Introductory talk given by Sharon Darwent, Head of Employee Engagement, BT at the BT Employee Engagement Talk/Knowledge Cafe held with Alex Wilson of BT, Dave Snowden of Cognitive Edge and David Gurteen of Gurteen Knowledge at the BT Tower 17th February 2009.

1. Introduction Employee Engagement at BT Alex Wilson – BT Group HRD

2. What employee engagement means to BT Creating a climate where BT people are committed to the company’s success. Where they value, believe in and enjoy the work they do to help the company be successful. An engaged person brings creativity, passion and energy to the job; they proactively drive change, deliver business results and infect others with their enthusiasm. They are achieving their full potential .

5. Companies are taking swift action to respond to the downturn A slowdown in the economy will have a significant impact on the business results Scaling down production capacity and reducing cost of overall headcount Finding productivity gains and closing down interim work Combining these interventions with growth measures - opportunistic hiring of top talent, targeted leadership development and new acquisitions Reviewing compensation and benefit programmes and long term incentives - pensions How companies are responding to the downturn Percentage respondents Response 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 *2009 study by Hewitt and Associates covering 53 organisations, employing a total of 3.5 million people

8. People Engagement is the key My Job My Team My Manager Senior Leaders The Company Ideas and opinions count Committed to do quality work Learn from and respect others Support each other Speed up and simplify the way we work Clear sense of direction Confident about the future Communicate openly about progress I’m involved in delivering the strategy Proud to work here Want to stay, satisfied Advocate of the company Clear expectations of role Opportunities to learn, develop and grow Have the tools and skills I need Authority to make decisions Collaborate with others Motivated to do my best work Helps me be the best I can be Cares about me and gives feedback Recognises my best work and contribution to the customer A role model for collaboration Engaged Employee