ABOUT THIS REPORT
We are pleased to share OKA Direct Ltd’s (“OKA”) 2023 Sustainability Progress Report. This report is an opportunity to update our team, customers, investors and other stakeholders on our annual progress towards our sustainability objectives, improving transparency and highlighting our focus on people, the planet, product quality and operational excellence.
In 2023 we have reinforced our commitment to sustainability: we became a B Corp, hired a Sustainability Lead to strengthen our internal capability, refreshed our materiality assessment, and redefined our sustainability goals to better reflect our business now and our future priorities. In this report we provide an update on our performance in 2023 against our existing goals, and outline our new sustainability ambitions and commitments for the years ahead.
REPORT FRAMEWORKS AND SCOPE
This report is aligned to OKA’s financial reporting period (01.01.2023–31.12.2023), unless otherwise stated, with data as at 31st December 2023. The content of this report covers information from our global operations. In June 2024, after careful consideration, we announced our exit from the US market. This was a result of increasing financial pressures on the business. Data from our US operations is included as relevant for 2023. This report has been prepared in accordance with the Universal Standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The GRI Content Index can be found on page 87.
In 2019, OKA became a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) which is a voluntary initiative advancing universal principles on human rights, labour, the environment, and anti-corruption. Our Code of Conduct, Human Rights and Supplier policies, and Corporate Strategy are the cornerstones that enable us to live up to the standards set by the UNGC. We report our progress towards the UNGC’s 10 Principles annually.
We also use this report to communicate our contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs were established by the United Nations in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. They are a set of 17 global goals, which call for all countries to create a more sustainable and equitable future, ensuring that no one is left behind. They encompass ending poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring that all people can enjoy peace and prosperity. At OKA, we are committed to playing our part in achieving the SDGs and we have used the SDGs to inform our strategy development. Throughout this report we have outlined our priority SDGs, where we can make the greatest impact across each of our sustainability pillars.
ABOUT OKA
Founded in 1999 by Annabel Astor, Sue Jones and Lucinda Waterhouse, OKA is a leading high-end interiors and lifestyle brand in the UK. Synonymous with good taste and excellent style, we create unique collections of furniture and accessories that are designed to inspire practical living and effortless entertaining – we have furnished homes all over the world for more than 20 years.
Our omnichannel business model includes an ecommerce platform, a portfolio of retail stores, an established Trade department and an Interior Design Service. Headquartered in Oxfordshire, OKA's value chain spans 13 countries; it includes direct and indirect sourcing networks of suppliers, as well as OKA's operations. Our teams at OKA work with suppliers who can offer the quality and craftsmanship required for our ranges, developing and maintaining the strong relationships that are necessary to this. We work closely with these suppliers to champion our sustainability vision, keeping people and the planet at front of mind at every step of the way: designing collections, sourcing materials, and producing, packaging and transporting products from their factories to our warehouses and distribution offices. Then, ultimately, into our customers' homes.
OKA IN NUMBERS 2023
OUR BRAND
OKA’s brand is about inspiring people to confidently create a home that reflects their personality – a place where nothing is too precious or perfect to be enjoyed with family and friends. We celebrate effortless British style with a range of furniture and homewares that mixes elegant classics with characterful pieces inspired and sourced from around the globe.
Our collections are a carefully curated celebration of design, colour and personality differentiating them from our competitors. OKA was founded by three great friends with a passion for beautiful, practical and comfortable homes. We still design with this in mind, creating effortless pieces that allow our customers to focus on the most important thing: enjoying precious time with loved ones.
We work hard to deliver our discerning customers high-quality products and excellent service at every step of their journey. We have a passion for design and proudly partner with skilled independent craftspeople and family-run businesses all over the world. We work closely with all our partners to support the needs of their businesses and ensure that all our products are made to high ethical standards.
At the heart of OKA’s design process is a desire to preserve techniques and influences that have been passed down from generation to generation, some of which may be in danger of becoming extinct in the future. Rather than a passing trend that needs to be disposed of, each piece is timeless; it lives in, and becomes part of, an individual's home. The versatility of product design allows our pieces to fit seamlessly into both traditional and contemporary looks, and the timeless style ensures that as our customers' tastes and interiors adapt over the years, OKA pieces will continue to have a place.
“We celebrate effortless British style with a range of furniture and homeware that mixes elegant classics with characterful pieces inspired and sourced from around the globe.”
We are thrilled to share that OKA became a Certified B Corporation in 2023.
This achievement reflects our ongoing commitment to our strategic pillars, including our mission to reduce our impact on the planet and positively contribute to the communities we interact with. B Corp certification is not just a badge of honour; it represents a powerful commitment at OKA to environmental and social responsibility. We know we still have a way to go, but we are committed to making better choices every day.
This certification from non-profit organisation B Lab demonstrates our dedication to holding ourselves accountable to the highest standards of sustainability and transparency, where every action, no matter the size, counts. Through this certification, we will now appear on B Lab’s directory of B Corp-certified businesses, joining a global community of like-minded companies that prioritise the planet and people alongside profitability.
CUSTOMERS: 3.5
ENVIRONMENT: 16.6
COMMUNITY: 14.7
80.6 OVERALL B IMPACT SCORE
GOVERNANCE: 18.5
WORKERS: 27.3
OKA AT A GLANCE
TUNBRIDGE WELLS
Our US (Houston, Dallas and Westport) and Edgbaston stores have closed in 2024. Data from these stores is included within this report where relevant and is accounted for in total global figures for 2023.
Countries we source from / number of suppliers
CHINA / 77
INDIA / 55
UNITED KINGDOM /13
INDONESIA / 5
Current Suppliers 165 (vs 136 in 2022)
LITHUANIA / 1
VIETNAM / 4
FRANCE /1
PHILIPPINES / 2
ITALY / 2
MYANMAR / 2
SOUTH AFRICA / 1
GERMANY / 1
SLOVENIA / 1
SUSTAINABILITY HIGHLIGHTS
Became a B Corp with a score of 80.6
11 employees completed our Illuminate Internal Apprenticeship Programme
Net Promoter Score of 65.5
Relaunched our Employee Affinity Groups
Repaired over 700 products in our UK warehouse as part of our circularity strategy
Decreased paper usage by 29% in the UK
Increased our total training hours by 30% from 2022
78% of our employees were trained on our Health and Safety policies
Reduced our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 45% from our 2019 baseline
57% of our senior leadership team are female
A MESSSAGE FROM OUR CEO
I am delighted to have joined OKA in early 2024. Coming into the business I’ve been impressed by the focus on sustainability across our teams, and how well sustainability is embedded into our ways of working. Our sustainability highlight for 2023 has undoubtedly been achieving our B Corp certification and joining the growing community of impact driven businesses in the UK and across the globe. Achieving B Corp is a testament to years of dedicated efforts across our business. I am incredibly proud of this milestone, which reflects not only our achievements to date, but also our ongoing commitment to improving our environmental and social impact in the years to come.
For our industry, like many others, 2023 was a challenging market environment. However, our strong sales performance reflects our resilience and customer loyalty. In 2024 we are focusing on how we can enhance the customer experience and improve operational efficiency.
This is my first Sustainability Report as CEO, capturing the progress we have made over the last year and setting out our plans for the future. I am pleased to see how sustainability is deeply embedded within OKA’s culture, with a clear passion amongst employees to support our strategy. Our sustainability commitments are integral to our success as a business, and are core to who we are and what we stand for as a company.
Looking ahead, we face both opportunities, as well as challenges that will shape our sustainability journey. A priority area for
me is ensuring we continue improving the transparency of our supply chain from both an environmental and social perspective. Strengthening relationships with our suppliers will help us to further understand the challenges that they face but also help us to gain greater transparency over the sourcing of our raw materials. We are extremely fortunate to have extremely talented craftspeople and artisans all around the globe, many of whom we have worked with for many years and our collaboration with them will be a critical part of meeting our sustainability goals.
Throughout our operations, sustainability must be front of mind in decision making. As we continue to grow our teams, we will train and empower them to ensure they have the knowledge and skills they need, no matter the area of the business they work in.
I'm excited about the journey ahead and the opportunities for our brand. I'm confident that we can build a more sustainable future for OKA, our stakeholders and our communities.
Thank you for taking the time to read our report and I look forward to sharing our progress and achievements with you.
Mark Saunders Chief Executive Officer
OUR CORPORATE STRATEGY
We launched our inaugural Sustainability Strategy in 2019, and since then have celebrated several milestones in our sustainability journey. We published our first Sustainability Progress Report in 2019, became a UN Global Compact signatory in 2019 and a B Corp in 2023, made progress towards reducing the impact of our direct operations, and are working closely with our stakeholders to improve the impact across our wider value chain.
In 2022, we undertook a comprehensive review of our business-wide priorities and developed a fully integrated Corporate Strategy focused on five strategic priorities that cover our business and value chain, encompassing sustainability. This strategy is underpinned by multiple commitments and time-bound targets. As we look forward to the future, our corporate strategy will help us realise our vision of becoming the most loved British interiors lifestyle brand.
We have mapped our strategy against the UN Sustainable Development Goals and identified the goals where we believe we can create the biggest impact. We anticipate that our Corporate Strategy will continue to evolve and adapt as it responds to the changing operational context and environment, but sustainability will always remain a focus for OKA.
OUR SUSTAINABILITY VISION
to work with global craftsmen and women to create unique and timeless pieces that are designed to inspire practical living and effortless entertaining while respecting our planet , our people and the next generation.
PURPOSE
Why we exist
OKA exists to ignite peoples' love of home through a curated collection of furniture and homeware.
MISSION
What we want to do
To inspire our customers to break the rules and create a home that reflects their personality.
OUR STRATEGIC PILLARS
CUSTOMER
Foster vibrant and lasting customer connections – by nurturing a community that thrives on authentic, luxury service and unforgettable moments.
PEOPLE
Cultivate a high-performance culture, where every employee feels that they belong and are empowered to drive change, that contributes to our shared success story.
BRAND
Elevate the brand to new heights, celebrating our heritage and design authority, though a vibrant mix of originality, playfulness and global craftsmanship.
PRODUCT
Enrich our product offer. Leading our industry though our unwavering commitment to quality, timeless-inspired design and sustainability.
PLANET
Reduce our impact on the planet and positively contribute to the communities we engage with, driving meaningful change in our industry.
Optimise and simplify our processes and ways of working, unlocking our future potential. OPERATIONAL
In 2019, as part of our sustainability strategy development we
We engaged with internal and external stakeholders to gather sustainability frameworks and conducted a peer benchmark to inform our approach. The results of the materiality assessment
refresh will take into consideration the views of our employees,
We will continue to review our material topics and strategy on
OUR SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY
In 2019 we set sustainability commitments for our business across our material topics. Since then, we have made significant progress towards these. A number of the commitments have now been met and as a result we have recently completed a refresh to identify new goals for our business for 2025 and beyond to better reflect our current sustainability priorities, address our challenges, and create renewed momentum internally. We have included these new commitments where relevant in this report and look forward to sharing our progress with you each year.
Our sustainability strategy continues to be focused around three pillars:
PLANET PRODUCT PEOPLE
ENHANCING ALL LIVES
We will inspire and enable our people and partners to live better and sustainable lives and increase collaboration to create a positive impact on our communities.
MATERIAL TOPICS
• Human and Labour Rights
• Diverse and Inclusive Workplace
• Employee Wellbeing, Health and Safety
• Employee Engagement and Development
• Community Engagement and Development
DESIGNING THROUGH INNOVATION AND CRAFTSMANSHIP
OKA will design and create quality pieces through innovation and craftsmanship, which will help people to translate the OKA way of life to their own homes.
MATERIAL TOPICS
• Product and Packaging Circularity
• Responsible Sourcing of Materials
CREATING FOR A BETTER PLANET
OKA will craft unique pieces to create sustainable homes, by reducing waste and using more ethically and responsibly sourced materials.
MATERIAL TOPICS
• Low Carbon Supply Chain and Energy Management
• Waste Management
RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS PRACTICES
Our pillars are underpinned by our responsible business practices, which help us to build trust with our stakeholders and ensure we are an ethical business.
MATERIAL TOPICS
• Ethics and Integrity
• Data Privacy and Cyber Security
• Responsible Marketing and Sales
• Customer Satisfaction and Experience
OUR PROGRES
OUR TARGETS STATUS
RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS PRACTICES
Ethics and Integrity
We will act with integrity and to the highest ethical standards at all touch points, ensuring 100% of employees are trained on mandatory compliance modules at least once annually by 2025.
To continue preventing bribery and conflicts of interest and criminal activity in our organisation, we will ensure that 100% of employees are trained on mandatory compliance modules at least once annually.
We will define our corporate identity, which we can share with our customers, employees, and prospective team members.
Data privacy and cyber security
Migrate from premise systems to cloud-based systems by 2025.
Customer satisfaction and experience
We will improve our NPS (Net Promoter Score) to 75 by 2025.
ENHANCING ALL LIVES
Human and labour rights
We will use third-party auditors to assess compliance of our entire supplier base in each country (China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam) by 2025.
We will tackle labour and human rights issues in our supply chain by undertaking collaborative programmes with our suppliers to improve their practices.
Diversity and equality
We will continue to work to create an inclusive working environment that celebrates our differences and increases representation at all levels in the business.
Employee wellbeing, health and safety
We will train 100% of our employees on our Health and Safety policies annually.
75% of employees have completed mandatory compliance modules at least once annually.
80% of employees have completed mandatory anti-bribery and corruption compliance modules at least once annually.
In 2023 we reviewed and relaunched our employee values, our guide for how to act internally and with our customers and helping to build a strong corporate identity.
We are in the process of preparing for our migration to cloud, with full upload planned for 2025.
Our latest NPS is 65.5, we are working to address the feedback received via our most recent customer survey.
We hold third party audits for our suppliers in China, India, Indonesia & Philippines.. Currently 68% of our top 25 suppliers (by purchases) hold a third party audit (accounting for 62% of our product purchases)
We engage with our suppliers through our Supplier Appraisal programme to understand their current practices. We are working to develop collaborative programmes to better support our partners.
Creating an inclusive working environment is an ongoing priority for the business; this year we are proud to have created an employee-led committee to find ways to improve diversity and inclusion.
78% of our employees were trained on our Health and Safety policies in 2023.
Employee engagement and development
We will create an annual learning calendar that aims to increase our overall employee training hours by 2025.
Community engagement and development
We will develop impactful community partnerships in four countries where OKA operates by 2027.
We have created an annual learning calendar, moving forward. We are aiming to increase our overall employee training hours by 10% annually.
In 2023, we partnered with Women’s Aid in the UK and are exploring other partnership opportunities for 2024 and beyond.
DESIGNING THROUGH INNOVATION AND CRAFTSMANSHIP
Product circularity
We will develop a long-term product circularity strategy that progressively adopts the principles of circular economy – reducing, reusing, recycling and transitioning to circular solutions.
Responsible sourcing of materials
We will improve our FSC certification of timber products by 2023.
To improve the transparency of our raw material sourcing and to work towards all key raw materials being sustainably sourced or recycled by 2025.
CREATING FOR A BETTER PLANET
Low-carbon supply chain
We will measure our Scope 3 emissions following the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard.
Energy management
We will reduce our Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 46% by 2030 from a 2019 baseline.
Waste management
We will make 70% of our packaging (including plastics) domestically recyclable by 2030.
We have several circularity initiatives underway — we have started to integrate recycled materials into our products and have an in-house repair technician who repaired over 700 products in 2023.
Our suppliers use a range of certifications, including FSC, and we are looking into which ones meet our own standards. We will be setting new goals on timber certifications in 2025 once we have a better understanding of our baseline.
We are working to understand the current status of our raw material sourcing and obtain full visibility of our materials supply chain by the end of 2025 (top 100 products by the end of 2024).
We measure our Scope 3 emissions annually. Moving forward we will be working on reducing our Scope 3 emissions.
In 2022 we set a Science Based Target, formalising our commitment through the SBTi for our marketbased Scope 1 and 2 emissions. We reduced our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 45% from our 2019 baseline, and are on track to meet our target, however as we grow as a business, we will need to keep focusing on reducing our emissions.
We have been testing alternatives for domestically recyclable packaging and will continue to trial and implement new alternatives, which meet sustainability criteria while minimising the risk of product damage.
OUR GOVERNANCE
In December 2017, OKA Direct Ltd was acquired by an independently managed investment company indirectly held by Investindustrial Growth L.P. (“Investindustrial”). At the time of acquisition, a shareholders’ agreement setting out the governance of the OKA group was signed at the level of Luxury British Design Holdings Limited (the controlling indirect shareholder of OKA Direct Ltd where management and founders invest).
The Board of Directors of Luxury British Design Holdings Limited is responsible for the overall strategic direction of OKA and its subsidiaries, focusing on long-term value creation, the management of financial resources and the appointment of new members to the Leadership team. The responsibility of the Board members is to constantly monitor the ethical conduct of corporate operations. Responsibility for sustainability sits within the Board of Directors, including the review and sign-off of this report, with the Senior Leadership Team taking responsibility for delivering each of their sustainability commitments.
Our Chief People and Sustainability Officer is part of OKA’s Senior Leadership Team and has responsibility to report monthly to the Board regarding our progress in 2023 as well as identifying sustainability related risks and opportunities. They are supported by four affinity working groups made up of volunteers from OKA's global operations, who work with our various divisions to guide and monitor progress on sustainability activities, including defining action plans and reporting on agreed indicators. Sustainability matters are discussed on a quarterly basis in forums with those accountable for delivering progress.
OKA has a clearly defined Delegation of Authority to ensure that actions, decisions, and matters are appropriately managed through established procedures and practices. This Delegation of Authority does not vary or substitute the shareholders’ agreement which together outline OKA’s policies with respect to Group conduct. They establish limits on various matters including the actors required to consent to Governance, Share Capital, Shareholder Payments and Business Plan changes. Consent from both Investors and the Board of Directors of Luxury British Design Holdings Ltd is required for any Director appointments, excluding any Founder Director, from any member of the Group. Investor consent and consent from the Remuneration Committee of Luxury British Design Holdings Ltd is also required for the establishment of any profit-sharing bonus or incentive scheme which issues shares to employees or Directors. The Board of Directors of Luxury British Design Holding Ltd are further required to consent to any amendments to existing pension schemes. Remuneration of the non-Executive Chairman is determined by the Remuneration Committee of OKA’s parent company, Luxury British Design Holdings Limited. The process by which conflicts of interest within the Board are prevented and mitigated are detailed in Section 29 of the Articles of association.
RISK MANAGEMENT APPROACH
OKA’s risk management approach is designed to provide assurance that our strategic objectives are being met and legal requirements are complied with. The Senior Leadership Team is entrusted with all risk management activities related to our operations and supply chain. We comply with all local, national and international regulatory requirements and are committed to adopting best practices in our disclosures. Risks are identified and monitored through regular reporting to the Board, including monthly financial updates which include commentary around key risks.
OKA'S BOARD MEMBERS ARE:
Mark Saunders
Chief Executive Officer
Alessandro Tome
3
Non-Executive Director
David Kerr
Non-Executive Director
Julien Grandpré
Non-Executive Director
Leanne Corbersmith
Chief Financial Officer
OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM IS COMPRISED OF:
Mark Saunders
Chief Executive Officer
Sue Jones
Creative Director
Joanna Wells
Chief Marketing Officer
Christopher Ferguson
Global Director of Operations
Victoria Ashley-Khan
Chief People and Sustainability Officer
Nicholas Owen
Chief Technology Officer
Leanne Corbersmith
Chief Financial Officer
RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS PRACTICES
We are committed to embedding responsible practices across our business, enabling it to thrive through achieving trust from employees, customers, and suppliers alike. Responsible business practices form the essential foundations of our Corporate Strategy, and serve a vital role in strengthening our brand, as well as ensuring that we are a trustworthy and ethical business.
We are committed to nurturing a commercially viable, innovative brand that honours our DNA, and creates value for our customers. By developing a strong internal culture and values, we will stimulate our partners to be passionate and performance-driven people with a deep knowledge of sustainability and life at home. We will ensure that we have appropriate business practices and a corporate culture that promotes sustainability. We want to avoid a culture where short-term revenue generation is at the expense of sustainability performance.
ETHICS AND INTEGRITY
OUR TARGETS
• We will act with integrity and to the highest ethical standards at all touch points; ensuring 100% of employees are trained on mandatory compliance modules, at least once annually by 2025.
• To continue preventing bribery and conflicts of interest and criminal activity in our organisation, by ensuring that 100% of employees are trained on mandatory compliance modules at least once annually.
We strive to be an ethical and trusted company providing decent work opportunities and contributing to economic growth in our regions of operations and through our supply chain (SDG 8 – Decent work and economic growth). We are committed to doing better for our local communities, the planet and future generations every day. Our aim is to create an internal culture founded on strong values, to nurture our passionate and performance-driven people, and educate our teams and customers on sustainability and life in the home.
We have developed a Code of Conduct to guide our strategic and operational management-related compliance practices, which outlines our expectations and standards as a business. We will address any instances of non-compliance within the organisation and seek to ensure our partners work towards the same standards, working with them through collaborative programmes to improve practices.
We want to avoid creating a business where short-term revenue generation comes at the expense of sustainability performance, which is why we are passionate about embedding our values and sustainability programmes across our entire business. We have strong controls in place to prevent negative and illegal behaviours such as bribery, conflicts of interest and criminal activity in our organisation, with our strong brand identity and corporate transparency also being key to ensuring this.
OUR PROGRESS IN 2023
We launched mand atory compliance training modules focused on our business stance on ethics and integrity. To date:
• 87% of our employees have completed our Code of Conduct training
• 79% of our employees have completed our Information Security training
• 75% of our employees have completed our Health and Safety training
We have also enhanced our policy environment, relaunching our core People Policies, Employment Policies and Mandatory Training via our employee training portal. We are in the process of reviewing our Employee Handbook to make it more user friendly and competitive with the market.
OU R FUTURE COMMITMENTS
• 100% of employees trained on mandatory compliance modules, at least once annually by 2025
• Training on our code of conduct, antibribery and corruption and whistleblowing processes embedded in onboarding and annual employee learning by 2030
NEXT STEPS
We will continue to create initiatives to encourage and ensure that 100% of employees are trained on our compliance modules at least once annually.
We will conduct frequent reviews to our people policies and employee handbook with the support of our Affinity Groups, including future plans to create public facing Justice, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) policies.
DATA PRIVACY AND CYBER SECURITY
OUR TARGETS
• Migrate on premise systems to cloud-based systems by 2025
OKA is committed to protecting customer data and enhancing privacy and security. Individuals have the right to choose how their information is used and shared with other organisations, and Our Data Privacy policy details how we collect and process our customers’ personal data. In an environment increasingly dependent on technology, we are aware of the cyber threats we face and as such, we are focused on embedding cyber security in the organisation.
Data privacy is a core part of our Information Security Management system along with our privacy policies for customers, and marketing and cookie consent options that maximise conversion and minimise downside risks. We undertake privacy impact assessments and have both a data governance framework and incident reporting process.
Our outsourced Data Protection Officer (DPO) ensures employee and customer personal data is managed in accordance with regulatory requirements, while helping optimise data governance.
OUR PROGRESS IN 2023
As part of our commitment to sustainability, security and business continuity we have set a target to migrate 90% of our internal server and service infrastructure to the cloud by 2025. This will be phased in line with business requirements and will ensure that OKA continues to have a platform that can support growth. In 2023 we have been preparing for data migration in 2025. Our continued focus this year was delivering the requirements for both the UK and US markets as the business grows and supporting our HR, Technology, CRM and ecommerce strategies and systems with digital tools and technologies. Our Board adopted a Data Governance Policy which sets out our obligations under the data protection act, the data we hold and how we process it. We work with an external security operations centre and security information and event management services provider to identify and manage any data security issues.
OKA is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office, and we liaise with them as needed as well as our customers and other parties to promote data privacy for our customers and uphold information rights.
NEXT STEPS
We are making accessibility improvements and putting systems in place for our UK webpage. Our priority for the next two years is our cloud migration, we have begun the process of transferring information to SharePoint with our next steps to move all our systems to the cloud in 2025.
RESPONSIBLE MARKETING AND SALES
We have a responsibility to ensure we adhere to principles of responsible marketing and sales by using systems and digital tools that maintain transparency and appropriate pricing of products, so that they are not misleading or inaccurate. To this end, we will explore new digital marketing solutions and innovate, while ensuring that all customer data is always protected.
There were no breaches of customer data during 2023. While the business undertakes direct marketing (via magazine mailings, for example) as one of the sales channels to customers, all our print materials are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified and we continue to work with our suppliers in this area to look to source more sustainable options. Our marketing strategy is focused on improving our customer experience and establishing mechanisms to measure this. During 2023, no incidents of non-compliance with industry regulations were reported. We record our monthly email unsubscribed metrics, our rate of unsubscription is in line with industry standards, and we will continue to monitor this.
OUR PROGRESS IN 2023
Our magazines are a core part of our direct marketing strategy; however, paper can have negative environmental impacts. We are focused on decreasing paper use and minimising environmental and social impacts through sourcing FSC certified paper.
We have strategically optimised circulation to decrease overall direct mail volume, reduced pagination and are consistently reviewing the size of our catalogues. In 2023, paper usage decreased 29% across the UK (120 tonnes vs 169 tonnes in 2022) and 34% in the US (140 tonnes vs 211 tonnes in 2022). We are working with our paper mill to reduce the carbon emissions and improve the energy used in the mills and ensure collateral standard operating procedures monitor usage more accurately to make sure we are printing to the right volumes with reduced wastage.
In our retail stores we use Evergreen UK point of sale (POS) - an initiative to reduce paper waste. We have standardised swing tags, POS and in-store signage across seasons significantly reducing our use of swing tickets and POS. All retail carrier bags are 100% paper-based material, with no lamination to ensure recyclability.
NEXT STEPS
A key part of responsible marketing is ensuring our teams have the knowledge and skills to effectively communicate our sustainability efforts without greenwashing. We are in the process of adding mandatory sustainability training modules to our training platform including content on understanding how to spot and avoid greenwashing, and how to talk to customers about our environmental and social impact. We will also be developing a responsible marketing document in line with anti-greenwashing legislation to ensure our communications are accurate and transparent.
We are conducting a review of point of sale packaging to reduce the use of plastics. We have already begun introducing paper hive wraps in place of bubble wraps at many store locations for homeware and will be trialling the efficacy of other alternative solutions to meet our long-term packaging goals.
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND EXPERIENCE
OUR TARGETS
• To improve our NPS (Net Promoter Score) to 75 by 2025
We track our customer satisfaction via our NPS, Trustpilot and our annual customer surveys. This forms an important part of our customer satisfaction and experience strategy and helps us to track our customers’ overall attitude towards OKA, their satisfaction and their views on sustainability. Our customer satisfaction is a priority for the team, and we ensure that any feedback received is actioned to improve our customer experience.
OUR PROGRESS IN 2023
Our NPS was 65.5. We undertook a customer survey in June for the UK and US to customers who had placed an order between January 2022 and May 2023 for the US, and April 2022 to May 2023 for the UK. The survey captured feedback on customer satisfaction, sentiment, preferences and demographics. Our response rate was 4.5%, an improvement of over 2% from 2022.
We use our customer survey to gather feedback from our customers on sustainability. 63% of customers said sustainability is an important factor in deciding which brands to purchase home and interiors products from. When we asked about the most important sustainability efforts our customers top priority was the quality and safety of products (72%), followed by the recyclability and/or reusability of packaging (66%), and ethical and responsible sourcing (66%).
Reducing the impact of our direct marketing is an ongoing focus for us, while we found that 79% of our customers enjoy browsing magazines, we need to be conscious of how we produce our marketing material and minimise their impact. We were pleased to hear that after reading our magazines 31% of our customers keep them on display and 20% of our customers give them to a friend or family to reuse.
OUR FUTURE COMMITMENTS
• Improve our NPS (Net Promoter Score) to 75 by 2025
• Enhance our product storytelling and educate our customers on the provenance and sustainability information of our products by 2030
NEXT STEPS
As we learnt through our survey, sustainability is important to our customers, and there is an opportunity for us to better communicate our sustainability efforts, including our recent B Corp certification, focusing on the topics most important to our customers. We are rolling out more stories and information about the provenance and production methods used in our products. We hope that this will show the work and dedication that goes into each product, as well as the sustainability of the materials used.
To improve our data collection and allow for real-time tracking of customer satisfaction we will be introducing an automated post-purchase survey.
“Customer service is excellent, with helpful friendly people who respond quickly when you need to call - something that is quite rare these days.”
- Customer Survey Response
OUR POLICIES
Our sustainability commitments are supported by our governance structure and policies. The purpose of policies is to embed sustainability throughout the business and the supply chain in both day-to-day and strategic decisions. Our internal employee handbook conveys many of our policies to our employees.
CODE OF CONDUCT
At OKA we believe that everyone has a part to play in operating with integrity, honesty and fairness. We are all are focused on the same goals, with the same drive to succeed and to help one another to do so.
The principles in our Employee Handbook and People Policies establish minimum standards across key areas. This includes clear guidelines to all employees regarding our expectations when working for and representing OKA, and the responsibilities that employees have towards the company, customers and business partners. Above all, employees are expected to follow the law, act with integrity and honesty in all matters and be accountable for their actions.
The OKA Code of Business Conduct sets out our values, responsibilities, and obligations with regards to the handling of certain ethical situations commonly faced by the company and employees. The Board monitors the effectiveness and reviews the implementation of this policy, regularly considering its suitability and adequacy. Internal control systems and procedures are subject to regular audits to provide assurance that they are effective in managing the Code of Business Conduct effectively.
WHISTLEBLOWING POLICY
Our aim is to identify any concerns or issues employees might have and take the appropriate measures to remedy the situation. We encourage a culture of openness within our organisation to help prevent malpractice. There are various ways for OKA employees to voice their concerns, including internally through their line manager, HR manager or directly to our CEO. We have an independent whistleblowing hotline operated by a third party with all concerns or issues raised being captured and assigned to a member of the OKA Senior Leadership Team for resolution.
EQUALITY POLICY
OKA recognises that discrimination and victimisation are unacceptable and that it is in the interests of the company and its employees to utilise the skills of the total workforce. Our aim is to ensure that no employee or job applicant receives less favourable facilities or treatment (either directly or indirectly) in recruitment or employment on grounds of age, disability, gender/gender reassignment, marriage/civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation (the protected characteristics). Our aim is for our workforce to be truly representative of all sectors of society, and for every OKA employee to feel respected and able to give their best.
GRIEVANCE POLICY
Our Grievance Policy provides an internal mechanism for dealing with concerns raised by employees about their employment or working environment. It aims to deal with any issues quickly, fairly, and at the lowest level possible within the company. Our policy is based on ACAS code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures in the UK.
REAL LIVING WAGE COMMITMENT
We recognise that paying the real living wage is the mark of a responsible employer and believes that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. Since July 2021, OKA has committed to paying the real living wage for our UK employees. This is a voluntary arrangement and ensures that the OKA starting hourly rate matches at least the current living wage for employees based inside and outside of London. Both these rates are significantly higher than the government minimum for over 23s. In 2024 we are working on understanding the real living wage for our employees based in China.
MATERNITY AND PATERNITY LEAVE
At OKA, we endeavour to ensure all parents are given support and encouragement before, during, and after their return to work from maternity or paternity leave. We believe that all employees should be provided with sufficient assistance that they feel able to take as much time off to bond with, and care for their child. We aim to ensure that the employee's duties are adequately covered during maternity, paternity and shared parental leave and that an effective dialogue is implemented at all stages, so that employees feel fully supported and informed about their entitlements and the process to follow.
All employees taking maternity or paternity leave are covered by our policy, including those on part-time contracts. We are looking to review this policy in 2024 to ensure a more enhanced and inclusive approach.
ANTI-BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION
In line with the 2010 Bribery Act, we have a strict anti-bribery and corruption policy in place. All employees are required to read and sign the policy at the start of their employment. We are committed to achieving the highest ethical standards for the business and any attempt to bribe another person or gain advantage in the conduct of the company’s business, or accept a bribe, will be considered gross misconduct. We will undertake regular reporting of the above to ensure that the Leadership team are aware of any cases. All of OKA’s employees globally have been communicated to regarding the organisation’s anticorruption policies and procedures and received training on this topic.
SUPPLIER CODE OF CONDUCT
We have a Supplier Code of Conduct in place emphasising our commitment to doing business with zero tolerance for unethical practices in the supply chain. We set high standards of responsible and ethical behaviour in our own operations and expect a similar commitment from our suppliers, with all new suppliers required to agree to our Supplier Code of Conduct prior to commencing a business relationship. Our Supplier Code of Conduct covers human rights, child labour, working conditions, health and safety and environmental protection. Our suppliers also have access to an independent whistleblowing line to raise any concerns
HEALTH AND SAFETY POLICY
Our Health and Safety policy covers hazard and accident procedures, fire safety, first-aid and personal safety. We record all accidents and take steps to reduce risk at regular reviews, with our People team tracking data and using it to inform development of training and other resources to address recurring issues. For example, we identified our workshopbased employees are at higher risk of ergonomics-related issues, and as a result we have implemented manual handling training and improved tracking processes.
We provide health and safety training to all employees to ensure that the correct practices and procedures are followed and have trained first aiders and mental health champions to support our team.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES
By the end of 2024 we will develop an Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policy, covering recycling, stationery, and technology.
We are also working on a standalone environmental policy that ties into our goals and priorities as a business. This will sit alongside the policies that we already have in place as part of our Supplier Code of Conduct that ensure our suppliers are aware of our sustainability targets and work with us to achieve them.
ENHANCING ALL LIVES
People are at the heart of OKA. Their passion and love for the brand has been integral to our success. We respect each other and our communities, whether our people and partners are based in the UK or elsewhere in the world – including the teams of craftspeople who work with us to design and produce our collections. We will inspire and enable them to live better and more sustainable lives. This in turn creates a positive impact on the wider community. We continuously work to encourage teamwork, build healthy employee relationships and to ensure we create a culture that is safe, open and rewarding for everyone and contributes to SDG 5 – Gender Equality; SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth; SDG 10 – Reduced Inequality and SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals.
We work every day to create a high-performance team culture, where every employee feels part of the OKA family and is empowered to deliver results that make a difference. We support our customers with impeccable service that drives sales and inspires trust and loyalty across every touchpoint and channel. We are aware of the importance of our communities and will strive to do better for our local communities, the planet and future generations every day.
We will achieve this goal by building an ethical and trusted company, with partners and suppliers offering decent work and economic growth (SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth), inspiring people to create a sustainable home to be enjoyed with family and friends and supporting and guiding our employees. We will ensure that the organisation offers a safe and healthy environment and that our hiring and promotion culture embraces the building of a diverse and inclusive workforce (SDG 5 – Gender Equality), actively working to increase gender and ethnic diversity across our teams. We are supporting and collaborating with our employees, partners, and suppliers to ensure that labour and human rights are always respected, to reduce inequality in our supply chain and direct operations (SDG 10 – Reduced Inequality). We will look to work with relevant organisations and partnership to support this cause (SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals).
HUMAN AND LABOUR RIGHTS
OUR TARGETS
• To tackle labour and human rights issues in our supply chain by undertaking collaborative programmes with suppliers to improve their practices
• To use third-party auditors to assess compliance of our entire supplier base in each country (China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam) by 2025
We acknowledge the basic rights and freedoms that are inherent to all human beings regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Throughout our business, from our supply chain through to our marketing channels, warehousing, and distribution, we will positively influence the way that we work, as well as the stakeholders and customers that we serve. We expect our product suppliers to operate to the same standards that we uphold ourselves. We work closely with them to understand their craft and process, and want to support them through partnerships and collaborative programmes to improve their practices and address environmental and social challenges.
OUR PROGRESS IN 2023
We currently work with 165 suppliers across the globe to make our products, an increase from 136 suppliers in 2022. This year we have been working with a range of new suppliers to improve our product quality and performance, moving forward we will be refocusing on how we can consolidate our supply base to achieve our product quality and sustainability standards. We use third-party auditors to assess compliance of top 25 suppliers, with 68% of our top 25 suppliers (by purchases) currently holding a third-party audit (accounting for 62% of our product purchases).
In 2023, we updated our supplier management process to include a new Supplier Code of Conduct, Sustainability Questionnaire and Pre-Screen Questionnaire. The updated Supplier Code of Conduct communicates our expectations to all current suppliers and any potential new suppliers to the business prior to them commencing a working relationship with us.
Our annual supplier appraisals are a systematic review of all relevant aspects of OKA’s supplier performance and relationships globally. The programme helps us to evolve our supply chain and identify the strategic partners for long term business development. This enables improved supply chain transparency and allows us to put processes in place to support our suppliers across the globe. We are currently in the process of completing our latest supplier appraisals and look forward to sharing our findings in next year’s report.
We use a scorecard methodology for our appraisals which ensures a balance between innovation, quality, service, delivery, price and ESG management. Through the appraisal process we are able to strengthen relationships with suppliers by creating a forum for discussion, therefore enabling performance improvements by discussing challenges, facilitating communication and interaction, providing the opportunity for 360-degree feedback, identifying performance gaps, and working on resolution plans together. This can
lead to improved quality reducing customer complaints, visits needed to pick up defective items, and damaged goods. The programme covers compliance with our Supplier Code of Conduct and relevant human rights/modern slavery legal requirements, as well as other areas of product sustainability such as green packaging and material transparency.
Additionally, our Asian Central Services team who provide vendor management and order management support services based in Delhi (India) and Ningbo (China) conduct factory visits and develop relationships with our suppliers, ensuring compliance, improving efficiency of order processing, and offering support to suppliers globally. They support factories pre-audit to address some of the challenges, and work closely with our product team in the UK to provide additional guidance and support to our suppliers who need additional assistance to reach our standards. Some of the key factors we have identified through our audits include extended overtime hours, inadequate signage, and improper management of worker committees. We are currently working with our suppliers to implement interventions based on the level of risk.
OUR FUTURE COMMITMENTS
• Audit 100% of our supply base (using internal and third-party audits) to assess compliance with our human and labour rights standards by 2025
• 100% of suppliers to have signed our Code of Conduct by 2025
• Work with our suppliers and artisans on collaborative programmes to continually improve working conditions, focusing on areas of non-compliance by 2030
NEXT STEPS
To ensure we are effectively focusing our efforts and resources we will create a risk-based supplier management programme by the end of 2024 incorporating both third-party audits and internal audits. Risk levels will be assessed based on country risk, industry risk, purchase order value and supplier size. This will allow us conduct more targeted due diligence and improve how we work with our suppliers to address any non-compliances.
We will be reviewing our supplier appraisal program, and taking steps to increase the focus on sustainability, including providing additional training to our Asian Central Services engagement team and creating a more robust assessment framework that takes into consideration B Corp and other standards. As part of this, we will be creating a supplier sustainability training guide, which we aim to implement with our top 25 suppliers by 2025.
63% of OKA’s workforce identify as female
DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE
WORKPLACE
OUR TARGETS
• Continue to work to create an inclusive working environment that celebrates our differences and increases representation at all levels in the business
We aim to create a high-performance team culture, where every employee feels part of the OKA family and is empowered to deliver results that make a difference. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive global workforce that reflects the makeup of local talent pools. We have an Equality Policy to reflect this commitment (SDG5 – Gender Diversity) and are working to increase gender and ethnic diversity across all teams, including at management and leadership levels, by considering diversity in the recruitment and promotion processes and developing diversity and equality training for employees at all levels. We are also focused on ensuring fairness and consistency, and minimising the impact of personal bias on decision making throughout our core people processes, including performance reviews to create a more diverse and inclusive workforce.
OUR PROGRESS IN 2023
In 2023 we published our 2022 gender pay gap report, showing the difference in average hourly rates of pay between all males and females working for OKA, and we have recently published our 2023 gender pay gap report. The data reported is different from equal pay, which deals with the difference in pay between females and males who carry out the same or similar work, or work of equal value. We are confident that females and males at OKA are paid equally for equivalent roles, and we remain committed to providing equal pay for equal work.
Our 2023 gender pay gap data showed that 63% of OKA’s workforce identified as female and that the mean pay gap between male and female employees at the period was 10% (median: -10.3%). Our mean pay gap has unfortunately increased by 5.7% since 2022, due to the increase in the number of roles occupied by males within our top 100th percentile. However, our median pay gap has decreased by 15.1% from 2022 which can be attributed to our continued status as a Real Living Wage employer, which resulted in a significant salary uplift in our large retail population, the majority of whom are female. Refer to our Gender Pay Gap Report for further information on our gender pay and bonus gaps.
We relaunched our four Employee Affinity Groups — Environmental, Diversity, Equality & Inclusion (DE&I), Be Well, Live Full (Health, Safety & Wellbeing) and the Social Party (our ‘culture club’) to encourage cross-company (and level) communication and enable our employees to drive positive change throughout the organisation. Each Affinity Group is led by an Executive Sponsor and a Chair, with access to an external mentor to support the Group. We’ve already had over 10% of the business join the Affinity Groups of the groups, representing 72% of departments. Our DE&I Affinity Group is an important part of helping to create a more inclusive workplace, all members of the group have completed in person training on DE&I fundamentals and are focusing on how we can improve our policies and marketing, and build greater awareness of DE&I across the business.
Alongside this, we explored partnerships with external DE&I experts, including a pilot with “Powered by Diversity” to launch a Cultural Calendar which includes lunch time talks twice a month covering different DE&I topics. This was shared with all employees to attend to learn more about topics that interest them.
We also launched a values-based recruitment framework to make our recruitment processes more consistent and fair for all candidates by reducing the subjectivity of decision making. To ensure that we minimise the impact of personal bias on our recruitment and selection processes, we launched an updated recruitment framework and toolkit, underpinned by our internal employee values. The aim of this tool is to drive more fairness and consistency in our decision making – reducing subjectivity. We also implemented a mandatory manager training pathway on Inside OKA (our online learning platform) for recruiting managers. This E-Learning covers areas such as how to make an objective decision, asking compelling questions, the importance of understanding and managing unconscious biases. This training pathway must be completed before managers are able to start recruitment.
OUR FUTURE COMMITMENT
• Create an inclusive working environment that celebrates our differences at all levels of the business by 2030
NEXT STEPS
We have not yet set tangible future targets to drive greater DE&I representation at all levels on the business. This year we made progress on establishing our baseline data however, further work is needed on analysing the data to identify the most marginalised groups and better understand additional data points such as recruitment and exit data and to identify the areas where targets should be established.
In collaboration with our Employee Affinity Groups we will be reviewing our People Policies to drive greater inclusivity and fairness.
By the end of 2025 we are aiming to develop new pathways for emerging talent into the industry, we are looking at how we can integrate this into our charitable partnerships to create internship/placement opportunities for new talent.
NUMBER OF FTE EMPLOYEES
OF PERMANENT FTE
CASE STUDY EMPLOYEE AFFINITY GROUPS
Our 2022 RISE survey highlighted that our workforce wanted more opportunities to contribute to our sustainability initiatives and create a positive culture at OKA, as a result we relaunched our Employee Affinity Groups in 2023 and have had a fantastic evel of support and participation from across the business.
We had a formal business launch for the Groups, and each has now set their strategy, working with an external mentor to provide guidance on the strategy development process. As the groups start working on executing their strategies, we will continue to monitor their progress and will refine the programme as it develops to ensure it remains effective.
ENVIRONMENTAL AFFINITY GROUP
Our Environmental Affinity Group works with our sustainability lead to raise awareness of environmental issues, encouraging and driving sustainable practices and promoting environmental stewardship within the team. The group will be focusing on team engagement, organising sustainable events and initiatives, and identifying ways to reduce energy consumption.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION (DEI) AFFINITY GROUP
Our DEI Affinity Group focuses on initiatives that celebrate the different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences of our teams - creating a stronger and more inclusive workplace for all. They will also have a voice in how we represent the diverse provenance of our products and storytelling to the world, and support the development and implementation of DEI-related policies.
BE WELL, LIVE FULL (HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELLBEING) AFFINITY GROUP
Our Be Well, Live Full Affinity Group exists to help us foster a working culture that supports each employee’s physical, mental and overall health through listening, adapting, educating and empowering our team to simply feel better in the workplace and at home. The group has already worked on enhancing training for mental health champions and identifying ways to get employees more involved in their own wellbeing journey.
SOCIAL PARTY
Our Social Party brings our values “out to play”, promoting team building, improving workplace morale, and creating a more positive work environment. They will organise events, share cultural insights, with a focus on building a richer and more inclusive employee culture.
EMPLOYEE WELLBEING, HEALTH, AND SAFETY
OUR TARGETS
• Train 100% of our employees on our Health and Safety policies annually
Creating and maintaining a safe and healthy working environment that safeguards our employees against injuries, fatalities, and illness, while also strengthening health and wellbeing is of paramount importance to us.
We are aware of the health and safety risks present in our operations, and are committed to providing our employees with training and participating in relevant partnerships and programmes to maintain a healthy and safe environment.
AS A BUSINESS OUR OBJECTIVES ARE TO:
• Enhance workplace safety
• Ensure compliance to all regulations and standards
• Promote a safety culture, with commitment from senior leadership setting an example for all employees
• Promoting employee wellbeing
• Continuous improvement
We ensure that health, safety, and wellbeing are embedded in our company culture and that everyone has a voice in creating a safe working environment. One of the ways we achieve this is through our internal Health and Safety Committee, which consists of representatives from across OKA who are responsible for reviewing and updating our policies and procedures, identifying potential hazards, and implementing appropriate controls. The committee is headed up by our Global Director of Operations, alongside members from elsewhere in the business. We also work with a third-party agency (Safewell) to assist with a safe system of work and risk assessments. Mental health is also a focus for OKA, and we are committed to raising awareness of mental health issues and providing support to our employees, to create a positive work environment where everyone feels valued and advocated for.
HEALTH AND SAFETY METRICS
TOTAL NUMBER OF INCIDENTS RESULTING IN INJURIES
DAYS LOST DUE TO WORK-RELATED INJURIES
LOST-TIME INJURY FREQUENCY RATE
OUR PROGRESS IN 2023
We have made a range of improvements this year to how we manage health and safety across our diverse operations. Our proactive measures, including extensive training programs, new policies, and targeted initiatives, have notably contributed to the overall safety culture, however, we have seen a rise in accidents rates highlighting the need for more control measures and enhancements to procedures. Some of the drivers for our increased accident rate include staff and management changes, heavy products requiring stricter processes, and increased reporting.
This year we rolled out a health and safety induction for our warehouse to ensure all employees, contractors and visitors understand the health and safety standards we expect as a business, we continued with our monthly health and safety meetings with a representative joining from each department, these help build a culture of open communication and collaboration, we have introduced truckers to monitor our compliance and create accountability, and held targeted health and safety training sessions to equip our team with essential skills.
We are focused on raising awareness of mental health issues to create a positive work environment, there have a variety of streams to support both the physical and mental wellbeing of employees including:
• Mental health first aiders, who provide confidential support and guidance to those who may be struggling with their mental health
• Resources available on our learning platform including audiobooks, soundscapes, relevant articles, workouts, and tips which provide learning and tools
• Our employee assistance programme which is available to all OKA employees and is a confidential support line available 24/7 to discuss personal or work-related issues
NEXT STEPS
Our priority for 2024 is creating a safer, resilient workplace through a more comprehensive and dynamic approach to health and safety.
To address and reduce our accident rates, we will increase employee awareness on accident and near miss report throughout targeted training sessions (e.g. improved manual handling practices) and fostering a culture where insights from these reports actively contribute to ongoing safety enhancements. This will also include H&S newsflashes for real-time communication on health and safety. We’ll also be strengthening our policies and implementing additional controls to reduce accidents, and increasing our levels of active employee engagement including organising consultation meetings and conducting a survey to gain their insights.
Audits are important for us to understand the areas that are working well and where there are opportunities to improve. We plan to create and roll out a comprehensive audit protocol to streamline inspections and ensure we are taking a systematic approach to identifying and enhancing health and safety measures. We will also create a risk register for new risks and start conducing annual risk assessment reviews.
We are planning to expand the number of trained mental health first aiders to ensure there is at least one in each of our locations.
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
OUR TARGETS
• To create an annual learning calendar that aims to increase our overall employee training hours by 2025
We work every day to create a high-performance culture, where every employee feels part of the OKA family and is empowered to deliver results that make a difference. This ethos is underpinned by a holistic approach to employee learning and development that focuses on a blend of self-led learning, and in-role development opportunities, underpinned by more formal learning and development programmes.
Inside OKA is our Employee Online Learning and Communication Platform, which is critical to the successful delivery of employee engagement and development programmes to our global team. The platform contains approximately 790 pieces of content to date including policies, E-Learning, courses, newsletters, articles etc. It enables the creation of user generated learning and development content so that our teams can upskill each other, and is also used to cascade business-wide communications via an online platform and easily accessible app for our non-desk based teams. This platform also enables us to automate the reporting and monitoring of training and learning activity across the business, including the completion of mandatory learning paths (for example compliance, management essentials, and recruitment essentials).
OUR PROGRESS IN 2023
This year we increased our total hours of training by 30%, from 5,950 in 2022 to 7,700 in 2023. This equates to an average of 32 hours per employee (a 38% increase from 2022). Compliance training (both eLearning and in person) accounted for 14% of our training hours. Of our non-mandatory training, 71% related to required job skills, with the remining 29% being for professional development. The growth in training hours was a result of additional mandatory training being introduced this year, including sustainability and product courses as well as a Manager 101 programme, and an increase in our apprenticeship programme related training.
We relaunched ‘My Review’, our bi-annual performance review process making it more objective and consistent for all employees across the business. We now assess performance against a clear framework underpinned by our values, which focuses on behaviours and outputs. We have also invested in a feedback platform allowing every employee to have structured career conversations with their manager and obtain 360 feedback from their peers.
The 13-month Illuminate Programme started in January 2023. This is our first internal Apprenticeship Programme designed in partnership with Corndel, to support first line managers or supervisors within the business. Our first programme cohort included 18 participants from across eight departments (74% female, 26% male), with 11 participants having now completed the programme with the majority achieving distinctions. To learn more about the programme and the participants' experiences see the case study on the following pages.
We conduct our annual RISE employee engagement survey, providing us with insights on employee satisfaction across a range of areas. The data from the survey allows us to take a more proactive focus to our people initiatives. In 2023, we had 82% (+1% from 2022) participation, with overall engagement at 50% (a decrease of 9% from 2022). Our highest scoring areas were management, alignment and involvement and health and wellbeing, while our greatest areas for improvement are company confidence, leadership and career opportunities.
During 2023 we used the demographic and engagement insights provided by our RISE survey to inform the relaunch of our affinity groups and help drive meaningful change from within the business. See our Affinity Groups case study for more.
During 2023, we also launched the OKA Value Awards. These awards recognise and reward employees who mirror OKA’s values in their daily lives. Nominations are accepted from the team, and our SLT work to select the best candidates every six month rotation.
OUR FUTURE COMMITMENTS
• Increase our overall employee training hours by 10% annually
• Be an award-winning employer of choice in the interiors/homewares industry
NEXT STEPS
We will be continuing to expand our training offering to focus on core business skills and extending our existing Illuminate Programme, broadening the number and type of apprenticeships on offer to our teams.
Over the coming years we would also like to establish a cross-industry mentoring programme for key talent to further support our employees’ development.
We want to be an employer of choice for our industry, so over the coming years we will be looking at key factors including total benefits, internal policies and processes etc. to identify improvement areas. We are planning to start conducting half yearly pulse surveys between our annual RISE survey to better understand changes to our employee engagement throughout the year and ensure more regular check-ins.
ENGAGEMENT METRICS
THE ILLUMINATE PROGRAMME
We are proud that our first cohort has recently completed the OKA Illuminate Programme, our internal apprenticeship scheme in partnership with Corndel, an external training and skills development provider. Illuminate is a 15 to 18-month management development programme and Level 3 Apprenticeship, accredited by the Chartered Management Institute. The Programme supports first line managers or supervisors in our UK business, with an aim to help more females progress into more senior or management roles.
The programme consists of monthly learning units on key management topics, along with a dedicated personal development coach to provide feedback and support. With the programme focused on the practical application of learnings into day-to-day work it has a been a real success at enhancing leadership skills within our team.
After launching in 2022, 11 employees have completed the programme and we have been sharing their stories on LinkedIn with our wider OKA community. In 2023, 10 achieved a distinction and 81% of our Illuminate graduates were female.
We support candidates who are participating by providing:
• Up to three days of paid study leave to use per year in conjunction with the programme
• A voucher to contribute towards purchasing study support materials
• Certified diploma to recognise their achievement upon completion
Building on the success of the programme to date, in 2024 we are excited to be extending the Illuminate Programme to include two additional courses on Data Analytics and Advanced Leadership and Management.
“I am performing better in my role in the Trade team due to my new understandings and learnings from the Illuminate Programme. Getting out of my comfort zone, being proactive in my daily role and remaining focused on exceeding my goals.”
Adelaide Bolitho, Senior Trade Sales Executive
"The Illuminate Programme was a very helpful and great course on developing my leadership and management skills. I enjoyed applying new learnings on the job and soaking in different tools and techniques in order to develop my own management style.
I have learnt to develop a growth mindset, seeing opportunities and solutions rather than problems, have understood the importance and benefit of vision and values, utilising it on the job and have come out the other side with a lot more confidence.
This course has benefited me greatly and I am thankful for the opportunity!"
Abigail Strong, Trade Aftercare Manager
"The programme was a great adventure which allowed me to enhance my time management skills and learn the difference between a good manager and a good leader. I am now able to encourage and support my team growth and build a high performing team, based on what was learnt during the apprenticeship.
I would like to thank OKA, my colleagues and my managers for the support during these 13 months and the opportunity given."
Polina Anastasova, Assistant Store Manager at OKA Broadway
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
OUR TARGETS
• We will develop impactful community partnerships in four countries where OKA operates by 2027
We are aiming to create a positive impact on society by giving our time and resources to community engagement and projects, both in the UK, and in countries where we source our products and materials. As a business founded by three female friends, it is our ambition for OKA’s charitable partnerships in the UK to support women, with a focus on the home as a place of safety and sanctuary. We are in the process of identifying and exploring opportunities and partnerships to enhance positive impacts on the communities across the world in which we operate by 2027. We will look to work with relevant organisations and suppliers in two additional countries to support education, nurture skilled craftspeople and develop apprenticeships. (SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals).
OUR PROGRESS IN 2023
In the UK we are proud to have donated £22,000 to Women's Aid, a charity that works to end violence towards women and children.
This year we collaborated with artist Alexandria Coe, creating a limited edition run of 100 prints with 100% of profits going to Women’s Aid. We launched the artwork with a celebratory dinner event in partnership with Collagerie at our Chelsea flagship held a silent auction of the original oil on canvas, with all proceeds going to Women’s Aid.
In the US we co-hosted an in-store event with the Design Industries Foundation Fighting Aids (DIFFA) Dallas and OKA as a pre-cursor to their annual Holiday Wreath Event, donating 20% of sales from the evening to DIFFA Dallas. DIFFA provide funds to organisations that fight HIV/AIDS by providing preventative education programmes targeted to populations at risk of infection, as well as those providing treatment and direct care services to people living with or impacted by HIV/AIDS.
We also launched charity Christmas cards with Alice Edwards of Memo Press in the UK, and commenced a partnership with Designer Kate Ferguson in the UK on the New Canaan Holiday House where we provided items for the install and hosted an in-store Holiday Event at OKA Westport to raise awareness of local charities in the community.
We provide our employees with one day of volunteering leave each year, our ‘Give Back Day’. Our teams fundraised £3,400 by participating in the Vitality London 10km run and the Hadrian’s Wall Trail Challenge as part of their ‘Give Back Days’.
OUR FUTURE COMMITMENT
• Develop impactful community partnerships in every country we operate by 2030
NEXT STEPS
We are currently reviewing our strategy for community partnerships, determining how we can most meaningfully impact our communities both locally and globally. This includes identifying partnerships that are aligned with what we do as a brand in the regions we operate.
In 2024 we will be organising our first company-wide volunteering day where we will provide opportunities for our teams to give their time to support our charitable partners.
PRODUCT AND PACKAGING CIRCULARITY
OUR TARGETS
• To develop our impactful community partnerships in four countries where OKA operate by 2027
We design and create quality pieces through innovation and craftsmanship, helping our customers to translate the OKA way of life to their own homes. To do this we leverage innovation and technology to improve product quality, stimulating global craftsmanship and transitioning into a circular business. We are aware of the positive impact of transitioning into a circular business and are committed to exploring all avenues in creating a strategy to pursue this goal. With circularity still a relatively new concept for our business we have invested in exploring circular solutions and upskilling our team to understand how we can best adopt the principles of circular economy.
Part of our circularity strategy is reducing the quantity of packaging materials where possible and taking steps to ensure the packaging we can collect is sent directly to local recycling companies. By working closely with our suppliers, we look to improve our understanding of their production processes and identify ways to reduce waste while ensuring the highest quality of the materials used in every product. We reuse and recycle wherever possible in our operations.
OUR PROGRESS IN 2023
Our product restoration specialist, based in our UK warehouse, repurposes and repairs products that would otherwise go to waste which can then be sold through our outlets. In 2023 over 700 products were refurbished (an increase from around 500 products in 2022). For repairs in customers’ homes we continue to partner with Homeserve, who visit customers homes to carry out minor repairs and adjustments minimising the number of returns and reducing unnecessary transportation of damaged goods. Homeserve completed 121 customer visits in 2023.
We introduced a series of employee trainings for our teams following new product launches which educate them on the products to better understand the handcrafted nature and sustainability credentials. We have also made steps to improve our storytelling around products including creating marketing content for customers on specific product lines, (such as our recycled wood collection), sharing insights into the manufacturing of our products including their sustainability and provenance. As often no two products are ‘the same’ we want to create realistic expectation to improve customer satisfaction and reduce returns.
We sell seconds and end of line products through seasonal and warehouse sales and outlet stores (in Didcot and Godstone UK) as well as via our website. This reduces waste in our warehouse, while giving customers the chance to buy at heavily discounted prices for a limited time. We also look to rehome products that are no longer of value to the business to community projects and charities wherever possible.
We are collaborating with our product suppliers to work towards all packaging material becoming circular. Plastic, oil-based products, polystyrene, foam and synthetic materials are being targeted for reduction. We are designing refined, engineered paper-based packaging that can easily be recycled.
OUR FUTURE COMMITMENT
In 2025 we will be setting specific targets to increase the percentage of recycled materials in our products.
NEXT STEPS
Packaging is a key component to our product becoming circular and we will continue to work with our global suppliers to seek improved solutions to ensure that products are appropriately packaged to prevent damage whilst reducing our environmental impact.
We will also ensure that circularity is considered at every point of the product lifecycle – from product design, through to customers’ homes and beyond. We will review our library of ‘spare parts’ as part of our customers service offering to ensure products are kept in use and therefore extend their lifetime.
We will continue to develop our in-house capabilities for refurbishment and reconditioning expanding our initiatives as we work towards a longer-term strategy.
To achieve the above goals, we will conduct a packaging review in 2024, establish our packaging data baseline and trial alternatives to improve packaging quality, safety, and sustainability. We will share this baseline in our next report.
RESPONSIBLE SOURCING OF MATERIALS
OUR TARGETS
• To improve the percentage of FSC-certified timber products by 2023
• To improve the transparency of our raw material sourcing and to work towards all key raw materials being sustainably sourced or recycled by 2025
We are committed to developing a responsible and more transparent value chain for our stakeholders and customers worldwide. Our value chain includes all suppliers of products and services, or those that receive products or services from us (upstream and downstream activities). With a large and diverse group of suppliers we acknowledge that this is a challenge for the business, but essential to get right.
We focus on improving transparency around the sourcing of raw materials, starting with identifying the top materials used across our value chain. We will work to establish robust processes and systems to integrate responsible practices and respect for the environment, people and communities in our value chain. Where possible, we will seek certification of these materials
OUR PROGRESS IN 2023
We had originally set ourselves a goal to improve our percentage of FSC-certified timber products by 2023 and have all key materials sustainability or responsibly sourced by 2025, however, we are still in the process of determining our baseline across our products and identifying other relevant and robust certifications which will make a greater overall positive impact and allow us to expand our responsible sourcing focus beyond timber.
The key challenges to achieving these goals have been a lack of expertise and knowledge within our teams, which we are addressing through education and additional resources, and difficulties with supplier transparency and support. Our long-term goal is now to have all our materials fully transparent down to source by 2030, with certifications for all our high-risk materials.
To ensure we have strong foundations in place for data collection and analysis, we started working with our Product Development team to build out bills of materials to help us document and track each of our products at a component level. We have also been engaging with our suppliers to gather data and internally have been enhancing our systems to include additional fields so we can effectively document information on our products and any certifications.
We set ourselves the target of using 10% more sustainable or recycled raw materials in our AW24 and SS25 collections, with the goal to improve this percentage year on year. We are currently on track to meet this target, with our recycled wood collection (see case study) making a significant contribution. Our aim is to increase our product offer with recycled or sustainably sourced materials, focusing on wooden furniture and textiles as a priority. In 2023 we have developed a range of outdoor PET rugs made from recycled plastic bottles and a collection of pieces made from recycled wood. We have also made progress on
understanding more about the sustainability of our textiles.
We worked with our cotton supplier to obtain BCI certification to ensure we are sourcing environmentally responsible and ethical cotton where possible. Our Product Development team & Sustainability lead also attended the Future Fabrics Expo to learn about the complexities and growth areas for sustainable textiles for interiors, and gave us a better understanding of the impact our some of our current fabric choices.
OUR FUTURE COMMITMENTS
• Gather full bill of materials and supply chain information for all our products by 2025
• Provenance and material information to be published on our website for our top 100 products by 2025
• We will be setting new goals on certifications for timber and other high-risk materials in 2025, once we have a better understanding of our baseline
NEXT STEPS
Our suppliers use a range of certifications based on their existing sourcing including FSC, and we are looking into which ones meet our own high standards of sustainability. In 2024 our focus is on determining the current status of certifications across all our products to better understand our baseline before setting goals on high-risk materials certifications in 2025.
By the end of 2024 we will gather and disclose a full bill of materials and supply chain transparency for our top 100 products. We have already started implementing the processes we need to achieve this goal and will continue working with our PLM team to enhance our materials transparency.
We are continuing to build our understanding of suppliers’ capability and sustainable actions and building a library of supplier information. Our Asian Central Services team will continue visiting supplier factories to assess capabilities and identify new opportunities – we will be enhancing this process through development of our supplier engagement strategy.
We will also be identifying suppliers where there are opportunities to be more sustainably focussed, such as using more local materials and methods of manufacturing along with producing less waste from manufacturing.
RECYCLED WOOD COLLECTION
This year we were excited to add to our recycled wood collection, just one of the ways we are working to increase our sourcing of sustainable or recycled materials. As part of our sustainable materials journey we are sharing these stories with our customers, and featured our recycled wood collection in one of our online blog posts.
The collection unites skill and sustainability with designs made using pine, oak and elm sourced from derelict homes in China, some of which are more than 100 years old. The properties, which are in disrepair, have a plentiful supply of disused doors, walls, floorboards and beams, which are used to fashion our recycled wood furniture pieces.
Once the wood has been sourced, the recycling process begins. First, it is kiln dried – 45 days for oak, and 15 days for pine and elm – before being cut, washed and dried again. Once the wood is ready to go, the carpentry team get to work, bringing dining tables, sideboards, cabinets and other furniture pieces to life. The pieces are then dried again before either being hand painted or finished depending on the design.
Thanks to the wood’s heritage and restoration process, each piece is utterly unique in style and design, adding to its charm and character. The artisans’ skills are evident in the finished results, with our range spanning mirror-fronted sideboards to classic bureaus and contemporary coffee tables.
“By
sourcing recycled materials we are able to showcase their natural beauty and promote circularity”
Jessica McAuley, Product Design and Development Director
CREATING FOR A BETTER PLANET
At OKA we are committed to minimising our environmental impact. Measuring our carbon footprint and reducing our energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions remains a core focus for the business. Since 2021 we have calculated our greenhouse gas emissions and monitor them quarterly (Scope 1 and 2) and annually (Scope 3) (SDG 7 – Alternative and Clean Energy & SDG 13 – Climate Action).
We will manage our environmental risks, while maximising efficiency in our global operations. We are committed to tackling climate change and have set science-based targets which are approved by the Science-Based Target Initiative. We will focus on what can be achieved at a local level, through the improvement of processes and the monitoring of areas including transportation and energy usage, while also tackling the measurement and reduction of our carbon footprint through our supply chain.
LOW CARBON SUPPLY CHAIN AND ENERGY MANAGEMENT
OUR TARGETS
• To achieve a 46% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions against a 2019 baseline by 2030 in accordance with the Science Based Target Initiative (4.2% annual percentage reduction) whilst at the same time improving the quality of our Scope 3 emissions
• To measure and reduce Scope 3 emissions following the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard
We are committed to taking action to address the climate crisis by reducing our energy consumption, shifting to renewables, and decreasing our carbon footprint (SDG 13 – Climate Action). We are working to improve our energy efficiency, shift to renewable energy, and reduce our energy consumption across both warehousing and distribution, as well as well as in our offices and stores. (SDG 7 – Alternative and Clean Energy).
In 2021 we set our Science Based Target aligned to the global strategy of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, which we then revised in 2023 to shift from a location-based method to a market-based method. Our target is to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 46% by 2030 from a 2019 base year (equating to a 4.2% reduction annually), and to measure and reduce our Scope 3 emissions.
We calculate our Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions on a quarterly basis and our Scope 3 emissions annually. Tracking our emissions is essential for monitoring our progress, and each year we continue to capture additional detail, improving the accuracy of our carbon emissions and developing a more complete view of our impact over time.
OUR PROGRESS IN 2023
Our Scope 1 and 2 (market-based) emissions globally have reduced by 4% from 2022 to 2023. Our Scope 3 emissions increased by 30% from 2022 to 2023 as a result of improved data quality, particularly for our purchased goods and services, capital goods and upstream transportation and distribution emissions categories.
In 2023, 72% of our electricity consumption was sourced from renewable sources, a decrease from 79% in 2022. A priority for 2024 is identifying further locations where we can shift to renewable energy.
We have started working with our landlord to conduct building energy performance evaluations to identify opportunities for further energy and emissions reductions with a goal to conduct evaluations for 50% of all OKA locations by the end of 2025, and are in the process of develop a checklist of new store purchasing requirements to shift towards more low-carbon options and build in energy efficiency from the outset.
OUR FUTURE COMMITMENTS
• Reduce our Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions 46% by 2030 from a 2019 base year in line with our Science Based Target
• All electricity to come from renewable sources by the end of 2025
• Measure and reduce our Scope 3 emissions
NEXT STEPS
We will continue to measure our Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions on a quarterly basis, and our Scope 3 emissions on an annual basis, and work towards our reductions in line with our Science Based Targets, while continually improving our data collection processes.
With our purchased goods and services responsible for around two thirds of our total GHG emissions, working with our suppliers to reduce their emissions is a high priority for us. In 2024 we will start developing a supplier sustainability training guide with a goal to implement it across our top 25 suppliers by 2025. To further reduce our Scope 3 emissions, we are investigating how we can better track our business travel data with a view to reduce and offset these emissions based on the information.
Reducing energy consumption in our stores is an ongoing area of focus – by the end of 2024 all new stores will go through our checklist of sustainability criteria, improving alignment with relevant green building standards, and all lighting across our stores globally will be LED.
While we already source a significant proportion of our energy from renewable sources we will be working to shift to renewable energy across our entire business by the end of 2025, and are looking into onsite generation where feasible in the long-term.
OUR EMISSIONS
1 – This includes owned or controlled assets: gas and propane burned in buildings and fuel burned in owned or leased cars
CATEGORY 2:
CATEGORY
CATEGORY
TOTAL SCOPE 3 EMISSIONS
CATEGORY 7:
CATEGORY 1:
CATEGORY 11:
CATEGORY
CATEGORY 4:
COMPENSATION PROJECTS
While managing and reducing greenhouse gas emissions is our primary focus to mitigate the impacts of climate change, since 2020 we have purchased carbon credits to offset our residual Scope 1 and 2 operational emissions.
Through the purchase of carbon credits, OKA provides carbon financing to climate mitigation projects beyond our value chain. As each credit corresponds to the removal of one ton of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 e), OKA can – under voluntary carbon market standards and guidance – claim it has reached carbon neutrality (Scope 1 and 2) in a given year by purchasing credits to offset its emissions.
Since 2020 we have supported two projects, the Great Bear Forest Carbon and the Guatemalan Conservation Coast projects. These were chosen because of their strong credentials on environmental and biodiversity issues as well as their social initiatives which contribute to enhancing the lives of local communities.
GREAT BEAR FOREST CARBON PROJECT, CANADA
The Great Bear Forest covers c. 6.4 million hectares of north and central coast in British Colombia in Canada and is home to the First Nations people who have inhabited this land for up to 10,000 years. This rare and rich ecosystem is also home to rare species of plants and animals (including the Kermode Bear). The aim of this project is to improve forest management in the region, generating emission reductions through the protection of forest areas that were previously designated, sanctioned or approved for commercial logging. The project activities include changes in land-use legislation and regulation that result in the protection of forest areas and reduction of harvest levels.
GUATEMALAN CONSERVATION COAST PROJECT,
CENTRAL AMERICA
The Guatemalan Conservation Coast programme works to address the drivers of deforestation through effective law enforcement, land-use planning, education, economic opportunities, and sustainable agroforestry initiatives. Some of the most important project achievements to date are the protection of 30 threatened tree species including the Baird’s tapir and West Indian manatee, the protection of 54,157 hectares of threatened forest in the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor and the creation or support of 487 jobs for indigenous and local communities.
SUSTAINABILITY IN OUR STORES
Our retail teams are essential to the success of our sustainability strategy, being the face of OKA in the community and having direct relationships with our customers. While we have not set specific targets for our retail team, they work towards doing better for our people, planet, and future generations every day by driving forward sustainability initiatives across our stores, and really making a difference in the community.
OUR RETAIL TEAM ARE FOCUSED ON THREE AREAS:
PEOPLE
Creating a community that cares about its impact
PLACE
Reducing our plastic, paper and energy consumption
PROCESS EFFICIENCY
Streamlining store design deliveries, replenishments and click and collect
This year our retail stores have continued to make strong progress towards our sustainability goals.
SOME KEY ACHIEVEMENTS:
• Shifting refreshments for back and front of house to sustainable sources and creating more recycling facilities
• Working with the Brand Creative team to develop poster campaigns to support back of house areas of the business to improve sustainability
• Collaborating with the Warehouse team to improve process efficiency, such as returning click and collect boxes to the warehouse for re-use, centralising waste and recycling management and identifying ways to reduce delivery miles and reduce emissions
• Reusing stock and tools such as Christmas trees and utilising evergreen POS where possible to minimise the need for new resources
• 100% of lighting is now LED in the US and customer-facing areas in the UK
• Utilising packaging alternatives such as Hive paper wrapping instead of plastic bubble wrap where possible and switching to fully recyclable paper bags, while continuing to search for new, lower impact alternatives
WASTE MANAGEMENT
OUR TARGETS
• To make 70% of our packaging (including plastics) recyclable by 2030
We are committed to promoting responsible waste management (SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production) and to reducing waste, both from our operations and packaging in our supply chain. In promoting responsible waste management, we are focusing our efforts on improving the recyclability of our packaging.
We monitor our waste data on a regular basis and work closely with our suppliers to find better waste management solutions. We are aware of the impact that waste, especially from packaging and damaged products, can have both environmentally and economically and we have strict measures in place to ensure that we manage waste responsibly.
OUR PROGRESS IN 2023
Waste data reporting is essential for tracking our performance and helping us identify areas for improvement. During the year we switched to a new waste provider for our UK who provide waste management services for all waste streams. They report our waste tonnages monthly allowing us to monitor our progress on a regular basis. This year 90% of our UK warehouse waste was recycled (down from 98% in 2022).
This year we have improved data accuracy on packaging by SKU, providing us with greater oversight of our packaging information. We have been working closely with our suppliers to gather data on packaging dimensions and material type for each SKU which we are tracking through our product management software.
We are in the process of testing and evaluating new and more sustainable packaging materials to decrease our reliance on petrochemicals. We have however, run into issues with keeping our products safe and reducing quality control issues stemming from insufficient packaging. With packaging essential to protect our products and prevent damage during transportation we have to balance the impact of our packaging with the potential risk of product damage. We are committed to finding the optimal packaging solution for all our product types and will continue trialling new packaging types.
OUR FUTURE COMMITMENTS
• To make 70% of our packaging (including plastics) domestically recyclable by 2030
• Achieve zero waste to landfill in our operations by 2030
NEXT STEPS
We will continue trialling new packaging solutions to increase the recyclability of our packaging, focusing on how we can ensure our packaging is domestically recyclable. This year’s Earth Day theme of Planet vs Plastics raised our awareness of the damaging impacts of plastics to both human and planetary health. Moving forward we’ll also be looking into how we can reduce our plastic usage.
WASTE GENERATION
GRI CONTENT INDEX
UN GLOBAL COMPACT PRINCIPLES
1
2
PRINCIPLE 3
should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights.
should make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.
Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.
6
ENVIRONMENT
PRINCIPLE 7
PRINCIPLE 8
PRINCIPLE 9
should uphold the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges.
Businesses should undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility.
Businesses should encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.
Designing Through Innovation and Craftsmanship; Creating for a Better Planet 68, 76
Designing Through Innovation and Craftsmanship; Creating for a Better Planet 68, 76
Designing Through Innovation and Craftsmanship; Creating for a Better Planet 68., 76
Email: customerservice@oka.com sustainability@oka.com Phone: 03330 042 042 or (+44) 1235 433930 from outside