BT and Accenture Sign 10-Year HR Outsourcing Contract

February 2 2005 - BT and Accenture have signed a 10-year, £306 million (US$575 million) business process outsourcing (BPO) and transformation contract for human resource (HR) administration services. The contract significantly expands the geographic reach of services that Accenture has been providing to BT under a previous five-year contract.

According to the joint media release, the new contract is one of the largest renewals of an HR BPO contract in the world. It is designed to provide BT with higher levels of workforce management and performance services in 38 countries around the globe, along with further cost savings in addition to those already realized under the current contract. The services will continue to be delivered through Accenture HR Services, an Accenture business that provides people management services on an outsourced basis, via its global delivery network.

Accenture currently provides HR services to BT’s 87,000 employees and 180,000 pensioners in the United Kingdom. Under the new contract, Accenture will provide services to those BT employees and pensioners plus another 10,000 BT employees in 37 countries around the world who were not covered in the previous contract.

Services to be provided under the new contract include:

• customer contact/call centre
• recruitment
• pension administration
• payroll and benefits administration
• performance management administration
• health and safety
• HR advisory and information services

The new contract takes effect on August 1, 2005, preceded by a jointly developed transition program to define the service delivery framework and develop new ways of working to ensure a consistent and standardized service for BT employees throughout the world.

Alex Wilson, BT group human resource director, said: "Accenture HR Services has a proven track record of consistently high quality service and a true partnership approach. These were key factors in its selection, along with its unmatched ability to deliver HR services on a global basis. This agreement will allow our staff to concentrate even more on the strategic role of HR management to our growing global business."

David Clinton, president of Accenture HR Services, said: "BT’s bold decision in August 2000 to undertake large-scale HR outsourcing has been validated with this new agreement. This is a tremendous vote of confidence in the industry, in the business value of outsourcing, and in Accenture’s ability to deliver a consistent level of global support to multinational clients aiming to achieve high performance in their businesses."

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