Communications giant BT Group has announced stretching targets for diversity and inclusion as part of a new business plan to “accelerate responsible, inclusive and sustainable growth”.
The company aims to have a 50% gender split by 2030, 25% of employees from an ethnic minority groups and 17% with a disability.
Currently, around 9% of BT Group’s workforce is from a non-white background, but chief executive Philip Jansen said it was important that the company reflected the society and customers it serves.
The employee representation targets are part of a wider “manifesto” unveiled by the company this week. Other goals include achieving net zero carbon emissions from its own operations by 2030, and to help 25 million people improve their digital skills by the end of March 2026.
Supporting skills growth in communities will help develop the “tech-savvy talent we need now and in the future”, the company believes.
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Jansen said: “The BT Group Manifesto is about using our scale and technology to enact real change that the world desperately needs while simultaneously growing our business by staying true to our purpose: we connect for good.
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“Crucially, this is not just a sustainability plan, it’s an agenda for growth and commercial success that recognises that we will only succeed if we help solve some of the problems faced by the societies and customers we serve.
“This will be achieved through the creation of products and services that directly address those problems and by doing it in a responsible, inclusive and sustainable way. For BT Group, this isn’t just good, it’s fundamental to our growth path.”
