Social & Environmental Responsibility

BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE)

BTYSTE encourages students to develop a science or technology project that focuses on an original topic, tests their research skills and results in scientific creativity. Each year, hundreds of entries from pupils across Ireland are submitted, all vying to win the title of BT Young Scientist(s) of the Year. Each year more than 100 BT employees volunteer to work over the five days of the exhibition demonstrating our commitment to involving our people in our Corporate Responsibilities and recognising the contribution they make to the local community.

To find our more about our involvement with the BT Young Scientist Exhibition.

Young Enterprise Northern Ireland (YENI)

Young Enterprise is Northern Ireland’s foremost business and enterprise education charity, and a member of the Junior Achievement Worldwide network, the world’s largest and fastest growing business and economic education organisation, reaching over 8 million young people worldwide.

Its mission is "to inspire and equip young people to learn and succeed through enterprise."

All Young Enterprise programmes are based on the principle of "learning by doing", to promote a culture of enterprise from an early age. Many of these complement existing education programmes by offering specific curriculum links. Students gain a first-hand insight into enterprise, business and the world of work, as all Young Enterprise programmes are delivered by business volunteers from our partnership organisations, all of whom are fully trained.

YENI work closely with BT to help encourage schools to develop their science and technology programmes and to enter the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition.

http://www.yeni.co.uk/

Junior Achievement Ireland (JAI)

Junior Achievement and Young Enterprise are sister organisations. Junior Achievement Ireland encourages young people to remain in education and teaches them the skills they need to succeed in a changing world. Junior Achievement is part of a worldwide organisation reaching out to 9.3 million young people each year. It was established in Ireland in 1995 and since then has built up a strong demand from schools throughout the country and created successful partnerships with over 150 leading organisations.

Junior Achievement is helping to create a culture of enterprise within the education system. We also help young people prepare for the world of work, giving them skills in communications and preparing for interviews. Financial literacy programmes teach students how to manage, protect and make the most out of their future salaries. As we move towards a knowledge-based economy, Junior Achievement is also bringing science and maths skills to thousands of young students nationwide through our programmes and events.

JAI work closely with BT to help encourage schools to develop their science and technology programmes and to enter the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition.

http://www.juniorachievement.ie/

Digital technologies have the potential to improve people’s lives. Access to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can open doors to education, jobs, entertainment and personal contacts.

BT will shortly launch an exciting new initiative to help as many people as possible make the most of the internet and communication technology. We will be working with all our partners below to help do this.

Age NI

BT is a corporate partner of Age NI and this year we will be working very closely with the team at Age NI to help the over 55’s in particular learn new skills and experience the internet and computer skills and technology.

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/northern-ireland/

BT / BiTC EPIC Project

BT works with Business in the Community Ireland and their Employment for People for Immigrant Communities, (EPIC). EPIC is a programme to help equip parents of foreign nationals for the workplace and help them gain employment. A key component of this programme is training in ICT and how to get the best from the internet, for example, email; shopping and word-processing. BT support the ICT element through a dedicated training programme delivered at The Wintergarden, BT’s purpose built training facility in Dublin’s city centre. The overall programme is funded by the Irish Department of Integration.

http://www.bitc.ie/epic

BT Community Connections

BT Community Connections enables community and voluntary groups get online and make the best use of information and communication technology (ICT). The scheme helps community and voluntary organisations extend their work through the use of the internet and ICT by awarding pc’s and an internet connection, where they don't already have the means. BT Community Connections has been running in Northern Ireland for 4 years, with more than 400 community groups receiving awards, and this its 5th year we extended the programme into the Republic of Ireland awarding almost 50 groups with an internet package. Why not encourage your local community group or charity to apply?

www.btcommunityconnections.com

Internet Rangers

When it comes to surfing the web, it’s often young people who are the experts!

Our digital inclusion programmes, like Internet Rangers aim to support and encourage children to help their parents and grandparents to get online and make best use of the internet. The scheme is open to all young people who are recognised in the annual Internet Ranger Awards. We currently work with several charities such as Age NI and schools where the children get to be the teachers for a day!

www.btinternetrangers.com

RNIB

RNIB in partnership with BT are giving over 2,000 blind and partially sighted people in Northern Ireland an opportunity to stay connected through a free monthly audio magazine called, "Sound Vision Ulster".

The radio show-style magazine includes anything from hard-hitting human interest stories to more light-hearted lifestyle issues, with news, competitions, music, events, entertainment and much more to keep its many listeners entertained. The magazine is recorded, edited then mastered to tape, CD and downloadable MP3 format. RNIB are also a Try Before You Buy centre for BT’s inclusion products. For more information visit www.bt.com/inclusion

Find out more at the RNIB website

Disability Action

BT and Disability Action are working together in a new partnership which will see the two organisations share expertise, resources and knowledge. The venture will enable both organisations to take advantage of the synergies that exist in both operations in terms of their commitment to best practice and meeting customer needs. Equally important, the support of BT will allow Disability Action to raise vital funds and promote its work across Northern Ireland. BT’s goal is to use enhanced communications and technology to help create a better and more sustainable community for everyone. Our support for Disability Action will take various forms ranging support for their biannual Gala Ball to in-kind support and volunteering support from our employees.

http://www.disabilityaction.org/

Childline

BT has teamed up with ChildLine to raise funds and help support the expansion of the ChildLine night service - a key support for vulnerable children and young people in NI and throughout the UK. In an innovative move, five per cent of revenue generated via online searches carried out at BT Yahoo! will be donated to ChildLine.

This ground-breaking partnership between BT Yahoo! and ChildLine will enable our customers to raise funds while they search online for their holidays or compare insurance deals. BT is delighted to be able to support the expansion of ChildLine’s night service.

Money raised by the new online initiative will contribute to the development of the night service, enabling ChildLine to recruit more counsellors and to answer more than 1,000 calls from children in crisis at night. From this autumn, ChildLine operations in across the UK will recruit additional counsellors to answer night-time calls.

Ulster Cancer Foundation

BT works closely with leading local cancer charity, the Ulster Cancer Foundation (UCF) to help promote awareness among employees of general health and wellbeing but in particular men’s health. The "Man Alive" campaign kicked off during Men’s Health Week 8th - 15th June 2008 and a series of roadshows take vital messages out across NI and RoI. Working in partnership with BT the aim is to change men’s attitudes to, and awareness of, cancer. BT is delighted to be lending its support to the Man Alive campaign to increase awareness of cancer with men in Northern Ireland and the partnership further supports BT’s health and wellbeing programme for employees.

http://www.ulstercancer.org/

Corporate responsibility (CR) is integral to the way we do business. We aim to grow profitably and sustainably by providing products and services that benefit our customers, society and the environment. We know that success comes from strong foundations and are committed to operating responsibly and sustainably in all areas of our business; supporting our people, customers, suppliers and the communities we work in.

Our CR strategy sets out the key areas where we believe we can make a difference, and we define these using a well-established materiality process. Our CR governance structures provide the mechanisms for ensuring that BT operates in an ethical and socially and environmentally responsible way.

Tackling climate change is priority for BT and a core element of our CR strategy. We have identified climate change as a key CR risk as legislation is likely to result in increased energy costs and we need to keep looking at how we secure our future energy supplies. In addition, more frequent extreme weather could potentially damage our infrastructure.

Although the UN Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen in December 2009 failed to deliver international agreement on binding CO2 reduction targets, we remain committed to our aggressive carbon reduction targets.

Our vision is to help tackle climate change through the innovative use of communications products and services. BT’s "carbon-busting" plan involves:

• Reducing our own footprint
• Influencing our customers and suppliers to encourage them to reduce their footprints
• Engaging with our employees to help reduce their personal footprints

We are committed to meeting these goals by becoming more efficient and using more renewable energy. Engaging our employees to reduce energy use is a key element of our strategy.

BT’s IT products and services (for example our conferencing and collaboration services) help our customers operate more sustainably and reduce CO2. We are actively collaborating with others to develop global standards to increase the energy efficiency of ICT equipment.

You can find out more about BT’s commitment to Sustainability here:

Employee Involvement is a key strand of our Corporate Responsibility strategy where we encourage our people to play an active role in their local community, which is ultimately a triple win, for our people, society and our business.

We have a number of employer supported volunteering programmes that encourage our people to get involved in the life of BT and our local communities. 27% of employees across the island currently volunteer as well as the hundreds who do so much in their own time for a range of charities and voluntary groups. 77% of our employees say they are proud to work for BT based on our Corporate Responsibility activities, something we’re very proud of in itself!

One of our major volunteering projects is the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE) which sees BT volunteers active from May through to October visiting schools presenting on BTYSTE, encouraging them to enter and even talking about their own careers at BT. 100 BT employees volunteer each year to actually help organise and manage the event each January. Affectionately known as the BT Red Coats, the team contribute more than 4000 hours in volunteering over the 5 days of the event. In addition, BT has a dedicated team at work on the event for 12 months who work closely with one of the original founders Dr Tony Scott and with a wide range of stakeholders from judges, media, and schools to key partners, chiefly both of the Departments of Education in RoI and NI and of course major exhibitors.

Another key programme is Building on Talent, run in partnership with Business in the Community NI, it closely aligns volunteering with our wider people skills strategy. Participants taking part in the key learning and development programmes are given the opportunity to partner with a voluntary or charitable organisation to help them resolve a major business objective. Participants share in the skills exchange and also receive accreditation from the Institute of leadership and management.

http://www.bitc.org.uk/northern_ireland/what_we_do/in_the_workplace/developing_people/building_on_talent_2.html