ISP BT Commits to Protect UK Jobs and Pay During COVID-19

Telecoms giant and broadband ISP BT has today gone further in its response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis by pledging that “no employee” will lose their job in the “foreseeable future” (defined as “at least the next three months“) and continuing to “pay all employees’ salaries in full” (i.e. no publicly funded “furlough“).

The current crisis is having a devastating impact on businesses across the United Kingdom and significant job losses are widely anticipated. In fairness, broadband and mobile operators are considered to be a key service and as such the long-term impact on them may be more manageable than in other sectors (internet access is something we all need right now, more than ever).

Nevertheless BT said they were currently supporting “thousands of colleagues who are unable to work” and have protected the jobs of 400 new engineers who cannot currently be trained due to the lockdown. At the same time they’re reskilling and redeploying many of their 4,200 retail staff to provide services to some of their most vulnerable customers.

BT has also decided to offer an annual pay increase of 1.5%, effective from 1st July 2020, to its team members (non-managerial staff) in the UK. On the flip side the operator will NOT apply an annual pay increase to its managers in 2020/21. BT’s CEO, Philip Jansen, has also pledged that, for at least the next six months, he will donate his salary to the NHS Charities Together Covid-19 appeal and to affected small businesses in his local community.

The operator has also reconfirmed their previous “yourshare” commitment to make an award of £500 worth of BT of shares to all employees in June 2020 (amounts to a c.£50m investment this year in making all BT Group colleagues shareholders in the company).

Philip Jansen, BT Group CEO, said:

“BT is stepping up, standing by the country in this time of need and standing by our people who are working tirelessly to keep everyone connected, safe and working. I have been extremely proud of the commitment shown by BT colleagues to support our customers in the last few weeks and want to recognise that. This is an unprecedented situation and I want to give our people some certainty about the months ahead. This period requires sacrifices from us all, and I want our people to know we are all in this together.”

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