Hauska & Partner Code of Conduct

Hauska & Partner International Communications Group

Code of Conduct

Hauska & Partner International Communications Group www.hauska.net Austria, Vienna Tel. +43 2236 26114 Croatia, Zagreb Tel. +385 1 4500 222 Czech Republic, Prague Tel. +420 221 592 450 Serbia and Montenegro, Belgrade Tel. +381 11 3287 397

Fostering Fair Relations

Code of Conduct

Code of Conduct

Leo Hauska

President, Hauska & Partner Group

Change is the key word of our century. That includes dramatic societal changes taking place around the globe that open up questions about corporate and personnel values. This change also brought about dynamic development of our industry. Today we know about the power of communications and relationship management and potential impact they have on our work and the society. We are aware of our capabilities in driving this change. Over the last decades we have learnt how to manage stakeholder relations strategically and we support our clients in achieving their goals through professional relationship management.

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The transformation of our society includes changing the role of the civil society and increasing expectations towards companies, especially transnational ones. Our clients are faced with new challenges emerging from different angles and are ever increasingly asked to integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with stakeholders. With our expertise in stakeholder relations we are able to assist our clients in fulfilling this task by managing and directing their social responsibility.

To be active in this field for us means to be at the forefront. Our corporate values focus on excellence, passion and responsibility. Therefore, we see it as our obligation to also be a step ahead in this field and to contribute to further development of CSR and related management practices. Besides that, we are also affected as a company and, as an international SME, face specific challenges

relating to effective and efficient CSR Management. Therefore, two questions have become important for us right from the start: How can we support our clients and assist them in their challenges in the best possible way and, what do we have to do in taking over social responsibility as a corporation?

we invite you - as a reader of these lines - to join us in our efforts and work together with us. For us it is more than duty. We enjoy going this way. As a service industry we have to serve the society. This is why we will also go with passion towards excellence in responsibility management.

As CSR is not a project, but rather a process, two main aspects which have arisen characterize our approach towards this issue: First, it is a matter of our values, our intention and our willingness to embark upon this direction. Second, this process requires a thoroughly planned system for ongoing development and improvement, a clearly defined way of managing and supervising it as well as carefully evaluating the progress in this regard together with our stakeholders. This code of conduct is the basis for the both. It is our first step in this direction and more is to follow. However, even before you go through these pages,

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Code of Conduct

Code of Conduct

Daria Mateljak Bartulin

Managing Director, Hauska & Partner Croatia

For centuries our civilization has struggled to create citizens, families, forms of b u s i n e s s partnerships, or the whole societies to understand, accept and embrace the concept of abiding by the Law. It took wars, revolutions and dramatic societal changes until people began to practice law compliance. Even today, in many cases, reluctantly so. It is not in human nature to respect the imposed laws and regulations.

The time, however, has come, when abiding by the Law is not enough. What makes a true difference is whether people, organized groups of people or businesses decide to go beyond the barrier of imposition and forced compliance (at least philosophically) 4

and have courage to step into the territory of chosen improvement. Even better defined, the territory of socially rewarding and enriching contribution to the own organization and people who are tied to it in all forms of relations. In other words - we have a choice to do things better and to do them in a different way. Today, in my country, Croatia, this takes managerial and professional courage. Tomorrow, I strongly believe, it will be the only desired way of professional living.

Code of Conduct, therefore, is not a set of rules that prescribes some imposed boundaries on the group of people who decided to share their professional lives. It is much beyond that - a choice to be better, to bring difference to ourselves, our economic and social prosperity and our personal careers. Doing business in a posttransition country brings along specific challenges. Hauska & Partner team in Croatia takes great pride in doing our consulting work in the way that is not only

law-abiding, but also brings difference in a step forward to a better operating, more efficient, more fair and more prosperous society.

Our objectives are not only to bring better standards to consulting business, but also to become a leader in the SME field. Hauska & Partner corporate values are deeply inbuilt in the mindset of our employees management and juniors alike. Being a consultant bears many different responsibilities and we take this burden with the unique joy that only a great desire for success can bring. Our ultimate objective is to help our clients reach their business goals. This means that we identify with our clients completely. The same identification to the profession is a prerequisite for our employees.

Therefore, the Code of Conduct is a lighthouse on a foggy night on the ruffled seas that shows us where our mainland is.

This Code stems from beliefs, integrity and

values of our employees and from the vision of our management. We do our business with excellence, in a reliable way, contributing to the society and with passion and dedication. Our values were borne from our personal beliefs, we pledged them to our company and we live by them. This is what and how we work with our clients and our partners. This is how we wish to make our society a better place.

Our civilization is only superficially getting more complex. We, at Hauska & Partner take things very simply. Living our values in our everyday business and building our relations on the sound cornerstones of openness, fairness and contribution.

Our Code of Conduct is one leading light on our way to achieve our business and professional goals. It is not a book of rules.

It is a book of our character. It is what we are and what we respect.

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Code of Conduct

Code of Conduct

Introduction In these developments the issues of good corporate governance and responsible business behavior became central in the debate on the role of business in the modern society.

this code is both contemporary and visionary

We believe that Hauska & Partner International Communications underpins professional and personal qualities we devote to the development of long term and trustful relationship with our stakeholders. Our professional and personal qualities equally apply to every country which we operate in.

This code is both contemporary and 6

visionary. It encompasses our present endeavors with our commitment to future accomplishments. It is also our roadmap on which we have placed signposts for ethical behavior.

In our consulting role we act as a daily observer of all relevant local, regional and global developments in the world of business, politics and society in general.

In the process of addressing these issues we have looked inwards and at the same time have questioned the cases which became universally quoted examples of irresponsible company behaviors. How come that companies with codes of conduct have failed in providing an adequate management and employee practices, was our ultimate question, upon which we have placed a particular emphasis.

We have therefore evaluated our business and organizational settings, our key stakeholders and the society in general in order to develop coherent and realistic code which would truly represent who we are, how we are and how we relate to increased society expectations regarding responsible business practices.

This code applies to both our management and our employees. Our primary responsibility is to achieve sustainable growth for our clients and ourselves. We are all responsible for sustaining our professional and personal qualities by openly addressing all the issues that might or already pose an ethical dilemma in our daily operations and for resolving them adequately.

This code is also a basis for developing books of rules and regulations, specific rules and procedures to assure full compliance, which will accentuate local differences.

Adherence to the code will be ensured by regular training on the code, annual audits and assessments and by fostering supportive corporate culture. We have also nominated person who is responsible for overall ethical program implementation on the level of the group and person for every country.

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Code of Conduct

Code of Conduct

Core purpose & values Hauska & Partner values emerged from individual values of our shareholders, management and employees. Upon these values we have built our corporate culture and all our business operations rest upon our values. All actions that we undertake externally as consultants or internally as a developing team that always strives for the better are entwined with the meaning of the values that we chose are the most representative of how we wish to live, share knowledge and do business.

Excellence We constantly strive to provide the best consulting and to incorporate the highest standards and the best-developed skills in our daily actions. Excellence reflects constant growth in knowledge and leadership in action. This means that: We employ people who constantly wish to develop professionally and who contribute to excellence Our team demands the respect of highest 8

standards of quality

and challenging work

We invest in our growth, development and raise our competence daily

Our clients entrust us with their problems and issues and believe in our capabilities to help them solve these issues and achieve their business goals

To our clients we provide tailor-made solutions that can in the best way assist them to achieve their business goals We are innovative and contribute to the development of our profession Reliability With our behavior we deserve to be trusted and entrusted with assets and intangible values. We care for stability and act in the manner to provide protection, help, advice and consultancy so that we take into account our stakeholders’ rights and interests. This means that: We fulfill our responsibilities towards our employees, shareholders, clients, society and other stakeholders Our employees can rely on the company and their colleagues for stability of employment, income, professional growth

We are behave in a responsible manner towards our profession, our community and the society Contribution Our purpose is to provide the best consultancy to our clients, safe employment to our team and good framework for their professional development, prosperity to our shareholders, tangible and intangible benefits to the society, constantly adding in value, scope, quality and strength. To contribute means to give with adding quality and value. We are dedicated to: Contributing to our clients’ wealth, not only by providing excellent requested service, but also reaching further and proactively coaching, teaching and education to the clients in the domain of our expertise

Contributing to our employees’ quality of life, by enabling them to achieve their highest potential, respecting their professional ambitions and providing a healthy, desirable environment for their daily work Contributing to the quality of our profession by innovation, business development, fair and sound practices, investing in education and enabling market development Contributing to the values of European society and good practices, not only by being a role-model in abiding to the regulations and laws, but exceeding beyond that and responding to the needs of the society wherever communications consultants may add value Passion and Dedication We believe that the best consultancy, besides great knowledge and skills, has to cultivate the element of passion and strong belief. It includes a dedicated approach to people and things and full commitment to 9

Code of Conduct

the clients, stakeholders and issues attached. Passion and dedication mean additional energy invested in our work, greater attention to the issues, better identification with clients and greater loyalty.

We are passionately devoted to our profession, company, team, clients and positive issues we promote as consultants Our work exceeds the simple need to have a job and make existence; we approach our philosophy and our actions with full dedication We strongly believe in our values and energetically put them to work in our daily business We approach our stakeholders with the desire to understand them and to share our values with them We are fully devoted to our clients and committed to their success

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Diversity We equally value our similarities and our differences. We recognize that we all come from different cultural and social settings

Code of Conduct

and therefore we take efforts to understand each other and merge diverse experience and knowledge to build strong network of people who work together as one team.

Corporate Governance

We cherish qualities which enable us to understand, accept and cultivate differences We believe that with diversity of ideas, background and perspectives our employees enable us to build more complete picture and adapt better to complexities and challenges of modern word We are fully aware that working in a diverse team can be more difficult because we confront different and often contradictory perspectives and yet we strongly believe that working in diverse teams helps our employees to be more open and develop new approaches We respect diversities in the society and take effort to understand and accept each stakeholder and group and are dedicated to bringing different perspectives together

we recognize that ethics can only exist where there is an effective and respected legal infrastructure

Management Board is responsible for sound management of the group business operations. Leadership in the group is based on the premise that ethical behavior should not be exclusively understood as commitment to legal compliance, although we recognize that ethics can only exist

where there is an effective and respected legal infrastructure, but as a value driven quest for sustaining professional and personal behavior that is not pursuing business for the sake of business before anything else. Members of the management board have therefore set wide agenda to follow: 11

Code of Conduct

Sustaining financial and social capital (long-term stability and profit, quality of relationship with stakeholders, reputation) Fulfilling duty of loyalty and duty of care for the group, placing the best interests of the group first, and helping the group to create new values Providing transparent information on the group activities Taking clients individually and being fully dedicated to helping each client in a specific way by recognizing their unique needs and context in which they operate Competing successfully and fairly Understanding of the relevant national and regional contexts in which the group operates Mitigating risks and fostering new business opportunities

Code of Conduct

Promoting the team Openly seeking suggestions from every employee and encouraging employees to raise any concern, question and complaint in good faith Promoting fair and open communication between management and employees Promoting diversity and developing qualities that enable acceptance and understanding of differences Promoting sound balance between various areas of life and encouraging employees to dedicate themselves to family and other out-of-work activities Encouraging leadership practices by all employees Engaging in public dialogue and promoting responsible business practices and positive changes in the societies

Legal compliance and company records As we operate in different countries every group member complies with relevant national laws and regulations. We are committed to strict compliance with the laws and regulations that apply to Hauska & Partner International Communications business operations.

Every group member also follows internationally accepted professional standards. Our business operations are conducted on a transparent and accurate basis.

Every group member is also entitled to keep all books and records in accordance with applicable national laws and accounting standards. We do this in order to ensure financial integrity of our group.

Communications stakeholders

with

our

We believe that engaging with stakeholders builds our capacities for understanding.

We approach our stakeholders with the desire to understand them and to share our values with them. Understanding is by all means one of our key assets by which we position ourselves as consultancies that “do things in different way�.

We recognize that stakeholders may have different expectations towards us. We, however, believe that essential foundation for any relationship is trust and this code sets the standards for behavior they can expect from us. We foster only reasonable expectations among our stakeholders.

Encouraging accountability of all employees 12

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Code of Conduct

Code of Conduct

Employee relations Every employee in Hauska & Partner International Communications should be a leader in bringing sustainable growth to the clients and the group. At any level of our group every employee should be striving for the excellence by incorporating knowledge, competence, efficiency and quality, highest standards, courage and vision in our day-to-day requirements.

Every employee in Hauska & Partner International Communications can rely on stability of employment, income, health and safe working conditions, professional and personal development and challenging work.

Every employee is expected to adhere with the following requirements: Pursuing the best interest of the group. We expect our employees to exclusively act for the benefit of the group.

We forbid pursuing private interests or simultaneous work for a competitor or a 14

in fair and open way. They should show respect one to another and respect the right of every employee to have different opinion.

client. In doubt, employees should question their actions and consult their managers in order to make sure that they do not harm the interests of the group.

Appropriate use of company resources. We expect our employees to use company resources in responsible and ethical manner, primarily for conducting the group business operations. Computer software, electronic mail or the Internet is not to be used for unauthorized personal use.

Fair and open communications. We expect our employees to communicate

Safe work place and healthy life style.

We expect our employees to report any unsafe conditions and encourage safer workplace practices. We are drug and alcohol free organization. We expect our employees to practice healthy lifestyles and we encourage them to organize their lives accordingly.

Respecting the differences. We expect our employees to respect different lifestyles, ethnic or national origin, religion preferences, age, marital status, gender or sexual orientation. Our employees are prohibited to perform any action which may promote or encourage hate and violence or stir up prejudices. Our employees must not use electronic mail to disseminate information that promotes discrimination. We expect our employees to display qualities of acceptance and

understanding.

Seeking sound balance between various areas of life. We expect our employees to dedicate themselves to family and other out-of-work activities in order to become more complete personalities. We believe that employees who are capable of realizing themselves in different areas perform in a better way and bring excellence in every aspect of their professional day-to-day life.

Striving for excellence. We expect our employees to be willing to develop their competences. We expect our employees to share acquired knowledge and skills on daily basis.

Having constructive role in team. We expect our employees to work together as a total team. In a total team we respect and build up our strengths and overcome our weaknesses. We are proud of every member of our team and we expect that every team member shows a healthy sense of collegiality and mutual respect.

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Code of Conduct

Code of Conduct

Clients Our reputation is built upon our unique approach to our clients. Our approach is rooted in the very essence of our consultancy work - we constantly challenge ourselves in order to sustain new values to our clients.

We deliver our services to clients by employing our best assets, engaging the most suitable knowledge and skills, and selecting the most appropriate team.

We deliver our services to clients not only to fulfill our contractual obligations but to achieve results that are base for building long term and trustful relations.

We partner with our clients.

We strive to understand our clients, their needs, visions and specific characteristics of industry or sectors in which they operate in, complex social and market developments.

We offer our clients specialized knowledge and skills helping them to better understand and manage their sustainability issues.

Business partners and suppliers

Competition

In selecting business partners and suppliers we take all reasonable measures to determine legality of their operations and business conduct. We seek the proof of all relevant publicly accessible information about operation of a company we plan to partner with. The legality of business operations and business conduct is considered as a special competitive advantage. We conduct our selection processes with great care and according to clearly set out criteria.

We believe that competition is essential for achieving sound business environment. In our market approach we:

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Promote fair and open competition as essential for achieving sound business environment.

Never speak about our competition or criticize their actions. On the other hand, if actions of our competition undermine professional standards we all apply to, we will openly discuss them in relevant forums.

Never use deceptive means in order to obtain information regarding our competition.

We are accessible, providing quality service in time and according to standards of practice and professional conduct on the part of public relations and business advisors.

Having respect for the client and acting always in the best interest of the client is our standard rule for engagement.

Compete in fair and collegiate manner.

we constantly challenge ourselves in order to sustain new values 17

Code of Conduct

Code of Conduct

Community and Environment

We actively play a role in communities by fostering values we have recognized as elemental to our philosophy and strategy.

As responsible community members we: Comply with all laws and government regulations Meet and raise all relevant professional standards Fulfill all our tax and contractual obligations

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Support projects that are aimed at improving stakeholders relations and understanding of stakeholders’ issues in modern society

Good PR leaves the mark...

We assess our environment performance within the framework of our consultancy work. We monitor on our impact covering following areas: travel, people, energy, waste, water and paper.

Hauska & Partner International Communications recognizes important role of the private sector in building sustainable societies. Therefore, we have also expanded our business portfolio to enable other companies to more efficiently manage their sustainability issues.

Strategic Communications Reputation Management Media Relations Internal Relations Public Affairs Risk and Crisis Management Corporate Social Responsibility

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