Integrity, ethics & respect

Integrity

The TELUS team places great importance on maintaining a culture that encourages the achievement of our business objectives in a manner consistent with our values. To promote company-wide awareness of integrity issues, all team members must complete annual online integrity training as a term of employment.

The TELUS Integrity course included ethics, respectful workplace, corporate security and privacy training. All TELUS team members, including those in TELUS International (with the exception of team members in our South Korean joint venture), as well as more than 90 per cent of contractors with access to our information systems, completed this course in 2011.

The 2012 TELUS Integrity course will be updated to address new and emerging issues in regards to ethics, respect, privacy and security. There will also be an increased focus on our number one corporate priority -- Customers First.

Ethics

The TELUS Ethics policy ties together all policies regulating business behaviour and provides guidelines for the standards of ethical conduct by all team members, including officers and members of the TELUS Board of Directors. The policy is updated annually, communicated to team members and housed on TELUS’ internal and external websites.

TELUS EthicsLine

Through the TELUS EthicsLine (1-888-265-4112 or telus.ethicspoint.com), team members and external stakeholders can raise anonymous and confidential questions or complaints related to accounting, internal controls or ethical issues.

In 2011, 302 calls were received by the EthicsLine, 265 of which involved advice on ethical situations or complaints.  Each complaint was investigated, resolved appropriately and reported to the Human Resources and Compensation Committee (HR&CC) and the Audit Committee.  The 37 calls that did not relate to the Ethics policy were referred to more appropriate areas, such as Client Care and Human Resources. The reduction in the number of these non-ethics calls is believed to be a result of our Customers First initiative.

Breaches of ethics and discipline

The Ethics office concluded there had been 65 breaches of the Ethics policy in 2011, compared to 96 in 2010 – down 32 per cent. The most frequent violations in 2011 were related to breaches of company policies. None involved fraud by team members who had a significant role in internal controls over financial reporting. Corrective action was taken for each of the breaches with some of the breaches resulting in discipline of more than one team member.

With a disproportionate share of breaches occurring among new and less experienced team members in prior years, the company targeted extra education on ethics to certain team member groups. Encouragingly, the number of breaches involving team members with five years or less service with TELUS continues a declining trend, falling 25 percentage points, with 2011 reporting 56 per cent  compared to 81 per cent in 2010.

Ensuring a positive workplace environment

Respect is a cornerstone of our values and culture at TELUS.  Our focus on respect in the workplace is an indication of our commitment to creating a positive, professional and safe working environment. When we respect each other, we improve work relationships, enhance teamwork and increase productivity. TELUS launched the Respectful Workplace Office in 2004, which oversees our Respectful Workplace policy and works to resolve workplace issues.

Our overriding goals are to help team members understand legislation relevant to what is considered acceptable behaviour in the workplace, as well as the protections and processes available to them should an inappropriate workplace issue arise. Annually, key points from our Respectful Workplace policy are covered in the mandatory Integrity training course.

The TELUS Respectful Workplace policy and training is implemented within each international operation and domestic acquisition, as is a process for reporting and resolving workplace issues.  In 2011, we completed a review of our Respectful Workplace policy to ensure it is consistent within current work and legislative environments, as well as the 2011 collective agreement with the TWU. The policy revision was completed in late December and published to our internal website.  Going forward, as legislation changes, adjustments to the policy will be made.

Analysis of complaints filed by team members with the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) is an indicator we use to determine if there are any internal practices that are causing concern and require attention. These complaints provide an objective process for examining the appropriateness of practices as business and societal priorities evolve.

Year-over-year, the main reason for complaints continues to be issues related to disability, which is in line with national reporting of CHRC complaints from other federally regulated entities. Complaints may be referred back to the internal TELUS resolution process, a resolution may be reached with the complainant through the CHRC, or it may be dismissed. As there has been an increase in new complaints in 2011, TELUS is analyzing the data to identify possible causes of the increase.