CSR Report 2014

CSR campaign

BUSINESS LEADERS SHAPING A BETTER FUTURE

CSR CAMPAIGN

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Special Report: CSR overview Irish Director

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CSR campaign

CSR matters In our reputation driven economy what you stand for counts. CSR practices define who the company is, what it believes in and how it does business.

It is probably not a surprise to learn that CEOs already engaged in sustainability and responsible business are driving companies to go beyond legislation towards best practice that is making a profound difference to their business performance and how they do business. It is no longer enough to be seen to be ‘doing the right thing’.

Business & Leadership’s (B&L) 12-month long CSR campaign includes special reports in Irish Director magazine and engaging content that will run on the sustainability section of our website www.businessandleadership.com.

During the course of the campaign we will help raise awareness of inspiring CSR programmes and tell the story of the business leaders leading from the front.

The C-suite is an important driver of change, but it is not the only one. We will also look at customer demand, employees, investors, regulators and communities who are pushing companies to do business in a truly responsible way.

Thanks to our launch CSR campaign partners, we look forward to telling their stories. If you want to join B&L’s CSR campaign we want to hear from you at shobbs@ businessandleadership.com.

Sam Hobbs Managing director Business & Leadership Ph: +353 1 625 1425 Email: shobbs@businessandleadership.com

Irish Director is published by Business & Leadership Ltd Ph: +353 1 625 1400 Email: info@businessandleadership.com Address: Top Floor, Block 43B,Yeats Way, Park West Business Park,Nangor Road, Dublin 12 © Business and Leadership Ltd 2014

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64 Contents NATIONAL CSR PLAN 57 Government stresses business imperative with National Plan on Corporate Social Responsibility BUSINESS IMPACT MAP Business in the Community Ireland CEO Tina Roche comments on its findings

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ORIGIN GREEN 60 Large meat processing companies embracing Bord Bia’s pioneering sustainability programme ENERGY 62 Michael Crothers, managing director, Shell E&P Ireland discusses gas advocacy FINANCIAL SERVICES 64 Friends First’s focus on long-term sustainability through a variety of initiatives ENGINEERING 66 PM Group decided to formalise its CSR strategy two years ago based on three measurable elements STANDARDISING CSR 68 ISO 26000 is the first internationally approved standard to provide guidance on social responsibility

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Responding

RESPONSIBLY Earlier this year, launching its first ever National Plan on Corporate Social Responsibility, the Government stressed the business imperative of operating in a more socially and environmentally responsible way

he increasing importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its impact on the economy, business and community was highlighted in April with the launch of Ireland’s first National Plan on Corporate Social Responsibility. While its development answered a call by the EU Commission for all member states to develop or update national plans in this area, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD and the Government as a whole are using the plan to emphasise the business case for CSR and the part it can play in driving national growth and making Ireland a more desirable place to do business.

The Government described the plan as representing a milestone in raising the profile of CSR in Ireland and said it expects enterprises to conduct their operations in a responsible and sustainable manner “to support the objective of Ireland being consistently recognised internationally as the best small country in which to do business”.

The plan sets out a general framework within which CSR operates in Ireland and describes the main principles and objectives underpinning the Government’s own approach in this area. In an attempt to communicate a common understanding, it identifies five main pillars on which CSR is based in Ireland – namely, workplace employee focus, marketplace, environment, community and public sector.

It’s aligned with and informed by a number of guidelines and developments driving CSR globally, including the EU Commission’s ‘A renewed EU strategy 2011–14 for corporate social responsibility’; the Europe 2020 growth strategy, which is focused on delivering growth that is ‘smart, sustainable and inclusive’; the recently

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developed voluntary social responsibility standard, ISO 26000, which has been adopted by the National Standards Authority of Ireland as an Irish standard; and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Another strategic driver for the plan is the growing consumer demand for organisations to operate in a more socially and environmentally responsible way.

“The Government recognises the role that CSR can play in contributing to Ireland’s economic recovery,” Minister Bruton told Irish Director. “When enterprises go beyond what is required by legislation alone, positive impacts can be felt across the local and wider communities in which they operate. They can contribute to positioning the country to be a better place in which to do business and a better place to live.”

He said that good CSR practices are also increasingly distinguishing the best companies from those that have less concern for sustainable practices, employee relations and community engagement. “Customers and prospective employees are more conscious than ever of the ethical record of companies, how they source their products and the contribution they make to the local or national community.

“There is a large body of Irish national legislation and regulation on a wide range of issues, which are integral to CSR and which companies operating in Ireland already adhere to. These include employment rights legislation, occupational health and safety legislation, equality legislation, and consumer and environmental protection regulations.

“Therefore in Ireland, we already have a strong base from which to work as we aim to achieve our ambitious vision for Ireland to

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L–R: Bernadette Phelan, membership services manager, Business in the Community Ireland (BITCI); Kieran McGowan, chairman of BITCI; Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD; Ian Talbot, chief executive, Chambers Ireland; and Catherine Heaney, managing director, DHR Communications at the launch of the National Plan on Corporate Social Responsibility

be a centre of excellence for responsible and sustainable business practice. This complements the Government’s goal of making Ireland the best small country in the world in which to do business.

“The message is clear - CSR is both ‘good for business and good for the community’. We will work with the business sector and with communities to create a positive CSR environment which can help differentiate us as a desirable place in which to live and do business.”

Since the plan was launched on 9 April, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has been involved in setting up a stakeholder forum, made up of representatives from the business sector, relevant Government departments and agencies, and the wider community. Its main objective going forward will be to increase awareness of CSR in Ireland and encourage businesses to embed best practice into their mainstream operations.

“The stakeholder forum will be a key vehicle to inform the development of CSR policy in Ireland and to ensure the National Plan remains relevant in the context of evolving best practice, both nationally and internationally,” said the Minister.

The first meeting of the forum took place on 24 June in Government Buildings, with Deloitte managing partner Brendan Jennings as chair and more than 30 participants in attendance, including representatives from Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, NSAI, Chambers Ireland, Isme, Ibec, BITCI and various Government departments. Business representatives included Accenture CEO Mark Ryan, Vodafone CEO Anne O’Leary, Abbott country manager Barbara Scott, Graeme Pallant, regional manager ROI at Marks & Spencer, and Veolia Transport CEO Brian Brennan, as well as Irish Director Special Report: CSR overview

sustainability, CSR and communications executives from Irish Dairy Board, KPMG, Ulster Bank and Glanbia.

The forum will be charged with monitoring the progress of the plan on an ongoing basis and its continued relevance. In addition, it is intended that the plan will be more formally reviewed at least every three years, with the first review to take place in 2016.

Committing to action The Government has committed to implementing the following actions as a priority in 2014:

n Establish a stakeholder forum to support the development of CSR

in Ireland

n Establish a baseline of CSR activity in Ireland, through the

National Standards Association of Ireland

n Work with stakeholders to raise awareness of CSR and support

best practice CSR

n Explore how IDA and Enterprise Ireland can promote CSR with

their client companies

n Support programmes to develop CSR in the SME sector n Benchmark awareness of the CSR agenda in the public sector and

identify practical actions to increase CSR practices and principles

in the sector

n Support sustainable business models through public policy

supports, such as green procurement

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Employee involvement is now a major part of company CSR activities as they seek to make a difference, explains Business in the Community Ireland CEO Tina Roche

Community

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ne of the main trends Tina Roche, CEO of Business in the Community Ireland (BITCI), has seen emerging over the past couple of years is large companies becoming more committed to strategic community engagement by combining philanthropy with employee initiatives.

“There has been a real change within companies in the past six months – employee engagement in CSR initiatives is without doubt a conversation happening between senior managers and at board level,” she says.

Her organisation’s online interactive Business Impact Map launched recently shows that pro bono work provided by 49 of Ireland’s largest companies increased from a total contribution worth €6m in 2012 to €11m last year.

Employees volunteered over 162,000 hours to local groups and projects during the year, which Roche describes as “an outstanding number”.

“Businesses are trying to move the dial on being effective within their communities. They have gone from old fashioned patronage to taking a partnership approach and looking at what they can do to make a difference,” she says.

“There is a high level of skills transfer now, for example, helping community groups with things they would previously have had to spend money on such as website development.

“This kind of skills transfer is really productive because the employment area is changing and people are looking for more purpose and flexibility in what they do.”

The Business Impact Map reveals that the 49 companies formed over 5,100 community links and gave almost €9.5m in cash donations, €11m through in-kind donations and €3m was raised through employee fundraising.

Social issues that received the most support were health at €5.2m, education programmes at €5.5m, children and youth projects.

Roche says with CSR now definitely on the agenda among senior managers in Ireland a lot of companies are starting to look at the whole area from an exporting perspective.

Clockwise from left: Tina Roche, CEO, Business in the Community Ireland; Sam McGuinness, CEO of Dublin Simon Community; Julian Yarr, managing partner, A&L Goodbody; and Joan Freeman, CEO, Pieta House “Really, this is at the core of the matter – no matter where they are, consumers wanting to buy products and services without feeling guilty about it. This means they must be sustainable and ethical.”

Enterprise Ireland (EI), the Government agency focused on export-oriented companies, believes that CSR is likely to become increasingly important as the economy continues to emerge from recession which had placed a premium on price for many companies.

“Large corporates and consumer focused companies are the most likely to initially focus on this area,” says an Enterprise Ireland spokeswoman.

“Formal CSR is not readily associated with SMEs which make up the vast majority of EI’s client base. However, many SMEs do, of course, engage in CSR and community related activities.”

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THE MEAT of the matter

Ireland’s largest meat processing companies are embracing sustainability through membership of Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme

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rish Country Meats and Rosderra Irish Meats Group are two of the 342 Irish food and drink companies to have registered with Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme since it launched in 2012.

The voluntary sustainability programme is an industry-wide initiative, incorporating the full supply chain from farmers to manufacturers. It is a world first, as there is no other country doing anything similar to Ireland in terms of sustainability.

At an industry level, the programme involves food and drink manufacturers developing a sustainability action plan or charter that sets out clear targets in key areas such as emissions, energy and waste and covering a period of up to five years.

There are currently 58 fully verified members of the programme, responsible for approximately 60pc of Ireland’s food and drink exports – the target is to reach 75pc by the end of this year.

Ireland’s largest pig meat processing company with an annual turnover of around €300m, Rosderra Irish Meats Group became a verified member in February of this year.

Established in 2008, it supplies a full range of pork and bacon products to the retail and food processing sector in Ireland, as well as to an international customer base in the EU, US, Asia, South Africa, Australia and Russia.

Rosderra Meats is fully focused on the ‘farm to fork’ philosophy, guaranteeing complete control and traceability of products from the primary processing plants in Edenderry, Co Offaly and Roscrea, Co Tipperary, and secondary processing plants in Clara, Co Offaly, Jamestown, Co Leitrim and Stradone, Co Cavan.

Having continuously invested in sustainability programmes over the years, Rosderra decided to look into Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme to evaluate whether it would suit its business.

Once the management team went about putting the required sustainability charter together, the advantages of being involved became obvious, according to environment manager Gary Nugent.

Rosderra’s sustainability strategy is focused on environmental savings in energy, water, emissions and waste to help improve its competitiveness and reduce its overall carbon footprint.

“Becoming part of Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme has

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meant that we targeted a minimum 10pc reduction in each of these areas by 2016 versus baseline year 2010,” he explains.

“Ultimately this is good for our bottom line. We are large energy users and our target of 12pc reduction in usage by 2016 [compared to 2010], for example, represents a significant figure.

“We already had heat recovery systems in place and were quite energy efficient before the concept of Origin Green was developed.

However, I would say the programme has given us even more of a focus in terms of resource usage. We used to look at energy consumption in terms of what it was costing the business, but now we’re looking at it from a sustainability perspective as well.”

An important aspect of being an Origin Green verified company is how it impacts customer relationships and growing business abroad, according to Nugent.

“By becoming Origin Green members, we can demonstrate to our key stakeholders that we’re serious about becoming sustainability leaders and are willing to manage resources sustainably.”

Internally, Rosderra has established an environmental management structure to monitor progress versus targets and a steering group meets quarterly to review overall sustainability performance.

“We plan to make site sustainability plans visible and relevant to all staff members and to invest in technology, people and group initiatives whereby collective learning and research can be used for the betterment of all.”

Based on its visible commitment to sustainability, Irish Country

Image courtesy of Irish Country Meats

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Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Simon Coveney TD (centre) with Rosderra’s sustainability team (L–R) James O’Connor, group technical manager; Niall Leydon, group operations director; Gary Nugent, environmental manager; and Paul Hyland, energy manager

Meats (ICM) was selected to become one of 10 pilot companies participating in Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme and is now one of the verified members.

Headquartered in Camolin, Co Wexford, ICM is the largest sheep meat processor on the island of Ireland, with a second production facility in Navan, Co Meath and employing a total of 450 people.

The company acquired Belgian specialist lamb processor A Lonhienne sprl in 2011, establishing a sales and distribution platform for Northern Europe and it currently services 26 markets worldwide.

“Sustainability is a strategic business priority at ICM. We need to play our part in building a resilient supply chain to ensure long-term security of sustainable food supply. Our sustainability objectives focus on areas that matter the most to our business and where the biggest impact can be made,” says managing director Joe Hyland.

The sustainability plan ICM developed as a result of joining Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme, called ‘Delivering our Sustainability Values’, sets out targets in four areas over the period 2013 to 2017, using 2011 as a base year.

The four areas are water, energy, waste and social sustainability.

The company plans to reduce water consumption per unit produced by 25pc by 2017 through a series of initiatives such as introducing the latest vacuuming technology processes.

Heating of water and refrigeration have been identified as the main drivers of energy consumption at its operating facilities. To further identify the highest users, sub-metering is currently being implemented across both sites.

In order to bring about the 10pc reduction target in energy consumption, the company is reviewing the compressed air provision, heat recovery and operational practices, as well as investment in new machinery.

ICM already has an active programme in place to minimise waste.

Accomplishments to date include a recycling plan, investment in reusable plastic trays, an Environment Protection Agency licensed wastewater plant, as well as the procurement of innovative packaging machines.

“We hope to build on these significant achievements and to reduce the amount of packaging consumed by 23pc over the next five years by further focusing on recycling,” says Hyland.

Regarding social sustainability, over the coming five years the company will continue to work on health and safety standard operating procedures and training for staff to ensure the target of a 60pc reduction in Health and Safety Authority reportable incidents.

Hyland says ICM customers relate to the authenticity of its sustainable mission. “We are already gaining traction and commercial advantage in the marketplace.

“ICM is increasingly conscious of the value of its own brands, as well as the value of Ireland in its brand identity. The Origin Green campaign provides a framework to leverage this and to drive its own sustainability plan.

“By promoting Ireland as a brand, ICM benefits by getting international recognition for the quality and sustainable nature of food and drink production. Origin Green membership can be used as an additional and powerful marketing tool for participants to promote their products and businesses to international markets.

“The Origin Green story is something all stakeholders in the Irish food industry can share with the ultimate potential to construct a more inclusive engagement between primary producers and processors offering a greater sense of ownership to farmers and their families in the success of our food island.

“ICM is fully supportive of the Origin Green mission not because it is commercially and politically correct to participate rather because it is easy to communicate to our customers and articulates everything that is positive about our environment.”

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Markets can realise the environmental benefits of natural gas, explains Michael Crothers, managing director, Shell E&P Ireland

Natural Gas:

FUELLING THE WORLD’S ENERGY MIX

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o survive in business, you’ve got to focus on the future. Understanding factors that will impact business performance in the years ahead and identifying key growth opportunities is what helps businesses to survive. For global energy players such as Shell (with annual revenues of $451bn), figuring out the future has become a way of life.

Over the past 40 years, the company has had a team of ‘futurologists’, whose job it is to conceive scenarios and identify trends that will shape the energy landscape decades ahead. At the turn of the millennium, gas exploration and production was identified as a key energy growth area and as a result, Shell now produces more gas than oil.

So what does the future hold? By 2050 over nine billion people will inhabit our earth, two billion more than the current population of the world. Increasing prosperity, a growing middle class and improved access to reliable electricity will lift global energy demands by up to 80pc by 2050.

At the same time, the number of motor vehicles in use will double to two billion. Developing countries such as Brazil, China and India will account for a third of global energy usage.

By 2030 experts anticipate that we will need between 40pc and 50pc more water, food and energy. Interdependence between these essential resources could lead to volatility as well as social and political upheaval or conflicts. Governments in every corner of the world are under pressure to plan for this future.

Irish Director Special Report: CSR overview

Strategic decisions based on long range forecasts Against this global backdrop, planning to meet future energy demand is a formidable challenge. The International Energy Agency and Shell’s Scenarios Team believe that all forms of energy will be needed to secure a sustainable global energy mix in the face of the surging demand.

In 2013 renewables accounted for 8.5pc of the global electricity supply. Shell’s scenario planning suggests that by 2035, renewable energy sources could provide 14pc of demand, a penetration rate too slow because of technology limitations to address energy demands on their own.

Nuclear power will also play a role but as a fuel source, although it continues to generate intense debate about safety. Because of their abundance, reliability, convenience and relative low cost, fossil fuels are likely to remain central to the global energy mix for all of this century.

The parallel challenge for policy-makers in selecting their energy portfolios is environmental and health impacts. Availability, affordability and compatibility, combined with low CO2 emissions, make natural gas uniquely positioned to address the challenges faced by governments and policy-makers.

Natural gas – abundant and affordable Natural gas is abundant. As technology advances, so does our ability to unlock the world’s natural gas resources. Global natural gas resources are growing and are increasingly geographically

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diverse. In its World Energy Outlook – 2013, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that there are sufficient technically recoverable natural gas resources to last for at least the next 235 years at current production levels (including conventional and tight natural gas, shale natural gas and coal bed methane).

Natural gas can be deployed in a decentralised and scalable manner, close to sources of demand. This makes it an essential solution to enhance the robustness of energy supply at every level, from large Combined Cycle Gas Turbines (CCGTs) to individual household boilers.

Gas availability has provided companies throughout Ireland cleaner and more efficient energy choices than traditional energy options such as heating oil, coal or peat. Furthermore, gas is the perfect complement to Ireland’s wind generation, with fast starting gas turbines able to ramp up to take up the slack when winds are low or variable.

The carbon challenge The environmental stresses associated with meeting increasing demand for energy are increasing. Climate change is chief amongst these.

Average global temperatures have already increased by 0.8°C compared with pre-industrial levels and, without further climate action, experts estimate that global long-term temperatures could increase by between 2.8 and 4.5 °C with most of the increase occurring in this century (IEA, Redrawing the Energy-Climate Map, World Energy Outlook Special Report, 2013).

Shell believes that natural gas represents a responsible energy choice. Natural gas emits between 50pc and 70pc less CO2 emissions than coal or peat fired plants. Gas powered electricity generation stations are cheaper and faster to build than plants for any other new build electricity source (half the capital cost of coal per MWh, one-fifth the cost of nuclear, 15pc of the cost of onshore wind and less than one-tenth the capital cost of offshore wind power).

About 30pc of CO2 is produced during power generation.

Reducing CO2 emissions in power generation is the primary response to combat the climate change threat. Moving to cleaner energy sources like natural gas, combined with carbon capture and storage, is the fastest way to reduce CO2 emissions in the short term.

Markets can realise the environmental benefits of natural gas in terms of CO2 and air emissions. Natural gas can make the single biggest and fastest (supply side) contribution to CO2 abatement and cleaner air available today. In the US, gas is replacing coal as the primary fuel for power. This has had a significant impact on CO2 emissions. In 2012, US CO2 emissions from power generation were down 17pc since 2005.

Corrib – enhancing Ireland’s energy security In 2015 Ireland’s newest indigenous natural gas supply is scheduled to come on stream – this will bolster Irish security of gas supply and reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports. At peak production Corrib gas will provide up to 60pc of the country’s gas needs with an estimated field life span of 20 to 25 years.

Due to low rates of exploration in Irish waters it is difficult to know whether there are large reserves of oil or gas available. Ireland’s wind and wave resources are also considerable and present longterm opportunities.

Public and private sectors need to work together to create a collaborative environment that supports the responsible development of these valuable energy resources in Ireland. This means early involvement of communities in decision-making and simplification of the regulatory and legal processes to bring projects to completion.

Ireland could be on the cusp of an energy revolution that could make it an energy exporter for the benefit of generations to come. It is vital that all key stakeholders, including governments, businesses and communities, work together to realise this energy revolution.

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Helping to deliver sustainable value and success Strategic marketing director at Friends First Brian O’ Neill shares his thoughts on how corporate social responsibility is assisting Friends First in delivering sustainable long-term value

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riends First formulated a new three-year business plan in 2012 and as part of this process reviewed our existing business model and results.

We concluded that we needed to deliver increased long-term value to all of our stakeholders and in doing so develop a more sustainable business model.

The recession between 2008 and 2013 led to far fewer customers buying our products or investing with us.

We also experienced significantly more customers cancelling or reducing contributions into existing products and schemes, which had a significant adverse impact on our financial results and value created.

This was being exacerbated by a practice known as re-broking, whereby clients are advised by their financial advisers to cancel existing products and take out a new product with another provider.

Much of this activity was in the client’s interest but some was motivated by the needs of financial advisers to generate commission income from selling a new product.

We concluded that the latter was not in the best interest of customers and was destroying value for them and us as the product provider.

We further concluded that we could not develop a sustainable and socially responsible business if we didn’t alter this business practice and encourage advisers to move to a recurring income model based on selling added advice to customers and not just products.

With this in mind, in 2013 we changed the way we paid financial

Irish Director Special Report: CSR overview

advisers, focusing on spreading the commission payment over the term of the product rather than paying all of it upfront and significantly increasing our educational support to financial advisers.

Our owner Achmea, the Netherlands’ largest insurance group, has consistently highlighted the need for us to deliver clear value to a broader range of stakeholders, including the wider community.

It has also stressed the need for Friends First to embed social responsibility and sustainability principals across all parts of the business.

As a co-operative group, Achmea has always had a strong societal focus and so CSR principles and activities are fully integrated across its business. For example, it operates its own charitable foundation, and in 2012 signed up to the United Nations Principles for Sustainable Insurance charter.

While Friends First needed to make signficant changes to transform the business into a sustainable one, we knew what we needed to do and had some of the building blocks in place.

We were already active in supporting charities and had a well developed environmental programme. But we were fully aware that being a truly socially responsible and sustainable business involves far more than increased charitable and societal activity.

To ensure the integration of all CSR-related activities into our business we established a new programme to monitor and co-ordinate all activities across the business.

The structure of our programme and activities was influenced by

CSR campaign Boys who took part in the Friends First Lessons for Life programme in Kenya

‘To ensure the integration of all CSR-related activities into our business we established a new programme to monitor and co-ordinate all activities across the business’ a review of best practice in CSR across major Irish and international companies and in our owner Achmea.

Our new CSR committee decided to manage CSR activity in Friends First under four key headings:

n Thirty-five of our staff participated in the women’s mini marathon to raise funds for our charities n Two of our staff, two financial advisers and two friends of the organisers completed four rounds of golf in one day to raise funds for one of our charities

n Friends in the Market – our sales and marketing facing activities n Friends in the Workplace – our staff facing and development activities n Friends in the Environment – our environmental activities impact n Friends in the Community – our society, community and charitable support

We developed a fully integrated CSR plan commencing in 2013 with objectives and activities agreed for each of the four streams, supported by a reporting and monitoring process.

In our community programme we appointed charity, schools and community co-ordinators to initiate and manage a significant range of new activities, which included:

n Supporting four charities selected by the CSR committee with Friends First matching any monies raised by staff n Six of our staff completed a London to Amsterdam cycle for one of our charities – Lessons for Life

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We embarked on a new schools support programme with St Laurence’s Secondary College in Loughlinstown and will commence a partnership with a local national school in September

n We are supporting Stonebridge Community Centre in Shankill through a range of initiatives for their members n We operate a programme of community sponsorship and supports for a range of community events and sports

Our charitable and community activity is core to our CSR programme, but is only part of a broader transformation of our business, which aims to deliver long-term value to all of our stakeholders. We aim to become a sustainable and successful business and one where we can show that we are a trusted insurer.

While we have made significant progress in transforming our business to date, the process is far from complete and in a changing market environment is never fully completed. We have learnt a lot to date and will apply these learning in our CSR programme and across the business.

CSR is not just a tangential set of ‘nice to do’ activities, it is core to what we want to become as a business and a company in Ireland.

n Six further staff will visit Uganda to review the work of Lessons for Life in educating children who are aids orphans

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Two years ago PM Group’s environment, health and safety manager in its Dublin office Mags Dalton began working on a structured corporate social responsibility programme for the company

Active engagement I

n 2012 CEO of PM Group Dave Murphy approached the company’s environment, health and safety manager in its Dublin office Mags Dalton to ask if she would be interested in helping to formalise the existing CSR activity into a more structured programme. Murphy was six months into the CEO role and his leadership in the area and hands-on approach ever since has been a major driver of the programme’s success.

“Dave’s focus on CSR has empowered our dedicated CSR committee and ensured the programme evolves and involves as many employees as possible. The amount of support given by senior management can’t be underestimated. To ensure the success of the programme, Dave attended all of the initial presentations to managers on the programme making sure the message went out and showed that it is something he’s really keen to see integrated into the organisation,” says Dalton.

PM Group is an international engineering, architecture and project management firm with 18 offices around the world with over 2,100 people.

Dalton jumped at the chance to work on a structured CSR programme, partly because with her environmental background, it was something close to her heart. It is currently focused on PM Group’s offices in Dublin, Cork, the UK, Poland, China, India and the US. The aim is to include all offices across the organisation in time.

“I started by gathering information on CSR activities the company had been involved with over the years and evaluating what worked and what didn’t. As an Irish headquartered company, most of the activity had naturally been in Dublin and Cork up to then.

“Further to researching the topic, we decided to adopt an approach that many other companies have structured their programmes on, focusing on the three key pillars of economic growth, social progress and ecological balance,” Dalton explains.

“We would see these three elements as being integral to our business activities and this approach allows us to structure objectives against each one and keep things manageable.”

Irish Director Special Report: CSR overview

Pat McGrath, director of international development, PM Group at the opening of the Gorta SCAD project in India

The first pillar, economic growth, is focused on how PM Group runs its business and ensuring it is run profitably and keeping people in jobs.

“This pillar is about doing the right thing in everything that we do in order to remain sustainable. It incorporates the rolling out of certain policies. For example, we recently renewed our communications around an anti-bribery and corruption policy and are providing training to all employees on that. It also includes making sure that all of our locations are operating to all legal requirements.”

Regarding the pillar of social progress, PM Group has split its pro bono and charity work into a number of areas: ‘our communities’, ‘international aid’, ‘education and employment’, and ‘sports and culture’.

A major event under this pillar last year was the official opening of the new Gorta Social Change and Development (SCAD) medical and rehabilitation centre in Tamil Nadu, India.

The centre, which was developed in a partnership between Gorta,

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SCAD and PM Group, will cater for over 1,000 children with differing levels of abilities. PM Group has been involved in the creation of the €3.4m centre since 2009, providing pro bono services in architecture, engineering, cost management and project management.

“This was a project that caught our interest and attention because we were establishing an office in Bangalore, India at the same time the project was initiated. We had a group of employees, right up to director level, working on the project voluntarily who monitored and inspected the construction site at regular intervals,” says Dalton.

Another key initiative last year was PM Group selecting Unicef as its charity of the year and making a €10,000 donation to it in March to support the installation of a water pump to supply a number of schools in Malawi.

Otherwise, PM Group supports community initiatives, which are largely driven by employees – these can be anything from cake sales to financial donations to a local hurling club to the Special Olympics, usually raising money for charities they are connected to in their local communities.

The company has also done a lot of work in the education space, with 30 employees volunteering to take part last year in Junior Achievement, an initiative which aims to create a culture of enterprise in schools.

“Whilst we use project management tools like codes and timesheets to help manage our efforts, the most important measure of progress is the feedback from the charties and our employees,” says Dalton.

“In 2013, there were 500 volunteering hours dedicated to community projects. We have set a target of 2,000 volunteering hours for 2014 and I have no doubt we’ll easily make that.”

This is one of the key performance indicators (KPI) highlighted in PM Group’s second CSR report for 2013, published in May. The

company has set out a range of KPIs under the headings of people, communities, communication and environment.

The ecological balance pillar of PM Group’s CSR programme is fundamental to the business and it has been focused on the environmental impact of its offices and projects as far back as 2007.

“Many of our clients are multinational blue-chip clients, quite often from the US. They have very high standards in this area and we want to be seen to be meeting or exceeding those. Within our design and engineering activities we strive to improve our environmental performance as early as concept design. Environmental management happens throughout everything we do. It is hard to discuss it in isolation,” continues Dalton.

“Our Dublin office achieved ISO14001 certification – the standard for environment management systems – in 2007, followed by the Cork office in 2009. The UK and Poland office are in the process of achieving it and we are rolling it out in Shanghai, Singapore and the US. This is one of the KPIs we measure – by the end of this year we aim to have four offices ISO14001 certified.”

In addition, three of PM Group’s offices are currently ISO18001 certified – the standard for safety management systems and we aim to have six with the certification by the end of 2014.

The biggest success factor of PM Group’s CSR programme is the people involved, according to Dalton. “We adopt a values-based recruitment process, looking to hire people who have a belief in a good working environment, doing the right thing by clients and doing the right thing in all aspects of projects. The kind of people we have working for the group means things happen really naturally on the CSR side. When I’m chatting to senior management in the various offices, I don’t have to explain what’s needed – they understand exactly what it’s about as it is integral to what we do anyway.”

‘The kind of people we have working for the group means things happen really naturally on the CSR side’

PM Group volunteers and athletes at the recent Special Olympics National Games in Limerick

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CSR campaign

Standardising social

RESPONSIBILITY ISO 26000 is the first internationally approved standard to provide guidance on social responsibility

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n November 2010, the International Organisation for Standardisation’s social responsibility guidance standard ISO 26000 was officially launched after five years of work and negotiations, input from 450 participating experts and 210 observers from 99 ISO member countries and 42 liaison organisations, and the engagement of wide range of stakeholder groups.

Unlike some the best known ISO standards, ISO 26000 is a voluntary guidance standard that cannot be certified. Instead, it’s designed to help clarify what social responsibility is, assist businesses and other organisations to convert the principles into effective actions, and share best practices relating to social responsibility. It is aimed at all types of organisations, regardless of their activity, size or location.

The standard outlines the business case for social responsibility, stating that the perception and reality of an organisation’s performance in this area can influence, among other things: competitive advantage; reputation; ability to attract and retain employees and customers; employee morale, commitment and productivity; and external relationships.

At the time of its launch, ISO secretary general Rob Steele said that operating in a socially responsible manner is no longer an option. “It is becoming a requirement of society worldwide. What makes ISO 26000 exceptional among the many already existing social responsibility initiatives is that it distils a truly international consensus on what social responsibility means and what core subjects need to be addressed to implement it. In addition, it is based on broad stakeholder input, including from developing countries, business, government, consumers, labour, non-governmemtal organisations and others.”

He emphasised the fact that social responsibility is not confined to an organisation’s contribution to charity, but its commitment to sustainability and accountability for the impact of its actions.

“In short, it is no longer just the financial bottom line that Irish Director Special Report: CSR overview

people measure an organisation on any more. It is the impact the organisation has on the environment and society as well as on the economy.”

To date, 77 countries throughout the world are known to have implemented ISO 26000 as a national standard, according to Kristina Sandberg, strategy and international affairs at the Swedish Standards Institute and secretariat of the ISO 26000 Post Publication Organisation.

“These are countries which have responded to our surveys on national implementation,” she stresses. “There are many countries that we have not got a reply from, so it could of course be more that these 77 countries.

“We also know that the standard has been translated into at least 28 different languages. The last ones I was informed about were Farsi, Montenegrin and Vietnamese.”

Little is known about the number of organisations that are now using the standard. “We do not have any records on that and it is really difficult to get any reliable information. One indicator could be to check number of sold standards. We have estimated sales figures of approximately 17,000 sold standards, but unfortunately these figures are very poor as very few countries responded to this question in our survey.

“Another indicator of the relevance and interest of ISO 26000 is of course also that it has been referenced in the European Commission CSR strategy as one of the important tools for European companies to use and also in the non-financial reporting document that was approved recently. There are also linkage document with GRI G4 and with UN GC 10 principles.”

As to whether ISO 26000 might ultimately become a certifiable standard, Sandberg says opinion is divided. “A more likely scenario is that we might see a proposal for a new standard on verification or self-declarations. Netherlands, France and Sweden have national documents on this and are discussing possibilities to take it to the ISO-level.”