SaskTel one of Canada’s Greenest Employers for second straight year
April 22, 2010
For the second consecutive year SaskTel has been named one of Canada’s Greenest Employers by Mediacorp Canada Inc. The Canada’s Greenest Employers competition recognizes 50 employers who lead Canada in creating a culture of environmental awareness and whose environmental leadership is attracting people to their organizations. SaskTel is the only Saskatchewan-based company on this year’s list.
"SaskTel continues to lead by example when it comes to the environment,” said Don Morgan, Minister of Responsible for SaskTel. “SaskTel’s nationally recognized commitment to waste reduction, responsible energy use and employee involvement in green initiatives should be a source of pride for SaskTel and the entire province.”
“Today’s employees rightly expect their employer to be environmentally responsible,” said Robert Watson, SaskTel President and CEO. “This latest recognition from Mediacorp Canada acknowledges our efforts to include environmental awareness in everything we do, and I appreciate the commitment of our employees to making SaskTel a leader in environmental sustainability.”
SaskTel’s environmental strategy involves a number of key elements, including waste reduction, recycling, increased fuel efficiency and an Environmental Management System that aligns with ISO 14001 standards. More information about SaskTel’s environmental initiatives is available at www.sasktel.com/about-us/community-involvement/sasktel-environment.
Mediacorp offered a number of reasons for SaskTel’s selection as one of Canada’s Greenest Employers, including:
- has operated a longstanding environmental management program in the communities where it operates, sponsoring local recycling projects for a variety of household items that divert thousands of gallons of paint, tonnes of waste batteries and old telephone directories from landfills every year;
- employees use their expertise to repair and donate surplus computers to local schools and organizations (SaskTel has donated more than 30,000 refurbished computers since 1993);
- recently revised an "Eco-Strategy" (first developed in 2006) that commits the company to consider environmental impacts as part of its decision-making processes -- as a result of this initiative, the company has implemented a range of environmentally-focused projects, from office waste recycling programs to ongoing educational campaigns (for employees and suppliers);
- has extensive in-house recycling programs in place for batteries, printer cartridges, office paper, light bulbs, phone books, furniture, office equipment, wire and cabling, and computer equipment -- impressively, over 770,000kg (64 percent) of the company's total waste was diverted from landfill last year;
- recently added a unique "environmental category" to its flexible health and wellness spending account that lets employees apply their flex-dollars to environmental purchases for day-to-day activities, from transit passes to on-demand water heaters and high efficiency furnaces for the home.
Mediacorp also named SaskTel one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers for the 10th consecutive year in October, 2009.
About SaskTel
Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corporation (SaskTel) is the leading full service communications provider in Saskatchewan, with $1.138 billion in annual revenue and over 1.3 million customer connections including over 510,000 wireless accesses, 555,000 wireline network accesses, 216,000 internet accesses and 76,000 Max™ (TV) subscribers. SaskTel offers a wide range of communications products and services including competitive voice, data, internet, entertainment, national security, messaging, cellular, wireless data and directory services. In addition, SaskTel International offers software solutions and project consulting in countries around the world. In 2008, SaskTel contributed over $610 million to the Saskatchewan economy through dollars spent with Saskatchewan-based suppliers and sponsorships to non-profit organizations. SaskTel and its wholly-owned subsidiaries have a workforce of approximately 5,000 employees.
For media inquiries only, please contact:
Andy Tate, SaskTel Media Relations
Phone: (306) 777-4548
Email: andy.tate@sasktel.com
