We have a passion for growth
TELUS is continually striving to be a leading corporate citizen, balancing our company’s economic health with the social and environmental well-being of the communities where our team members live, work and serve. We believe that in order to do well in business we must do good in our communities. In this regard, our decisions and actions continue to be guided by our longstanding TELUS leadership values: we have the courage to innovate; we believe in spirited teamwork; we have a passion for growth; and we embrace change and initiate opportunity.
Together with our customers’ loyal patronage, we are able to foster the critical symbiotic relationship between our company and our communities. Indeed, our customers’ ongoing support has provided the resources to offer leading-edge technology across urban centres and in rural communities, enabled us to build green workspaces to decrease our carbon footprint, and allowed us to help those less fortunate.
Delivering on our future friendly® brand promise
TELUS’ number one priority, putting Customers First, was established in 2011 and will continue to be our top priority in 2012 and beyond. Indeed, we are striving to provide the best client experience in our industry as measured by our customers’ likelihood to recommend our products and services. Across all lines of business, team members are rallying together to deliver future friendly® experiences to our customers that differentiate us from the competition. Our goal is to be the most recommended telecom company by our customers in all business segments and across all of our geographic markets.
Throughout 2011, we launched several key programs and initiatives to support and empower the TELUS team to provide the best possible customer experience including an innovative rewards program for our customer service champions. We also began sharing our story about our Customers First journey with Canadians and published our customer declaration that epitomizes our belief that listening to our customers will make us better. Moreover, TELUS introduced new services in direct response to customer feedback, such as the early upgrade program for wireless devices, proactive data usage notifications as well as simplified, and significantly reduced, international roaming pricing.
Our 2011 year-end results indicate that we are making meaningful progress with 69 per cent of TELUS consumer customers stating they would recommend our products and services – an increase of seven percentage points from the prior year. Momentum is growing at TELUS to consistently delight our customers with clear, helpful and reliable service, combined with excellent value for money.
Capitalizing on our wireless and wireline broadband networks
The continuous evolution of our networks is vital to the successful execution of our national growth strategy. Indeed, as we grow our services across Canada, we will provide enhanced phone, wireless, High Speed Internet and entertainment services to even more Canadians.
Despite ongoing economic pressures and intense industry competition in 2011, TELUS continued to make significant progress in the expansion of our wireless and wireline broadband networks, enabling enhanced connectivity for all Canadians, particularly the citizens in remote communities, and providing them with greater access to health, education and government services. In 2011, we introduced faster dual-cell technology on our national 4G wireless HSPA+ (high-speed packet access plus) network and began building our next generation wireless 4G long-term evolution (LTE) network which launched in February 2012 in major urban centres across Canada.
We also continued the expansion of our broadband services across Western Canada and Quebec. Notably, we welcomed 196,000 new Optik TV™ customers to TELUS in 2011, and secured a strategic technology partnership with the Government of British Columbia – the largest in our company’s history. Over the next 10 years, we will be providing 97 per cent of British Columbians with access to High Speed Internet service, upgrading Internet services in 450 schools, extending wireless coverage along 1,700 kilometres of rural highways, and providing leading-edge telecommunications services to all government offices, six regional health authorities and select Crown corporations across the province.
Throughout 2011, we continued to leverage our world-class innovation and technology to tackle the challenges facing our healthcare system. We sustained our focus to better connect patients with the best informed medical experts through telehealth technology and remote patient monitoring for people in rural communities. Moreover, we strengthened our leadership position in healthcare by further leveraging our wireless and wireline broadband networks and establishing new partnerships with leading electronic medical record providers operating in B.C., Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. In late 2011, we signed an agreement with Alberta Health Services to provide electronic personal health records for citizens across Alberta.
Additionally, in early 2012 TELUS acquired Wolf Medical Systems, Canada’s largest and fastest-growing provider of cloud-based electronic medical records, and launched TELUS Physician Solutions. This further advances our ability to offer secure and reliable cloud-based solutions to Canadian physicians and patients. We are uniquely positioned to facilitate the integration of health records from the home, to the doctor’s office and to the hospital, which helps ensure the convenient and timely availability of critical health information to care providers over our secure networks.
The TELUS team is dedicated to transforming healthcare through innovative technology solutions, and in 2011 we were honoured by the Branham Group Inc. as the number one Canadian Healthcare Technology Company for the fifth consecutive year.
Invigorating our team’s engagement
Building on our tremendous team culture that has received many recognitions and awards such as Canada’s 10 Most Admired Cultures, three Canada’s Top 100 Employers awards, four Canada’s Best Diversity Employers awards, six American Society for Training and Development BEST Awards and the first Canadian company to be named the Most Outstanding Philanthropic Corporation globally by the U.S.-based American Association of Fundraising Professionals, we are realizing exceptional engagement among our team members.
I am exceedingly pleased to share that the TELUS team realized an overall engagement increase of 13 percentage points to 70 per cent as measured in our annual Pulsecheck survey. This remarkable increase elevates our company into the highest engagement, best employer zone. The survey administrator, Aon Hewitt, has commended the TELUS team and stated that we are the first company of our size and diverse makeup in Canada to achieve an engagement result of this magnitude.
I believe that our high engagement and client-centric culture give us a tremendous advantage over our competitors. An engaged and highly motivated team is crucial to the delivery of exceptional customer experiences. Accordingly, TELUS offers programs and incentives to attract, retain and reward top talent.
Additionally, our innovative Work Styles program continues to provide team members with flexible working arrangements and leading-edge technology so they can work more effectively and efficiently where and when it is most convenient for them, whilst at the same time reducing our carbon footprint. Through the continued advancement of this program and ongoing real estate consolidation, we hope to have 70 per cent of our team regularly working outside the office by 2015. As a result of consolidating and more efficiently using our space, in coordination with the implementation of the Work Styles program, TELUS expects to save in excess of $320 million over the next 15 years.
TELUS also believes in rewarding our team members for a job well done. We have been honoured with the Best Overall Recognition Program by Recognition Professionals International for our innovative internal team member recognition programs such as:
- Bravo, which allows team members to send and receive recognition, such as e-cards and gifts, through our extensive online catalogue
- Legends Awards, which pays tribute to outstanding team members with 20 or more years of service
- Customers First Champions, which recognizes team members who consistently support, advocate and advance our Customers First culture
- Chloe Awards, which recognizes strong female leaders and those who support them
- Passion for Growth Awards, which recognizes team members for their significant achievements impacting our business, our customers and our team.
Promoting diversity and inclusivity in the workplace and in our communities continues to be a key priority within our organization. TELUS continues to support the individuality of our team through the TELUS Diversity and Inclusiveness Council, with representation from our Respectful Workplace Office, Employment Equity Committee as well as individuals representing the 3,500 team members involved in our five team resource groups: Connections, the TELUS women’s support network; Spectrum, our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) team member resource group; Eagles, our network for Aboriginal team members; the TELUS Abilities Network, supporting team members and family members with varying abilities; and our resource group for new Canadians.
Embracing our charitable giving philosophy
TELUS is committed to building healthy and sustainable communities where our team members live, work and serve. We have a simple philosophy that says – we give where we live™. In 2011, TELUS, our team members and retirees donated more than $46 million dollars to charitable and not-for-profit organizations. The TELUS team is improving lives, positively impacting communities and creating a meaningful legacy. Since 2000, we have donated more than $260 million to charitable organizations and volunteered an unparalleled 4.2 million hours of service across Canada with our hands and our hearts.
We believe that charitable giving decisions should be made locally and have established 11 TELUS Community Boards across Canada in this regard, led by outstanding local citizens who make funding decisions on behalf of TELUS. In 2011, we launched Community Boards in Quebec City and the Thompson Okanagan region of British Columbia as well as our first international boards in the Philippines, El Salvador and Guatemala. Collectively, TELUS Community Boards allocated $5 million to 418 grassroots projects in 2011 and have donated $30 million in support of more than 2,300 grassroots community projects since their inception in 2005.
Team members and retirees are also making a positive difference though our Team TELUS Charitable Giving and Dollars for Doers volunteer programs and our annual volunteer event, the TELUS Day of Giving™. In 2011, a record 11,400 team members, retirees, family and friends spent the day at more than 300 activities in communities across Canada sorting donations at local food banks, serving meals to those less fortunate, picking up litter and planting trees. Our 2,500 TELUS Community Ambassadors® also made and delivered 63,500 care items to homeless, displaced or impoverished citizens in 2011.
We continue to align our business with our corporate philanthropy by providing customers with opportunities to support their local communities when they make a purchase from TELUS. Through our TV for GoodTM and Phones for Good® community campaigns, we donated $100 for every new TELUS TV® customer or smartphone activation, directly connecting our marketing efforts with local social outcomes. In 2011, these campaigns raised $3.9 million in 18 communities for organizations such as the Lethbridge Public Library, the Kelowna General Hospital Foundation and Canuck Place Abbotsford.
TELUS continues to focus on supporting youth and improving their health, well-being and educational opportunities. In January 2012, Jeneece Place, a home-away-from-home for Vancouver Island families with children receiving medical care in Victoria, opened its doors. TELUS donated $1 million in 2010 to launch the fundraising campaign spearheaded by then 16-year old Jeneece Edroff, and has supported the project through various fundraising initiatives and technology support. Through our support of the TELUS Walk to Cure Diabetes since 2000, we have donated $5.7 million to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to help find a cure for type 1 diabetes. Additionally, we continue to partner with Computers for Schools, to whom we donated 334 printers and computers in 2011.
Minimizing our impact on the environment
TELUS' goal is to reduce absolute energy consumption by 10 per cent and greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent by 2020 compared to 2009 levels. Accordingly, we continue to promote green choices for our customers. In 2011, we recycled 236,391 mobile phones, exceeding our goal of 160,000 and reduced our paper purchases by 28 per cent or over 11 million sheets from 2010, converting nearly 300,000 customers to electronic billing. Through the introduction of our wireless trade-in program in early 2012, our customers can now return their old wireless device to a TELUS retail location to have it disposed of safely and be rewarded with an in-store credit or donation to Tree Canada in their name. Additionally, we are continuing to leverage our technology to bridge time and distance for citizens in a way that reduces their carbon footprint.
Our tremendous results are being supported in part by TELUS team members who continue to be engaged in our environmental efforts with 15 volunteer Green Teams located across Canada. These teams promote environmental sustainability in the workplace and at home by holding local events and educating colleagues on how they can reduce their carbon footprint, minimize consumption of resources and reduce waste. Moreover, we established our first international Green Teams in Guatemala and El Salvador in 2011.
We are also mindful of the buildings where team members work and their impact on the environment. All new TELUS office spaces and newly renovated buildings adhere to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. In 2011, we began the planning and construction of two new Internet data centres in Rimouski, Quebec and Kamloops, British Columbia, which will be amongst the most environmentally-friendly facilities of their kind globally.
Additionally, we announced our new development, TELUS Garden, to be built jointly by TELUS and leading developer, Westbank, in the heart of downtown Vancouver. TELUS Garden will feature a 53-storey residential tower built to LEED Gold certification and a 24-storey signature office tower that is targeted to be Canada’s first LEED Platinum-certified building based on the new 2009 standards. When complete, the TELUS Garden office tower will use approximately 30 per cent less energy than similar office environments. With the additional use of recaptured heat from the nearby TELUS data centre, the total development will achieve an anticipated 80 per cent reduction in grid energy demand for heating and cooling. In all, TELUS Garden will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 1,000,000 kilograms annually, equivalent to planting 400,000 trees a year.
TELUS continues our ongoing partnerships with groups such as Tree Canada and the Nature Conservancy of Canada and our team was honoured to be recognized for the sixth time in nine years by Corporate Knights as one of Canada’s Top 50 Corporate Citizens for our environmental and social efforts.
Looking ahead
For 2012 and beyond, TELUS will maintain our strong commitment to corporate social responsibility and to achieving sustainable growth by balancing our economic, environmental and social goals. Based on a foundation of excellence in corporate governance, we will continue to leverage our technology and our passion for giving to truly deliver on our brand promise – the future is friendly® – to become the most recommended telecommunications company in the markets we serve. We are doing all this for the benefit of our shareholders, customers, team members and communities.
Thank you for your continued support.
Kind regards,
Darren Entwistle
President and CEO
Member of the TELUS team
June 5, 2012