Business Principles
Corporate culture and reputation are among the priorities of the Telefónica Group, and in 2010, too, Telefónica O2 paid a lot of attention to the development of an ethical environment and of its good reputation in this area. An online course on Business Principles, which was opened for the whole year, formed a part of the employee’s curriculum; as at 31 December 2010, 89% of all employees, including a number of third-party personnel, have completed the course.
Employees have the duty to report unethical conduct which they may come across; the Company guarantees anonymity for the whistleblower. Telefónica O2 prepared an awareness raising campaign to promote available confidential help tools. Employees can report unethical conduct in several ways: they can choose between an online application, e-mail, letter, or make their report by calling (alternately, outside working hours, leaving a voice message) or a personal filing with the Corporate Governance Office. Employees have also the option to approach consultants, professionals from Human Resources, Security and Legal Affairs. The reports are investigated by Security or Internal Audit. There are also instruments of higher instance available: escalation of the report to the Business Principles Office of the parent Telefónica, or the instruments available at the European division of the group, Telefónica Europe. Reporting suspected irregularities in accounting, internal control systems and accounting audit of the Company or the Group is made through a dedicated whistle-blowing channel leading directly to the parent Telefónica. Activities in the area of ethical conduct and business principles enjoy a full support from the governing bodies and the executive management; they are supervised by the Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility Committee and, through this body, by the Supervisory Board. The effectiveness of the whistle-blowing instruments (and of the subsequent investigations) is regularly monitored by the Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility Committee. The Internal Audit unit of Telefónica O2 regularly audits the compliance with the Business Principles.
The Business Principles are a fundamental policy of the Company, which is a part of the Work Rules and employees are required to comply. The brochure Business Principles is given to every new employee upon their commencement of employment and it can also be downloaded from the Company’s intranet and website.
The Business Principles assert that Telefónica O2 is a company that is equally open, trustworthy and transparent towards its people and the customers. A natural move for the Company was therefore to join the Coalition for Transparent Business; by joining, Telefónica O2 publicly espoused its ethical values. In 2010, the Company was one of more than twenty founding members of the Coalition for Transparent business. By the end of 2010, the Coalition had more than thirty members from the ranks of Czech and multinational companies from all sectors. The Coalition will continue its close cooperation with the Platform for Transparent Public Procurement, which is an association of political parties, industry associations and public institutions, and is involved in the drafting of the amendment to the Public Procurement Act. This is yet another way in which Telefónica O2 wants to make a contribution, alongside other major businesses and institutions, towards the development of an environment built on ethical principles in the Czech Republic.
