Bouygues Telecom’s commitment to sustainable development is reflected in social/HR initiatives, especially quality management, and in environmental actions like the introduction of a system to recycle mobile phone handsets.
As a telecommunications operator, Bouygues Telecom is often asked about radio frequency and health issues. On its corporate website, the company describes the latest findings and advances in research, its initiatives in the area and the best practices to be observed in mobile phone use. In 2010, to provide customers and potential customers with information, Bouygues Telecom helped to update Mon Mobile et Ma Santé, a brochure on mobile phone use and health issued by Afom, the French mobile operators' association, and distributed over 12 million copies. It also publishes regular information on the state of scientific knowledge.
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Reducing its environmental footprint
Bouygues Telecom is looking at ways to make progress in phone use, including paperless documents (bills, etc.) and standardised connections. It has reduced the environmental footprint of its SIM card kits with new packaging, fourteen times lighter than previously, which cuts CO2 emissions by a factor of 30. The year 2010 saw the introduction of an online store that encourages more environment-friendly behaviour by customers. The store showcases the mobile phones and services that best respect the principles of sustainable development.
In January 2010, Bouygues Telecom launched a handset recycling service for all mobile owners, regardless of operator or brand. The service can be accessed from the company website. The value of the phone can be donated to charity and/or paid to the handset's owner.
A similar scheme is available for business customers in partnership with Monextel.com.
Many steps have also been taken to reduce the environmental footprint of Bouygues Telecom's activities, like the Optile Energie project launched in 2010 to optimise the energy consumption of base stations.
Putting customers first
Customers are the company’s key concern. From call centres through to its sales outlets and website, Bouygues Telecom seeks to provide seamless service quality throughout. The company has come first in the BearingPoint-TNS Sofres survey of customer relations in the mobile phone business for four years running. It is also the only operator to obtain Afnor NF Service certification for Customer Relations Centres for its mobile and fixed activities.
These awards illustrate the quality of Bouygues Telecom's customer relations, always central to its strategy and re-emphasised in 2010 with a new identity, CARE. The acronym stands for Confidence, Accessibility, Responsibility, Enthusiasm and sums up the company's commitment to support its customers.
Promoting equal opportunities
Bouygues Telecom has been promoting and encouraging diversity in its workforce for a number of years. Several agreements on the subject have been concluded with social partners as part of a wider policy with, for example, the introduction of anonymous CVs for all jobs in all areas of business. In 2010, Bouygues Telecom concluded a third disability agreement with the forming of a new partnership with Passerelle ESC, an umbrella association for a number of business schools, which promotes the integration of disabled students within these schools.
(Updated: June 2011)
