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Issue 1, November 2004 |
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The Big Listen: its about commitment!
"HR policies arent real until they are deployed on the ground. What brings our corporate responsibility alive is the commitment of BT people, and its inspiring just to see it."
So says Carol Borghesi, BTs Customer Contact Centre director. And with another Big Listen week successfully completed at the end of October, personal commitment is very much in evidence all around, not least from Carol herself.
The Big Listen week is the highlight of the year for BTs work with the ChildLine charity. Across the country there were events and special activities, raising money to give practical help to the work of ChildLine but equally raising awareness of the need to listen more carefully to children.
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"listening is very much at the heart of our business" |
With a nine year old daughter herself, Carol has a personal interest in the needs of children, and when she moved to the UK from Canada in 1997 to run its telemarketing operation she homed in on ChildLine as an area where she wanted to get involved. She is now a trustee for the charity, in effect serving as a director to oversee its work and forward direction.
This cannot be a casual undertaking. In her day job Carol is responsible for the work of some 16,000 people in the BT customer contact centres serving consumers and small to medium-sized businesses. She is currently chair of the Call Centre Association and an expert in the sector. But she sees her commitment to corporate responsibility activities as a fundamental part of what she does. In her role as BTs disability champion she can draw a direct link.
"I have always thought it was vital that businesses should give back to the communities they serve. Call centres are big employers and can offer real work opportunities to disabled people. Its important that we exemplify best practice and we have many initiatives to ensure we do just that. For instance as a result of a project with Remploy we have over 50 disabled people working in our Warrington call centre. By removing the barriers that keep disabled people from the workplace and offering appropriate training we can demonstrate that our commitment is real, and we reap rewards in the commitment of our staff."
There is also an obvious connection between Carols responsibilities for call centre operations and the heart of ChildLines work. The call centres are BTs ears, the first link from its customers to its services. The perceived quality of BTs services will depend to a large extent on the skill of those people in listening and initiating effective action.
"Since listening is very much at the heart of our business," says Carol, "we were strongly placed to help ChildLine. That listening matters on many levels. We have been supporting ChildLine since 1986. Esther Rantzen tells the story of how she came to BT looking for a phone number they could use for the appeal, and everything has ballooned from there. Our people overwhelmingly supported ChildLine as BTs preferred charity and thats a personal driver for me."
She emphasises that BTs business is all about connecting people, enabling them to communicate and through that communication do things better. The work with ChildLine and other charities like Comic Relief reflects this core activity. Its not an add-on, but fundamental to BTs integrity and values.
"This company has been very advanced in its social policies, in the way it thinks about issues like managing diversity, but what matters is that its not just a commitment from senior management. It comes alive in the everyday work and energy of BT people and the huge amount they do in their own communities."
As a ChildLine trustee Carol stresses too that the Big Listen is not just about raising money.
"The moneys only meaningful because it enables us to do more, to answer more calls, to ensure that children who desperately need help and someone to talk to are able to do that. And its also about changing attitudes. As a society we are becoming more open, readier to recognise the importance of listening to young people. But there are strong negative pressures too, pressures on time and lifestyles, which have weakened important rituals like sitting down and eating together. In North America certainly theres evidence of increased despondency among young people, and thats not something even a rich society can afford."
For more information on BTs Big Listen Week visit http://www.biglisten.co.uk/