BT

Winner: 2009 AARP International Innovative Employer Award

from: AARP, September 2009

Winning Years: 2008, 2009
Industry: Communications
Location: London, United Kingdom
Website: btplc.com

Highlights of 2009 Winning Strategies

Through its Achieving the Balance portfolio, BT offers a wide variety of flexible-work arrangements that have proven beneficial to older employees in making the transition from full-time employment to retirement. In addition, BT’s Career Life Planning Tool assists employees in developing their careers at every stage and has helped older employees adapt to life changes that take place during employment.

Additional Policies and Practices

Lifelong Learning and Training: BT Group has a Career Life Planning tool that covers every stage of an individual’s career with BT. This tool recognizes that employees’ career plans and lives outside work change over time, and it helps individuals and managers work together to understand how they can plan for such changes, and how they can create appropriate development strategies.

In 2009, BT also held a trial run of its pre-retirement course to 200 employees, mostly age 50 and above, delivered by its partner J.P. Morgan Investment. The course helps employees think about retirement-related lifestyle changes and provides information on the BT pension and retirement plans, state benefits, and tax planning.

Flexible-Work Arrangements: BT offers a wide variety of flexible-working arrangements to all its employees. The arrangements include part-time work options, compressed hours, job sharing, working from home, and more. 14,500 employees now work from home, and 75,000 work flexibly in some way. BT’s own research shows that this has improved productivity and reduced sick absence and employee turnover.

BT packages its flexible and agile working policies in a program portfolio titled “Achieving the Balance.” This portfolio outlines the different options that are available to help people find the most suitable working arrangements for their individual circumstances. A component of this portfolio includes options for the transition from full-time employment to retirement.
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