services

03

→ page 36

Environment

04

→ page 42

Society

05

→ page 48

New Work SE Group (hereinafter also referred to as "New Work SE" or "New Work") has been publishing an annual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report in German and English since 2017. This report relates to the financial year from January 1 to December 31, 2023 and covers all activities and measures of the New Work SE Group including all subsidiaries in the reporting period.

In this CSR report, New Work SE discloses the non-financial information for New Work SE and the New Work SE Group for financial year 2023 as required by Sections 289 and 315 of the German Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch - HGB). In doing so, it makes use of the option under Section 315b (3) HGB to prepare a combined separate non-financial group report outside of the combined management report. The non-financial group report was combined with the separate non-financial report of the parent company within the meaning of Section 315b (1) sentence 2 HGB and integrated into the CSR report. The contents audited accordingly is marked with French quotation marks (>><< ). This also applies to graphics and tables where the headings have quotation marks. All links contained in the report that lead to further websites and information are not part of the audited contents. References to information outside the contents included in quotation marks should be understood as ­additional information. 1 The performance indicators provided in this report serve to quantify earnings and do not constitute management-relevant performance indicators as defined in Section 289c (3) HGB. New Work SE thus fulfills its reporting requirements under the CSR Transparency Directive Implementation Act (CSR-RUG). There have been no material changes to the scope and purpose of this report since it was first published in 2017. Material topics are analyzed at regular intervals and defined in a materiality analysis. The most recent comprehensive analysis was performed in 2021, With the heart and direction of our topics not having changed significantly. No serious risks pursuant to Section 289c Paragraph 3 Sentence 3 were identified. This report discloses our new 2025 strategy with its goals and

measures­ and reports on the level of target achievement and progress made with measures carried out to date.

The most recent report covered 2022 and was published online in March 2023. For the purpose of comparison, the CSR Reports for 2017 to 2022 are still available on the New Work SE website → new-work.se

Quantitative disclosures and key figures as well as the descriptions of the significant events and measures in the individual action areas relate to the reporting year 2023. Any deviations and omissions are marked accordingly.

This combined separate non-financial group report was prepared in consideration of the

Universal­ Standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) 2 from 2021. The contents of the report is also reviewed and evaluated by the well-known ESG rating and ranking agencies.

We welcome comments and questions at csr@new-work.se

• Assurance report → page 56

• GRI Standards are an internationally recognized set of reporting standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The GRI disclosures based on the 2021 GRI Standards used in the report are listed in the GRI content index on → pages 53, 54 and 55.

Company profile

For the past 20 years, New Work SE has been committed to promoting a better working life with a wide range of brands, products and services. Founded as the OpenBC professional network, the Company offers the vast majority of professionals in German-speaking countries their own digital network.

The Company was renamed XING in 2006 and NEW WORK in 2019. Its commitment to a better world of work is now also reflected in its name, with New Work serving as the visible framework for all corporate activities with which New Work SE helps people and companies to succeed in a changing modern world of work.

The Company has been listed since 2006. The New Work SE Group is headquartered in Hamburg and employs a total of 1,816 1 staff at the following locations: Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Barcelona, Valencia and Porto. For more information →new-work.se

• Total number of active and passive employees of the New Work SE Group including trainees, students, interns, and Honeypot and InterNations
  as of December 31, 2023

HARBOUR FOR:

Strong brands

Four brands, one goal: to shape the future of work in the interests of people.

By focusing most of our activities on German-speaking countries (the D-A-CH region), we operate in Europe's largest and strongest economic region. The New Work Group's B2C platforms → www.xing.com and → www.kununu.com are leading players in their respective segments with more than 22 million members and hundreds of thousand employers reviewed.

Our digital employer branding and recruiting solutions also help more than 14,000 companies to enhance their visibility as employers and to fill vacancies with the best possible ­candidates.

In the B2C operating segment, we report on business with the B2C Premium Memberships and InterNations products, which primarily consist of paid memberships. However, our focus on broad access to talent and monetization via B2B products and services means that monetizing via paid memberships is not part of our strategic focus.

In the B2B Marketing Solutions operating segment, we generate revenues by marketing advertising space on the XING platform.

The core HR Solutions & Talent Access segment combines all products for employers looking for access to talent and all products for employees that enable employers to access that talent. This service is monetized through the development, marketing and sale of digital employer branding and recruitment solutions. The costs for accessing talent via the XING and kununu platforms are shown together with the revenues generated from this business.

Corporate headquarters of New Work SE in the Port of Hamburg: We have been committed to achieving a better working world for 20 years

New Work SE at a glance

» Key figures 2023 «

Our sites

€305.6 million

Revenues

22.1 million

XING members in the D-A-CH region

1,816 1

Employees

€36.9 million

Consolidated net profit

€92.9 million

EBITDA

€145.2 million

Equity

14,255

B2B subscription customers

5.0 million

InterNations members

Vienna

 1

   2

  43

One sentence - "for a better working life" - shapes our understanding of our company's responsibility and commitment to society and is the core of our CSR mission statement as our vision and guiding principle. This maxim describes the contribution that we make as a company and also helps motivate and guide our employees.

We want to shape and drive the future of the world of work with our vision. And we want to create a better understanding of how life, culture, and work interact with one another. More than ever, people want to find their true selves and achieve their full potential. They want to work for companies that align with their own principles and whose culture makes them happy in the long term. That's why New Work SE's activities and brands are invested in our mission statement: to put our shared goal - shaping the future world of work for people, businesses, and the environment - in the spotlight of our day-to-day actions.

As we consider our mission to be at the heart of our social responsibility,­ we want to contribute to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We have set ourselves goals that are consistent with our material topics within the parameters of our business operations and aligned with inter­ nationally recognized CSR principles. In doing so, we are taking account of our stakeholders' needs and the wider responsibilities associated with digital transformation, in particular.

Our commitments

• We invest in good working conditions.
• We strengthen innovation and product development.
• We take on environmental responsibility.
• We create values and cultures.
• We comply with standards and create transparency.

Dear reader,

Our vision "for a better working life" is at the heart

of our socio-political commitment. We are passionate about working with our well-known brands and the

largest­ talent­ pool in the German-speaking region to bring companies­ and talented professionals together. By doing this, we enable professionals to live more ­satisfying working lives while helping companies to achieve lasting success by giving them access to the right employees.

The past year was undoubtedly challenging, not only for us but for the world of work as a whole. The recession is also having an impact on recruiting. Although there is still a significant shortage of skilled workers in many sectors, many companies are putting this pressing issue on the back burner as they have other short-term challenges to manage. This trend is particularly evident in our new business, prompting us to introduce significant cost-cutting measures.

Unfortunately, the economic outlook is not positive - at least not in the short term - with most economic indices such as the IMF economic barometer, the ifo business climate index and the IAB Labour Market Barometer moving downwards. Yet these challenges are not going away, as with factors such as the shortage of skilled workers, intergenerational conflict and the rapid development of artificial intelligence continue to drive change in the labor market. We will also harness this change for our own benefit by consistently pursuing our strategy.

It is important for me to emphasize that, despite these developments, we are not losing sight of our responsi­ bility to the environment and society. Our sustainability strategy, with its strategic action areas of Governance, Employees, Products and Services, Environment, and Society, reinforces our corporate vision and underpins our commitment in these areas. We remain on track to achieve all of our targets in this area and are working hard every day to do just that.

Corporate sustainability reporting and disclosure requirements­ have once again become significantly more rigorous for the years ahead. In 2023, we laid the foundations for meeting the stringent criteria of the new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). As we are already a reporting company, we are obligated to meet these requirements and apply the new European Sustainability­ Reporting Standards (ESRS) from Janu- ary 2024. We will revise our sustainability strategy for the coming years and continue to develop and refine our sustainability targets with this in mind. This will also ensure that our contribution to sustainable development in the economy, environment and society continues to grow.

Finally, I would like to thank our employees, partners and stakeholders for their support and commitment, and thank you for your interest in New Work SE and its activ- ities. Together, we will overcome future challenges and continue to realize our vision of a better working world.

Yours sincerely,

Petra von Strombeck

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

CSR goals and strategy

• Our CSR strategy is essentially rooted in our corporate vision, "for a better working life", which defines our understanding of corporate responsibility to society and the environ- ment. On this basis, we developed our 2025 Roadmap in 2021. In the 2023 reporting year, we focused on implementing the measures to achieve the goals we set. <<

>> CSR governance structure <<

Infobox

Management Board

CEO

Supervisory

Board

Systematically managing CSR with an integrated CSR governance structure

>> In the long term, we want to live up to our aim of enshrining social, environmental and economic sus­ tainability in our day-to-day business, raise awareness of these issues, and incorporate these elements into New Work SE's strategic and corporate processes. That's why CSR is already firmly embedded at management level at New Work SE. The CEO is responsible for sustainability management at our company. Together with the other members of the Management Board, the CEO sets the strategic direction, adopts targets, and defines other KPIs and other indicators that we can use to measure progress towards our targets. <<

>> Our integrated CSR Steering Committee, made up

The CSR team at New Work SE manages and coordinates the Company's internal reporting processes and shares information with relevant departmental managers about the latest topics, measures, and status of target achievement within the parameters of our strategy.

This enables a steady flow of information that enables us to react in a targeted way to new developments and challenges relating to target achievement and work together to develop potential alternative courses of action. Any issues that might disrupt the environment and society as a result of our business activity can thus be detected in good time, enabling us to avoid or reduce them. The CSR Coordinator communicates any incidents to the CSR Steering Committee, which evaluates and prepares them for the Management Board for further decision-making. The CSR Steering Committee also

discusses­ the enhancement of our CSR commitment

CSR Steering

Committee

Working Group

Sustainability/CSR

made up of the CSR Coordinator, the Vice President Corporate Communications and the Vice President Investor Relations

made up of the topic-specific divisional heads of Governance/ Legal/Risk Management, HR, XING Products, kununu,

CSR Team, Purchasing,

Technology, Information Security, Data Protection and Corporate Communications, and a representative from Accounting/Controlling and the Employee Committee (EC)

of the CSR Coordinator, the Vice President for Corporate Communications, and the Vice President Investor Rela- tions, was created in 2017 and reports directly to the Management Board. As part of our strategy refinement process, a need has arisen for a wider cross-departmental body that is made up of departmental managers responsible for specific topics.

and the preparation of internal processes and informs the Management Board, executives and employees of current trends relating to the achievement of targets and planned initiatives. The CSR Coordinator is responsible for CSR activities and actions, while the divisional manager is in charge of their implementation. <<

Employees and

management regular exchange with internal stakeholders

at all sites

CSR Strategy 2025: our strategic direction

>> In 2017, New Work SE defined its first sustainability strategy, which aligns our actions with central objectives. We reviewed and refined our sustainability strategy in the 2021 reporting year due to new challenges and our aim to conduct our business operations in a way that is fully responsible. The New Work SE Management Board and Supervisory Board adopted the strategy in 2021. We have set out targets in our strategic action areas of Employees, Products and Services, and Environment, which we will pursue continually. With the help of the CSR Steering Committee and the working group for CSR & Sustainability, we are embedding sustainability more firmly into our Company across all of our sites.

The refinement of our CSR Strategy 2025, which is derived from the principles of New Work SE and our

corporate­ vision, is primarily rooted in the Standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the requirements of the German CSR Transparency Directive ­Implementation Act (CSR-RUG). The ten principles of the UN Global Compact (UNGC), the world's largest and leading initiative for sustainable and responsible business practices, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) form the basis for our commitment. Our strategic­ direction is in line with the ten principles of the

→ UN Global Compact.

Our commitments at a glance

We invest in good working conditions

Our commitment starts with our own employees. We aim to be an employer that guarantees excellent conditions and offers employees the opportunity to contribute their potential.

We strengthen innovation and product development Every day, we work with our strong brands to help improve the working lives of our users, members and customers. We guarantee sustainable corporate development by constantly innovating our products and services.

We take on environmental responsibility

A healthy environment and a stable climate are fundamental to our life and our economy. We do our part by shouldering global responsibility and will reduce the impacts of our business operations on the environment in the future.

We are guided by issues related to human rights and labor standards, the environment and climate, preventing corruption, reporting, and the SDGs. They seek to bring about change processes within companies and embed sustainability in their strategies. Altogether,

We create values and cultures

We want to effectively support social change and contribute towards a modern world of work that helps people and society reach their full potential.

We comply with standards and create transparency We are creating value for a better world of work with a strong foundation and reliable governance. Our future is built on clear codes of conduct and serves as the basis for everything we do. We engage in open dialog with our stakeholders.

we contribute to six of the 17 SDGs, see images on

• page 14. The SDGs underwent an internal mapping process so that their allocation could be assessed and shown as part of our strategic direction. <<

Our material topics 1

>> Our CSR roadmap 2025 covers five action areas: Governance as the basis and foundation for our corporate responsibility and the four key areas of responsibility of Employees, Products and Services, Environment, and Society.

We have set ourselves goals that we want to achieve

by 2025 for all of the material topics shown in the image. For instance, we are putting more of a focus on the working environment that we offer our own employees

as they are at the heart of our commitment. After all, they reinforce and foster diversity and innovation across our products to improve the working lives of our users, members, and customers alike. Our expertise allows us to make a positive contribution to society 2. A healthy ecosystem is the basis for our actions.

Our focus is on sustainable practices and environmentally friendly initiatives that span the entire company. An overview of all of the goals that we aim to reach by 2025 and the current status of target achievement in

the reporting period is shown on → page 11. The review of our material topics and risks in the reporting period did not result in any changes, as there were no changes to the business model. Each chapter addressing one of our five action areas provides additional explanations, and details measures that we intend to use as a pathway to reaching our goals. <<

Presentation of the topics according to the relevance of materiality, see materiality matrix → page 13

Employees

• Working conditions
• Occupational health and safety
• Human resources development
• Diversity and equal opportunities

Products and Services

• Product development and promise
• Information security
• Personal rights and informational self-determination

Environment

• Energy and emissions
• Environmental impacts in the supply chain

Society

• Contribution to the community 2