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BUSINESS
POLICIES
Responsible business
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To
reinforce our commitment to achieve best practice in our standards of
business integrity and ethics, we have had in place for nearly eight years
a written statement of business practice (The Way We Work). This
covers all our operations and applies worldwide to all employees, and to
all agents and contractors when representing BT, and is available in eight
languages. A copy has been sent to every employee and copies are also sent
to the employees of newly-acquired subsidiaries.
We measure our performance
against these principles through our Ethics Performance Measure (EPM), one
of our key CSR key performance indicators. The EPM comprises a measure of
employee awareness of The Way We Work, our ranking in an external
benchmarking of a selection of FTSE-100 companies and the results of a
survey on the extent to which employees consider our activities ethical.
In the 2007 financial year, the EPM was 84%.
Global sourcing, a key
aspect of which is managing a complex global supply chain, is increasingly
important to BT. Through our Sourcing with Human Dignity initiative, we
seek to ensure that working conditions in our supply chain meet
internationally recognised human rights standards. We investigate
potential social and environmental shortcomings and are committed to
achieving 100% follow-up within three months for all suppliers identified
as high- or medium-risk. During the 2007 financial year, we conducted 413
risk assessments. We also conduct a survey every two years to establish
the effectiveness of our relationships with suppliers. The next survey
will be carried out in the 2008 financial year.
During the 2007 financial
year, we put increased emphasis on the environmental aspects of our supply
chain by introducing new procurement principles covering the energy
consumption and environmental impacts of products and services from
manufacture through usage and including disposal. In the 2008 financial
year, we will be focusing on the implementation of these principles.
The high-level principles
in The Way We Work are supported by a continuing and comprehensive
communications programme and on-line training. A confidential helpline and
dedicated e-mail facility are also available to employees who have
questions about the application of these principles. The helpline number
is also published externally. BT’s new Undertakings code of practice (It
matters) forms part of our statement of business practice and is
consistent with it.
A Board committee – the
Community Support Committee, chaired by Sir Christopher Bland and
comprising representatives from BT businesses, three non-executive
directors and an independent member – oversees our community investment
activities including charitable and arts expenditure and the strategy for
maximising our contribution to society.
An
executive committee, the Corporate Social Responsibility
Steering Group, oversees the implementation of our CSR
strategy and programme. This includes risk assessment,
setting of targets and objectives, and public accountability.
BT also takes advice from an external independent panel
of CSR experts. More information, including details of
charitable donations made by the group, is available in
Business
review – Our commitment to society.
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