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About Us > Corporate & Social Responsibilities
Corporate and Social Responsibility
General
Whilst the Board’s primary accountability is to its shareholders, it also tries to maximise value for all its other “stakeholders” including employees, customers, suppliers and the community at large, as well as considering the impact of its actions on health, safety and the environment. Overall responsibility for each of these areas ultimately resides with the full Board. However, specific responsibility for employee-related and environmental issues resides with the CFO, Peter Allen, and external stakeholder issues with the CEO, Martin Kent. The Group’s social, environmental and ethical risk management procedures are currently being implemented and will be subject to a process of regular reviews.
Management at all levels in the organisation is committed to taking account of its corporate social responsibility in its actions, endeavours to show due respect for human rights, and works to high standards of integrity and ethical propriety. As a multinational organisation, Abacus takes account of cultural differences between the various territories in which it operates.
Through its continuing commitment to corporate social responsibility, Abacus Group is a member of the FTSE4 Good Series Index.
Employee Consultation
The Group values the involvement of its employees. It has continued to inform employees, through meetings, noticeboards and the intranet, of matters affecting them and of Group performance. The Group consults employee representatives regularly on a wide range of matters affecting their current and future interests. All eligible employees in the UK may join the Sharesave Scheme at periodic intervals.
Employee Development
The Group places great importance on the development and retention of staff. It operates a formal appraisal scheme whereby the employee and manager provide each other with performance feedback after commencement of employment and at annual intervals thereafter. At each of these meetings, objectives, against which performance is regularly measured, are set for the coming period and training needs identified.
Over the last few years, a formal and structured training programme has been established for UK employees, promoting such areas as communication skills, appraisal training, train the trainer and management development. The Group adopts practices to encourage promotion from within including notifying employees via e-mail of any vacancies and identifying individuals for certain positions as part of its formal succession planning. Graham McBeth, Managing Director ECD Europe, holds overall responsibility for training throughout the Group.
Equal Opportunities
Group companies are committed to providing equal opportunities to all employees, irrespective of sex, gender orientation, marital status, creed, colour, race, religious belief, ethnic origin or disability. The Group’s philosophy is that all discrimination on any of the above grounds is abhorrent and it will condone no discrimination whatsoever, whether negative, positive or of any other nature. The commitment covers recruiting, training, career development, performance appraisal and social interaction, both in and outside the workplace. The Group continues to monitor its application of this policy and its compliance with legislation and codes of best practice.
Disabled Employees
The Group gives full consideration to applications for employment from disabled persons where the requirements of the job can be adequately fulfilled by a handicapped or disabled person.
Where existing employees become disabled, it is the Group’s policy to provide continuing employment under normal terms and conditions and to provide training, career development and promotion to disabled employees wherever appropriate.
Ethical Conduct
We expect our staff to act according to the highest standards of ethical behaviour covering such areas as fraud, conflict of interest, internet abuse, bribery and corruption. This is reinforced through written policies, the inclusion of an anti-harassment clause in contracts of employment, and the application of disciplinary procedures. The Group does not make corporate political donations and prohibits the use of bribery and facilitation payments.
Health and Safety
The maintenance and improvement of working standards to safeguard the health and well being of staff is a continuing priority. This is achieved through a documented Health and Safety policy, annual risk assessments carried out at the Group’s main locations and training staff in areas such as ‘manual handling’, which all warehouse staff receive on their induction, and ‘hotwork handling’. All sites maintain accident books, the data from which is collected centrally every quarter and reviewed by the Health and Safety Committee. Any actions identified are implemented wherever possible. The Group complies with all local health and safety regulations.
Fire Wardens and First Aiders are appointed at each location and receive periodic training. The Group requires company car drivers to comply with the laws on the use of mobile telephones whilst driving, and pays for the cost and installation of hands free kits, informs staff by e-mail of the latest legislation and penalties for contravening it, and includes guidance on the use of telephones in the Group’s car policy document.
In the interests of staff health, smoking inside company premises is permitted only in designated areas.
Suppliers and Customers
The Group believes that long term relationships, founded on trust and mutual advantage, are vital to Abacus’ success. To foster these relationships, the Group promptly advises suppliers and customers of queries and contested items. It always endeavours to resolve any queries through dialogue and adopts a commercial stance in their resolution. Contract terms are clearly explained and payment terms are only extended with prior agreement. The Group has ISO approval, which covers procedures such as dealing with customer queries, supplier assessments, customer contract review, sales order entry and logistics. The Group’s business systems monitor delivery performance and these statistics are studied closely, with corrective action being implemented where appropriate. Customers and suppliers frequently tour Company warehouses and factories, and conduct their own competence audits of the Group’s performance in various different areas of its operations. The results of these audits are discussed with the appropriate management, with a view to continuous improvement in the Group’s performance.
The Environment
It is Group policy to operate in a responsible manner with regard to the environment. The Group, wherever possible, uses recycled and recyclable packaging materials, and it recycles waste paper.
Examples of current initiatives include:
a) reusing approximately 20% of outer packaging from incoming warehouse deliveries for outbound shipments;
b) segregating, compacting and baling waste cardboard and paper packaging before dispatching to recycling mills;
c) encouraging customers to return empty specialist anti-static packaging for reuse;
d) using durable returnable pallet box containers for inter-company shipments;
e) dispatching empty printer and photocopier cartridges and waste office paper for recycling;
f) disposing of electronics components and waste cable via registered scrap merchants, which recycle the product where possible;
g) encouraging suppliers to send data electronically rather than using paper.
The Group sets objectives to reduce waste, and engages with its staff, customers and suppliers with the mandate continually to find ways to minimise the use of resources.
The Group operates a continual review of its energy and resource utilisation with a view to minimising the impact of the Group’s activities on the environment. An example is the Newbury office, in which the most energy efficient lighting, boilers and air conditioning units are installed.
Assisted by the change in emphasis in legislation in the UK to an emissions based tax on company cars, the Group continues actively to encourage employees to downsize cars. The Board also continues to encourage the use of bicycles as commuter transport.
Although the Group uses minimal environmentally damaging or hazardous material, it ensures that all personnel receive appropriate training in its handling and all material is properly disposed of.
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