Leading By Example

Although the biggest environmental benefits we can deliver as an energy company are in helping customers to reduce their carbon emissions and decarbonising electricity generation, it’s vital that we reduce the environmental impact of our own operations.

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We have set ambitious environmental targets such as reducing our internal carbon footprint by 25% by 2015. This enables us to innovate and trial new technologies for reducing carbon emissions from our properties, our fleet, and from business travel. In turn, this has helped us to lead the consumer market and engage our own employees in understanding environmental issues.

We are also working to minimise other environmental impacts, such as waste, water and resource consumption. Robust, independently audited Environmental Management Systems enable us to manage these impacts and measure progress against our targets. Our employees help us meet our targets by changing their behaviours and encouraging others to do the same.

We aspire to be leaders in the use of electric vehicle technology, with ambitious plans to equip our operational fleet by 2015 with more than 1,000 electric vans. With no tailpipe pollution or greenhouse gas emissions, electric cars are a great environmental way to travel. British Gas was one of the first companies to register a Leaf vehicle in the UK, and has been named by Nissan as the preferred supplier for installing charging points around the country.

One of our key priorities is to be number one for customer service, by treating all our customers fairly and providing them with an excellent customer experience.

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We recognise that on occasions we can and must do better, and we continually review our activities to make sure we’re constantly improving.

Investing in customer service

We’re committed to providing the highest levels of customer service, employing over 5,000 people in our call centres to answer your calls promptly and offer accurate, relevant help and advice. To ensure we provide the highest level of service at all times, we continually review our agent training programme. Our agents are also continually assessed against specific, customer service based performance targets.

Customer Board

Responding to your feedback will be a major focus for British Gas in the months and years ahead. A five-point plan, put forward by our customers, has helped provide direction for this.

Here are just some of the changes we’re making:

Ensuring our engineers are able to be with you as late as 8pm on weekdays.
Introducing Nectar points to thank you for being a British Gas customer.
Introducing flexible Direct Debit online so customers can manage their bills by paying more in some months and less in others and even take payment holidays.
Making our tariffs easier to understand by redesigning our website with an online tariff-checker to help you pick what’s best for you.
Helping customers reduce their energy usage by insulating 150,000 homes throughout 2011. By the end of 2011 we’ll also have installed almost 400,000 smart meters.

That’s not all. To make sure that we keep listening and keep improving the service we offer, we’ve appointed a permanent Customer Board. They’ll oversee our future progress and give us totally honest and impartial feedback.

Highly qualified engineers

We have invested heavily in our team of over 7,000 highly qualified Gas Safe registered engineers. We train engineers at our own academy and they regularly undergo refresher or higher grade training to ensure that the work we do for you, from installation to repairs and maintenance, is of the
highest quality.

Find out more about our Engineering Academy

Responsible sales

At British Gas, we’ve developed a Code of Practice to ensure all our Sales Advisers are recruited and trained to provide a high standard; that our sales and marketing literature is accurate and clearly written and that you never should feel misled or pushed into a contract with us.

See what you can expect from our sales team

We strive to be a responsible employer, rewarding the contribution of our employees through competitive pay and benefits, building a diverse workforce that represents the communities we serve and ensuring a healthy and safe workplace.

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British Gas Engineering Academies

British Gas is the largest single trainer and employer of domestic gas engineers in the UK, investing significantly in the training and development of our people in our six Engineering Academies.

One of our Academies, in Tredegar, South Wales, is designed especially for Green Skills training. As well as delivering skills training for British Gas employees, the academy offers training for local people to help them work in the emerging green economy.

As well as delivering skills training for British Gas employees, the academy offers training for local people to help them work in the emerging green economy.

Discover exciting career options at British Gas

Diversity, respect and inclusion

We strive to be a leading employer in the field of diversity, respect and inclusion. We recognise the value and contribution that everyone brings to our company, ensuring they are treated fairly and providing equal opportunities for our own employees.

We understand the importance of operating as an inclusive employer, and embracing diversity, respect and inclusion in our workforce and in our recruitment and selection practices.

We are committed to eliminating discrimination, bullying and harassment at work. Our employment policies and practices reflect a culture where we make decisions solely on the basis of individual capability and potential.

Employee engagement, retention and training

At British Gas, our workforce is at the centre of everything that we do and we make every effort to ensure our employees are happy and fulfilled in their careers. One such example is our ‘Springboard’ Leadership Development programmes, run annually at various levels of the business and designed to equip future leaders with the skills they need to succeed both at their current level and for future roles.

Discover more about our employee engagement, retention and training

Read about the employment awards we’ve won

Wellbeing Themes

As part of our wellbeing strategy we focus on four key emerging themes in the health and wellbeing of our people:

Mental health
One in six people in the UK working population will experience a mental health problem at any one time. At British Gas, we take a proactive approach by providing expert advice and support to promote individual wellbeing at work and to increase each individual’s resilience.
Musculoskeletal Disorders
We recognise that many people experience back pain or other musculoskeletal disorders at some time in their lives. We encourage our people to keep active as a preventative measure, whilst also providing other support such as back and knee care workshops or referral for physiotherapy.
Obesity
We know that obesity is a growing health concern for the UK as a whole, so we provide our employees with opportunities to make healthier lifestyle choices, whether it’s by accessing local gyms at discounted rates or through promoting healthy eating.
Late Age Working
We have a workforce that is living and working longer, and many of us are choosing to postpone retirement and extend our working lives. We offer a range of policies and benefits to support these lifestyle choices, which includes flexible working arrangements.

Supplying gas and electricity is inherently hazardous and we fully recognise our responsibility to protect the health and safety of our employees, contractors, customers and the community.

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Safety risks in our operations range from slips, trips, falls and road safety incidents in our customer-facing businesses to the risk of a major incident at our oil/gas and power generation facilities. Our approach aims to manage these risks effectively and flexibly to meet local needs.

Safety at our assets and operations

Serious safety incidents at our oil/gas and power generation sites are rare but their potential consequences for our employees and the wider community are severe. Strict requirements for addressing process safety issues are embedded in our Group Health, Safety and Environment framework and we routinely monitor a range of leading and lagging indicators to identify and address the potential precursors of major incidents.

Customer safety

We are responsible for the safety of gas supplies and appliances in millions of homes. While domestic gas leaks are a constant risk, carbon monoxide (CO), being invisible, odourless and tasteless, can pose an even greater risk when emitted from poorly fitted or maintained equipment. We continually raise awareness of carbon monoxide through industry wide publicity campaigns organised by various victim and awareness charities and groups including Energy UK who co-ordinate the yearly Be Alarmed campaign. We also distribute Carbon Monoxide alarms and make sure our service engineers are skilled in protecting customer safety.

Safety in our customer-facing businesses

The majority of our employees work in customer-facing roles with a wide range of personal safety risks, from road safety to working in unfamiliar environments such as customers’ homes. We target common accidents like slips and falls through behavioural campaigns.

Driving is one of the most hazardous activities that many of our employees face. We encourage them to reduce the amount of time they are on the road, offering video meeting facilities, as well as encouraging certain employees (such as those regularly driving high mileage) to take driver development training. We also try to evaluate driver performance regularly.

Every year British Gas spend millions of pounds purchasing goods and services to support the delivery of our business activities, including outsourced services, central heating boilers, electrical parts and metering.

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In the course of this activity, we are responsible for delivering value to our investors and customers, while observing responsible purchasing practices, which align with our Group Business Principles.

Our Group Business Principles set out our commitment to operate responsibly wherever we work in the world and to manage the social, environmental and ethical impact of our activities in the different markets in which we operate.

Reducing our environmental impact

Customer service

Our people

Safety

Responsible procurement

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