Carphone Warehouse 2008 Annual Report Download - page 35

living in a world of their own. Their lives, and those of others who
care for them, can be extremely stressful and families can be driven
to desperation.
TalkTalk has pledged £500,000 to TreeHouse over the next five years
and will be working closely with the charity on a joint project to launch
an online service to guide and connect families affected by autism
through the maze of practical and emotional information. TalkTalk
also continues to donate 1pfor every call made to our directory
service 118111 to TreeHouse.
Innovation in the Community
In addition to this, TalkTalk has continued its commitment to make
broadband internet access a right not a privilege, and this year launched
the TalkTalk Innovation in the Community Awards to do just that. We
believe that internet access can change lives for the better but there
are still a lot of people who have never used a computer and do not
have access to modern technology.
Non-profit making organisations and charities in need of funding for an
internet-related project were invited to put forward requests for cash for
technology products and services. Thirty organisations were chosen to
win £2,000 each to help fund their particular project, as well as receiving
TalkTalk free broadband.
The 2007 winners represented a cross section of the UK, from Dundee
Women’s Aid, a charity that plans to create podcasts for survivors of
abuse to encourage other women to seek help, through to Northern
Seams, a charity that wishes to use the internet to inspire textile artists
with learning difficulties.
The Carphone Warehouse Foundation
The Carphone Warehouse Foundation was set up over four years ago
to support employees with their own fundraising initiatives for causes that
are close to their hearts. Small grants are awarded to charities nominated
by employees, or where there is a large demand for the same charity (for
example Children in Need), a larger grant will be made on behalf of the
whole company.
The Carphone Warehouse supports its charity partners and
The Foundation in a number of ways including:
• Awarding extra days holiday for employees who commit to taking part
in fundraising activities organised by the company;
•Setting up sponsored events which in the past have included skydiving,
overseas challenges, runs and football tournaments;
•Holding raffles and donating profits from sales of items in-store;
•Raising money via handset recycling;
•Donating money saved by sending out Christmas e-cards instead
of paper cards;
•In-store collecting tins;
•Holding a monthly collection in support centres;
•Offering employees the opportunity to sign up for Give as you Earn
(GAYE) which has raised over £26,000 for charity since the service
was launched in 2006; and
• Acting as a call centre for Comic Relief. Over 100 volunteers manned
the phones in 2007 taking over £140,000 in pledges for the charity.
South Africa trek and project
In May 2007, 43 intrepid employees spent five days trekking through
the Cedarberg Mountains of South Africa and five days working
on a project in one of Cape Town’s townships, Khayelitsha, which
involved building an eight foot perimeter wall around an orphanage
and spending time educating the children who lived and went to
school there. Each participant raised a minimum of £2,250 to take
part and in total over £30,000 was raised for our charity partners
Get Connected and TreeHouse.
Employees
Our Human Resources teams continue to review and improve processes
to ensure that the work environment, recruitment, training processes and
employee satisfaction are of the highest standard. In February 2008 The
Carphone Warehouse launched The Pulse survey in place of our previous
employee engagement survey, Backchat. We wanted a survey that linked
employee opinion with business performance and that would enable
change to take place on a more local level than before.
An encouraging 72% of employees took part in the survey. On the positive
side, eight out of ten employees are proud to work for The Carphone
Warehouse, nine out of ten said that they know what’s expected of them
at work and eight out of ten believe that their colleagues are committed to
quality. As a result of some other feedback we are now looking at the way
in which we recognise our employees’ contribution to the business, how
we encourage personal development and how we communicate the
bigger picture across the whole of the business.
All employees were also invited to take part in team workshops and
feedback sessions so that they could come up with solutions to more
localised issues together and work on improving their working environment.
www.cpwplc.com 23
Business Review
The Carphone Warehouse Charity Partners