Our customers have a right to expect that we will understand their needs and live our brand values. This presents the 102,100 people employed by BT at 31 March 2005 with opportunities to develop innovative solutions, generate new business, drive efficiencies, and experience personal growth.

Our vision is of high-performing, engaged and motivated people who can make a difference for customers, shareholders, the company and themselves. Only by living our values – trustworthy, helpful, straightforward, inspiring and heart – will we deliver our strategy, keep our promises to our customers, seize new opportunities in new markets and re-invent our traditional business.

Developing leaders

The quality of leadership in the company is key to the successful delivery of our strategy for transformation and growth and we have updated and refined our approach to using selection agencies for key posts, while the core leadership development programme, introduced in 2003, continues to drive our management development initiatives.

Engaging and motivating our people

Our annual employee attitude survey was conducted most recently in February 2005.
     Among the key results were that 89% of our people have a clear understanding of how their work contributes to BT’s success, and seven out of ten employees are willing to try new ways of doing things.
     The survey generates around 5,000 feedback reports for managers and their teams across the business, helping to promote effective team working.
     Employees are kept informed about our business through a wide range of communications channels, including our online news service, monthly newspaper, regular email bulletins and senior management web chats and web cast briefings.
     In the UK, two main trade unions are recognised by the company. In continental Europe, we work closely with the works councils, both on an operational basis and as strategic stakeholders.

Rewarding and recognising achievement

In the 2005 financial year, we introduced a new reward framework for our managers. Salary ranges are now aligned with the going rate for equivalent jobs across a range of comparable organisations, geographies and skill sets. This ensures we remain competitive, and are able to recruit and retain the people we need.
     We also continued to provide our employees with opportunities to acquire a stake in the company. Under the BT Employee Share Investment Plan (ESIP), BT can provide free shares to employees and, in addition, employees can purchase shares in the company from their pre-tax salaries. In the 2005 financial year, £11 million was allocated to provide free shares to employees under the ESIP. Employees outside the UK receive a cash payment equivalent to the value of the shares. This allocation of profits was linked to the achievement of corporate performance measures determined by the Board. In addition, employees can buy shares at a discount under our savings-related share option plans. Over 98% of eligible employees participate in one or more of these plans.

Pensions

Most of our employees are members of the BT Pension Scheme or the BT Retirement Plan, both of which are controlled by independent trustees. The BT Pension Scheme was closed to new members on 31 March 2001. The majority of new employees are eligible to join the BT Retirement Plan.

Health and safety

The health and safety of our people is of paramount importance. We have a zero tolerance of workplace accidents, and have reduced the number of reportable employee accidents from 146 cases per 10,000 employees in the 2001 financial year to 61 cases per 10,000 employees in the 2005 financial year.
     In the 2005 financial year, we launched the Health and Wellbeing Forum to promote ways of working that help people balance the demands of their work and personal lives, as well as focusing on specific healthcare issues. We also developed an in-house process to help BT people manage stress.

Learning now and for the future

Our successful company-wide re-accreditation to Investors in People in February 2005, first achieved in 1998, demonstrates our continuing commitment to the effective alignment of our communications, training and development with our business strategy.
     To improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our training delivery, we conducted a strategic review of our training suppliers in the 2005 financial year, reducing them to a core group of 36. This will contribute to year-on-year savings of at least £3.4 million.
     The development opportunities available to our people range from one-to-one coaching, using a combination of internal and external professional coaches, to the BT-sponsored MBA programme, which has produced 54 graduates in the past three years.

Embedding flexibility and diversity

The changing nature of the markets in which we operate, our focus on cost leadership and our investment in new services have impacted the shape of our permanent workforce.
     During the 2005 financial year, 3,903 (2004 – 2,287) people joined BT, natural attrition was running at 2.6% (2004 – 2.4%) and, in the UK, 2,685 (2004 – 4,814) people left BT under our voluntary paid leaver package.
     We are committed to helping our people optimise their work/life balance. At the end of March 2005, for example, more than 8,900 people were working mainly from home.
     We continue to create a working environment that actively supports all our employees – regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, disability or age.

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