EE 4G To Take On 500 Apprentices And Halve Emissions

EE 4G has pledged to help improve the digital skills of one million people, take on 500 apprentices by 2015 and reduce its carbon emissions and waste landfill by 2015.

The UK’s only current 4G operator made the commitments in its first ever Responsibility Report, which outlines its plan to become the “most trusted communications company” in the UK.

EE will train 300 employees by the end of the year to volunteer in the company to show thousands of people how the Internet can benefit their lives, while it will also hold events such as ‘techy tea parties’ to spread the word to older people.

EE 4G commitments

It will also take on 500 apprentices and has launched a fast track programme that will allow high performing employees to work in different areas across the business

CEO Olaf Swantee said it is a top priority for the company to be a responsible and sustainable business and its efforts have been supported by the award of a silver ranking in the Business in the Community (BITC) Corporate Responsibility index.

“We are particularly focused on improving digital skills since the 16 million people across the UK with limited or no online skills are at a disadvantage,” he said. “As part of our role as a founder partner of Go ON UK, we are today pledging to help address digital exclusion by improving the digital skills of a million people by 2015.”

Swantee was present at the launch of Go ON UK last year, an organisation which aims to improve the basic online skills of the estimated 16 million people who do not have them. Its chair Martha Lane Fox has welcomed EE’s announcements.

Going green

“EE’s first Responsibility Report takes an innovative approach to building trust with its customers and is remarkable for its ambition to share the benefits of connectivity by improving the digital skills of one million people,” she said. “It’s great that EE is planning to put that commitment into practice, developing new content and tools to encourage people and businesses to improve their digital skills and recruiting 300 EE Digital Champions to take technology to non-users on the high street.”

EE has also set itself a target of reducing its carbon emissions and waste to landfill by half over the next three years. Further integration of the T-Mobile and Orange networks will result in significant reductions in energy use, estimated to be 150,000 Mwh, the equivalent of 79,000 tonnes of green house gas.

The company will also install more efficient networks and improve its recycling facilities. In 2012, it claimed to have reduced its energy use by 7.9 percent and carbon emissions by 5.19 percent.

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