Carphone Warehouse 2005 Annual Report Download - page 22

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 22 of the 2005 Carphone Warehouse annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 62

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62

18
Corporate Responsibility
In February 2005 we hosted an auction to help raise
funds for Get Connected. Held at BAFTA, Piccadilly
and hosted by Charles Dunstone and Andrew Harrison,
the event was supported by suppliers and partners
and raised nearly £70,000 for the charity.
Business Action on Homelessness
CPW supports the Business Action on Homelessness
(‘BAOH’) programme, offering two-week work
experience placements to people who have been
homeless. Most are now in hostels and their placement
is part of a recovery process to give them the experience
and confidence to look at long-term employment
and prevent “revolving door” homelessness. The
work placements vary and aim to give participants
a broad view of the business, looking at different
aspects of the operation. We also give practical help
in respect of interview techniques and producing
CVs. Of the 12 placements over the past two years,
three have subsequently been employed by the
Company and are working in our Acton Support
Centre. We support the programme nationally and
Richard Smelt, the Group’s HR Director, is on the
BAOH Planning Board.
Comic Relief
The Acton Support Centre acted as a call centre for
Comic Relief’s Sport Relief event in July 2004 and
took £80,000 worth of donations for the charity.
50 employees, including Andrew Harrison, UK CEO,
and Chris Murton, Managing Director of CPW Online,
volunteered their Saturday night to take donations
from the general public. Due to the success of an
internally developed bespoke data input system the
Comic Relief team visited the Acton office after the
event when they were researching models for their
own online data processing procedures.
After the success of this night Carphone Warehouse
decided to expand operations for Red Nose Day in
March 2005 and recruited 200 volunteers over two
sites to act once more as a call centre. The night
helped to raise a grand total of over £175,000 in
donations taken in response to the Comic Relief
television broadcast. Between the Acton and
The Carphone Warehouse Group PLC Annual Report 2005
The Group has a strong track record as a
responsible employer, consumer and distributor.
We divide our corporate responsibility activities into
two categories: our charity, community and employee
activities; and our social and regulatory responsibilities.
There are separate committees composed of
executives from across the Group that manage our
involvement in these areas. We have a dedicated
Corporate Social Responsibility manager who co-
ordinates strategy and actions across both elements,
and in the past year Martin Dawes, a Non-Executive
Director, has sponsored activities at Board level.
A new Non-Executive Director will be our sponsor
following the retirement of Martin Dawes at this
year’s Annual General Meeting.
Charity, community and employee activities
In September 2004 The Carphone Warehouse
launched a new charity partnership with Barnardo’s
and Get Connected with an aim of raising £500,000
over two years to help children and young adults
throughout the UK. In addition, a percentage of the
funds raised goes towards supporting small and local
charities either put forward by employees or situated
in a community close to a CPW store or non-retail
operation. Funds are being raised in many different
ways from in-store activities to overseas treks to
mobile phone recycling.
Get Connected
The Carphone Warehouse has had a relationship
with Get Connected for five years and has now
made it a beneficiary of the Carphone Warehouse
Charity Partnership. In addition, we provide Get
Connected with its accommodation, phone lines
and IT support, and offer volunteers the opportunity
to earn extra holiday or take matched company
hours for giving up their time to help out. In 2004,
in response to the expansion of the charity, we
relocated them to new premises in central London,
providing newly renovated and fully equipped offices,
doubling the capacity for volunteers and employees
and providing a meeting room and facilities for
disabled volunteers.
NEW CHARITY INITIATIVE
LAUNCHED TO RAISE £500,000
GET CONNECTED REMAINS
A UNIQUE AND SUCCESSFUL
PARTNERSHIP
OUTSTANDING EMPLOYEE
CONTRIBUTIONS