Diversity & inclusion - Life at BT - Careers

Diversity and inclusion

We respect each other

We value diversity and celebrate difference. We want everyone who works at or for BT to feel able to be themselves. We know it's crucial that our people reflect the diversity of our communities and countries around the world.

And we know you expect that from us as well.

Our embrace of diversity and inclusion goes far beyond how we treat people within our company. The more diverse our company is, the more creative and innovative we will be and it’s that variety of experience, culture and background that inspires our teams to develop products and services which actually make a difference to everyone.

For us, diversity and inclusion are pivotal. Without them, we couldn’t fulfil our purpose: we connect for good.

Diversity and Inclusion Report 2021

‘The last year has shone a powerful light on issues of systemic racism, prejudice and discrimination. Like others, we’ve been forced to hold the mirror up to ourselves, as individuals and as a business, and ask what more we can do and to commit to being bolder in our approach’, says Philip Jansen, our Chief Executive.

Our first Diversity and Inclusion Report sets out exactly what we're doing to improve the situation. It details the approach we’re taking to embed equality and fairness in our business; our progress so far; and how we’re measuring up against our targets.

Diversity and Inclusion Report 2020/21
pdf - 3.06 MB

Diversity and Inclusion Report 2020/21 - accessible version
This is an accessible version optimised for people with disabilities who use assistive technology.

pdf - 2.75 MB

What we’re doing today to make the difference

People Data Campaign

Our successful People Data Campaign, carried out in the summer of 2020, increased declaration rates across all characteristics. We’re now equipped with a more sophisticated understanding of our colleagues that allows us to identify the different experiences of diverse groups. The increase in ethnicity declaration rates, from 65% to 78%, enabled us to carry out our first Ethnicity Pay Gap report.

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Ethnicity declaration rate, an increase from our previous rate of 65%

Ethnicity Rapid Action Plan

To accelerate the pace of race equality, we introduced our Ethnicity Rapid Action Plan (ERAP), which promises swift action, regular updates and maximum transparency. We’re making excellent progress across all four ERAP workstreams.

Valuable 500

We’re proud signatories of the Valuable 500, supporting a global movement to put disability on the business leadership agenda, specifically ensuring that disability inclusion is on our board agenda.

Ethnicity Pay Gap

We’ve undertaken and reported on our first ethnicity pay gap and we have chosen to show how our pay gap looks across each of the ethnicity groups.

Disability Rapid Action Plan

Our Disability Rapid Action Plan (DRAP) will provide additional focus and resource needed to accelerate the pace of progress and achieve better outcomes for our disabled colleagues.

Ethnicity Rapid Action Plan

Race Awareness Training

We’re delivering on our public commitment to ensure everyone at BT completes immersive race awareness learning. As of Summer 2021, all ExCo members and 96% of the senior leadership team have been through the training with the remaining scheduled to complete before the end of the year.

Gender Pay Gap

Our focus on evidence-based inclusion interventions has enabled us to ensure that our gender pay gap and quartiles figures remain stable and very similar to previous years – mean 4.9% and median 5.0%. Our pay gaps remain low, providing some assurance, but we’re not complacent as we continue our work to progress gender equality.

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Our ambitions for 2025 and 2030

We believe that diversity and inclusion is a journey, not a destination. That’s why we’re continuously improving and refining our approach. We’re moving quickly to advance change in the balance and formation of our workforce, but we’re also taking steps to ensure our approach is sustainable and has the widest reaching impact. In an organisation the size of BT, we know this may take time. To help us make headway, we’re working towards stretching targets in 2025, which are stepping stones to our ambitions for 2030.

Diversity and inclusion - 2030 ambitions

We’ll be setting challenging targets for other strands of diversity, too. But before we do that we need to identify our baseline. When we’ve captured the complete suite of colleague diversity data, we’ll update our targets, ambitions and plans.

Diversity and Inclusion at BT podcast

Former BT grad and current Senior Product Owner, Sharad Jalota, and award-winning apprentice Muhammad Khan have a chat with Dipesh Joshi (host) about their personal experiences around Diversity and Inclusion outside and inside BT, where Sharad setup the D&I guild within the Digital function and, Muhammad has been spending the last few months reverse-mentoring a senior leader.

Diversity and Inclusion at BT (mp3 - 18.26 MB)

Behind our targets

We’re determined to be as inclusive and diverse as possible. To help us meet that challenge, we’ve built our targets on five clear priorities.

Our top five priorities

A balanced workforce

We want to build a gender-balanced, representative workforce that reflects the different regions in where we operate; an internationally recognised, diverse graduate scheme; and UK-recognised apprenticeship schemes.
Inclusive design

We believe that an inclusive, diverse culture where people feel respected, engaged and able to speak out translates into innovative, inclusive design for our customers.
Consistent approach

We treat our colleagues, customers, suppliers and anyone working on our behalf fairly, by embedding our principles into the culture, policies, and training of everyone in BT, no matter which part of the company they work in or at what level.
Improved outcomes

We’re actively removing barriers to learning to ensure fairness and inclusion, widening participation rates and encouraging all our communities to access learning and development opportunities. We’re proactively using digital technology to connect for good. This is essential for our business and the nation, now and into the future.
External recognition that we’re a leader in diversity and inclusion

We’re determined to earn a strong external reputation for being thought and industry leaders in the D&I agenda, through bold action, research, and sharing best practice. And by doing so, influencing other companies (big and small, across all sectors) to follow our lead in embracing a diverse and inclusive community.

Our People Networks and our allies

Our ten People Networks are inclusive and are open to all our colleagues: those who are members of a specific community and those who are allies. Each network works in collaboration with the business to promote equality, diversity and inclusion across our company.

Allyship is important. We think of an ally as an advocate, supporter, and friend. Someone who stands up for their colleagues and helps to create an environment where people in specific communities feel included, accepted, and valued.

In our People Networks, and across the business, we’ve a growing ally base.

Able2 network
We support all BT people who have a neurodiverse condition, an impairment or a long-term health condition.
Armed Forces network
We build on BT's proud tradition of supporting armed forces people; everyone is welcome to join the network, whether you're a veteran, reservist, family member or somebody who has an interest.
Carers network
Our aim is to connect and support people within the company who have caring responsibilities.
Christian network
We support Christians within BT and are happy to answer any questions that anyone has about the Christian faith.
Ethnic diversity network
We're helping make BT the best place to work, by supporting and engaging our workforce from diverse backgrounds.
Gender equality network
We're here to champion the value that people from differing backgrounds bring to BT and support them in realising their full potential.
Jewish network
We provide a social and support network for like-minded individuals and promote interfaith relations as well as inclusivity through social action, volunteering, and networking events.
Muslim network
We provide a platform for harnessing the talent of Muslims and our members across BT, by connecting to our people, business and communities. We are an inclusive and open community and welcome everyone across BT.
Peer-to-Peer network
We're a team of volunteers that helps our colleagues by talking – and listening – in confidence, to anyone who is looking for support with their mental health and wellbeing.
Pride network
This group is for LGBTQI+ people, allies and anyone who wants to support their LGBTQI+ colleagues and friends.

All our People Networks have elected chairs and co-chairs that lead their network. Each network has an executive sponsor who acts as an advocate for their network, contributing to the network’s direction, championing its purpose and work, and providing counsel.