EE strengthens commitment to UK job creation with 300 new customer facing roles for Derby

EE partners with Webhelp UK to create roles in Derby for its customer facing division, bringing 300 new jobs to the city
Follows the opening of a new EE call centre in Derry/Londonderry in May
Marks the latest stage in EE’s commitment to create more jobs for the UK and set the standard for customer service in the UK telecoms sector

11^thJune, 2014 - EE, the UK’s most advanced digital communications company, has announced the creation of 300 new jobs in Derby as part of the strategy to become number one for customer service in the telecoms sector. The jobs are also a significant step forward in EE’s ongoing drive to generate jobs for the UK. EE is partnering with Webhelp UK to create the roles and has already kick started recruitment for the successful candidates to start this month.

Earlier this year EE committed to drive up customer service levels with the return of over 1,000 service roles to the UK from overseas call centres. The creation of the new roles in Derby marks the second stage of this plan to deliver industry leading call centre support, and closely follows the opening of a new customer centre in Derry/Londonderry in May.

Following the success of EE’s apprenticeship scheme first announced in March 2013, EE is also tripling the size of the programme recruiting more than 1,300 young people by the end of 2015. To date, EE has hired over 500 apprentices who have completed the programme. EE plans to continue to offer full time positions to the majority of the apprentices, many of whom are in areas of high unemployment.

Olaf Swantee, EE CEO, said: “The opening of our new call centre in Derby is the second UK contact centre we have opened in just a few weeks. It underlines our investment in the UK as well as our determination to make EE number one for service in the UK telecoms sector.

“The benefits for our customers are clear as the performance of UK call centres are shown to exceed that of those overseas. But, just as importantly, today’s announcement shows our significant investment in the UK is not restricted to our network and demonstrates a continued commitment to job creation for communities across the country.”

The 300 new roles deliver a welcome boost to employment levels in the East Midlands region. The latest Office for National Statistics Labour Market statistics revealed that Derby has a youth unemployment rate of 21% and today’s announcement will help continue to address this ongoing issue. The June 2014 figures will be announced later today.

Communications Minister Ed Vaizey said: “This is great news for both Derby and EE customers, who are set to be benefit from top customer service.

“EE is making a real commitment to the UK by recognising the strength of our workforce with this new customer centre in Derby.”

David Turner, CEO at Webhelp UK, said: “This is a significant opportunity for Webhelp UK as we continue to grow as a business and this new partnership with EE will also allow us to create a large number of new team member roles in Derby.

“We are committed to delivering the best possible service to our clients and an excellent customer experience for their customers, and remain dedicated to creating new employment opportunities for talented people across the UK.”

In addition to its investment in jobs, including those announced today in the sales division of its customer facing team, EE has also invested over £6m in Derby since 2012, creating one of the most advanced, fastest and most reliable mobile networks not only in the East Midlands, but anywhere in Europe. The double speed 4G service is available across Derby, including at the iPro Stadium.

The new partnership with EE follows a string of business wins for Webhelp UK, which have seen the customer experience solutions provider increase its headcount from 5,000 to more than 6,500 during the past 12 months

For more information on recruitment in Derby, please visit http://www.webhelpukcareers.com/

About EE

EE is the largest and most advanced digital communications company in Britain, delivering mobile and fixed communications services to consumers, businesses, government and the wholesale market. With approximately 15,000 employees and 600 retail stores, EE serves more than 27 million customers on EE, Orange and T-Mobile mobile and broadband plans.

EE runs the UK's biggest and fastest mobile network, having introduced the UK's first superfast 4G mobile service in 2012. EE's 4G coverage reaches over 70% of the UK population. EE’s 2G coverage reaches 99% of the population while 3G reaches 98%. EE's superfast fibre broadband service covers 54% of the UK population, and ADSL broadband service covers 98.7% of the population.

EE has received extensive independent recognition including being ranked the UK's best overall network by RootMetrics®, Fastest Network at the 2013 uSwitch Awards, Best Network at the 2013 Mobile Choice Consumer Awards and What Mobile Awards, Network Innovation at the 2013 Recombu awards and Best Network for Business at the 2013 Mobile Industry awards.

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