Telefonica Uk Ltd 260 Bath Road
We, the undersigned, commit to honour the Armed Forces Covenant and support the Armed Forces Community. We recognise the value Serving Personnel, both Regular and Reservists, Veterans and military families contribute to our business and our country.
The Armed Forces Covenant
An enduring covenant between the people of the United Kingdom, Her Majesty’s Government and all those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces of the Crown and their families
The first duty of Government is the defence of the realm. Our Armed Forces fulfil that responsibility on behalf of the Government, sacrificing some civilian freedoms, facing danger and, sometimes, suffering serious injury or death as a result of their duty. Families also play a vital role in supporting the operational effectiveness of our Armed Forces. In return, the whole nation has a moral obligation to the members of the Naval Service, the Army and the Royal Air Force, together with their families. They deserve our respect and support, and fair treatment.
Those who serve in the Armed Forces, whether Regular or Reserve, those who have served in the past, and their families, should face no disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public and commercial services. Special consideration is appropriate in some cases, especially for those who have given most such as the injured and the bereaved.
This obligation involves the whole of society: it includes voluntary and charitable bodies, private organisations, and the actions of individuals in supporting the Armed Forces. Recognising those who have performed military duty unites the country and demonstrates the value of their contribution. This has no greater expression than in upholding this Covenant.
Section 1: Principles of the Armed Forces Corporate Covenant
1.1 We Telefonica Uk Ltd 260 Bath Road will endeavour in our business dealings to uphold the key principles of the Armed Forces Covenant, which are:
- no member of the Armed Forces Community should face disadvantage in the provision of public and commercial services compared to any other citizen;
- and in some circumstances that special treatment may be appropriate especially for the injured or bereaved.
Section 2: Demonstrating our commitment
2.1 Telefonica Uk Ltd 260 Bath Road recognises the value serving personnel, reservists, veterans and military families bring to our business. We will seek to uphold the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant, by pledging to the following:
- Armed Forces Friendly
- UK Service Veterans And Leavers
- UK Service Spouses And Partners
- Flexible Leave For Spouses
- UK Reservists
- UK Cadets
- Armed Forces Day
- Discounts
We also pledge the following:
Promoting Armed Forces Day through an annual week long internal communications campaign using O2 Social Media channels, blogs, internal publications, Intranet and Reservist Case Studies; Encouraging our staff to get a better understanding of the Armed Forces, including through the wider Defence initiatives events such as the Sandhurst Leadership challenge to broaden the wider O2 personnel development O2 encourage its staff to undertake; Promote the fact that we are an Armed Forces friendly organisation by publishing our Covenant on our careers website and other relevant communication channels such as e-mail footers - both internal and external; Seek to support the employment of veterans young and old and working with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP); Strive to support the employment of Service spouses, partners and the wider family by working with the Family Federations to scope out opportunities; Granting an additional 10 days paid leave to Reservists to help them to meet their commitments to the Reserve Forces; Endeavouring to offer a degree of flexibility in granting leave for Service Spouses and Partners before, during and after deployment; Seeking to support our employees who choose to be members of the Reserve Forces, including by accommodating their training and development where possible; Support the Cadets STEM initiative by holding Cadet insight days and highlighting the Graduate and Apprenticeship schemes available within O2. Offer Work Placements to Service personnel in Transition and work with the Army on their External Professional Placement Program; Work with CTP to offer Insight days to those Service leavers in Transition, recent Service Leavers and Cadets; Endeavour to establish and build relationships with Units that have an affinity to O2 such as the Signals and the Royal Logistical Corps (RLC); Using O2’s experience and knowledge in helping Service Leavers and Cadets who wish to build their own businesses by promoting their “WAYRA” initiative that takes between 9 & 12 entrepreneurs for a 9 month period run in London, Oldham and Birmingham; O2 have set up an inclusive Forces network on their Facebook page encouraging Veterans, Reservists, Cadet Instructors, Spouses, Partners and the wider forces family to get involved. O2 will work with the Armed Forces and the Defence Discount Scheme to make sure they and their families are aware of the Discounts available to them; O2 will continue to offer Service personnel and their families Commercial Fairness by offering to suspend their account in the event of deployment overseas; Supporting a coordinated nationwide Poppy Appeal collection to raise funds for the Royal British Legion through the Forces Network and internal comms.
2.2 We will publicise these commitments through our literature and/or on our website, setting out how we will seek to honour them and inviting feedback from the Service community and our customers on how we are doing.