Sustainability Report 2010
own report
Stakeholder engagement
Collaborating and building relationships with our stakeholders is critical to our continued business success. The decisions we make reflect and balance the needs of all our stakeholders.
Our stakeholder engagement activities are guided by a clear process set out in our stakeholder framework, involving:
- recognising the need for engagement
- identifying relevant stakeholders and impacts
- deciding on forms of engagement and recording the outcomes.
Below we list our key stakeholder groups, as well as why and how we engage with them.
Employees
Our people are the heart of our business. We believe that engagement with employees improves motivation and morale. It also helps us create a safe and dynamic work environment where they can perform at their best.
Forms of engagement include:
- our annual Great Debate employee survey
- focus groups to gather more qualitative feedback from the Great Debate
- one-to-one meetings with line managers and supervisors
- feedback in our annual UK Best Green Companies submission
- internal discussion boards on our intranet
- a sustainability intranet with information on our strategy, policies and case studies
- monthly team discussions called Team Talks
- People Forums where employees can express their views on business issues
- our employee newspaper, Spectrum, which reports bi-annually on all the Group’s operations
- Tomorrow’s News, our newsletter which focuses on sustainability issues
- a range of other newsletters produced by our business units
- our online Knowledge Management Forum, through which best practice is shared.
Read more in Our people.
Making our people’s voices count
We encouraged our people to complete The Sunday Times Best Green Companies survey with an engaging communications campaign.
Take a look at our posters (6 Mb).
Customers
Understanding customer needs helps us to meet and exceed their expectations, which builds our reputation and helps us win repeat business.
Forms of engagement include:
- our annual market perceptions survey, which has sustainability questions
- collaborating with our customers on sustainability issues, for example, we worked with our customers to develop strategies for carbon reduction with CO2 Sense in Yorkshire and shared our experiences of the project in the journal Property and Facilities Management.
Read more in Customers.
Supply chain partners
Creating long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships helps us to increase our efficiency and reduce our costs.
Forms of engagement include:
- following a supply chain management process, which includes sustainability as a factor in purchasing decisions
- our supplier accreditation form, which sets out the requirements for our supply chain in terms of safety and sustainability
- working with our supply chain to support our voluntary and community sector partners – for example, as part of our local small and medium enterprise Supplier Development Programme in Wolverhampton, one of our supply chain partners delivered a workshop to local business delegates on using IT to gain competitive advantage.
Read more in Suppliers.
Community members
Creating a positive, lasting impact on the communities in which we work helps us build our reputation and improve employee motivation.
Forms of engagement include:
- participating in community forums local to our operations
- interacting with local communities: we set up local Community Engagement Plans that identify what positive contribution Carillion can make to the area and appoint community liaison officers, helping us to fully understand and manage our impacts on our local communities
- making local communities aware of our projects and progress through consultations with them or leaflets distributed locally.
Read more in Communities.
Investors
Providing shareholders with clear, transparent information to support their investment decisions helps build their trust and demonstrates that we are managing our business responsibly.
Forms of engagement include:
- making financial and shareholder information publicly available on our website and in our shareholder and corporate communications, including our Annual Report and Accounts
- our Annual General Meeting
- shareholder resolutions
- one-to-one meetings with shareholders
- meetings with our Director of Group Corporate Affairs or our Head of Sustainability for those shareholders with a particular interest in sustainability
- ad hoc communication with shareholders and roadshows.
Read more in our Annual Report and Accounts 2010.
Regulators
Building relationships with regulators helps us keep abreast of the regulatory environment and influence policy developments that impact our business.
Forms of engagement include:
- regular consultation with key Government policy makers and influencers on sustainability issues and best practice – for example, we worked with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the development of the Flexible Framework for Sustainable Supply
- consultation on policy developments – for example, in 2010 we submitted written consultation responses to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Confederation of British Industry on the Carbon Reduction Commitment scheme.
Read more in Advocacy and Influence.
Industry bodies
Collaborating with industry professionals helps us to set sector-wide standards and enhances our reputation as a leading responsible business.
Forms of engagement include:
- contributing to the development of statutory instruments and tools to improve sustainability – for example, we contributed to the review of the BRE Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) building standards in 2010
- sharing best practice through the Confederation of British Industry
- participating in industry events – for example, our Al Futtaim Carillion business was invited to speak at the Green Building Middle East Summit as part of Arabian Construction Week
- presenting a seminar entitled ‘Managing biodiversity in the construction industry’ at the first Global Business of Biodiversity Symposium in London.
Read more in Advocacy and Influence.
NGOs, sustainability organisations and advisors
Sharing best practice helps us to develop more sustainable operations.
Forms of engagement include:
- soliciting the opinions of our two external sustainability advisors, Jonathon Porritt and Dame Julia Cleverdon
- participating in Waste and Resource Action Programme (WRAP) and Environment Agency meetings
- submitting information on our sustainability performance to socially responsible investment funds and indices
- communication with NGOs, for example WWF-UK Forest and Trade Network meetings and, in the Middle East and North Africa region, the Emirates Environment Group, Emirates Agricultural Abu Dhabi and the Emirates Marine Environmental Group.
Read more in Environment.
Key issues raised from stakeholder engagement
Our engagement raises issues which naturally vary between stakeholder groups and across our different business activities, but key topics include:
- Reducing our carbon footprint – we have set a carbon reduction strategy with initiatives ranging from installing more energy-efficient generators on our sites in the Middle East to telemetrics to monitor fuel consumption in vehicles in the UK, Canada and Middle East.
- Waste from our sites – we are working with WRAP to halve the volumes of waste sent to landfill by 2012, measured against a 2008 baseline.
- Biodiversity management – our projects have biodiversity action plans and we are working with The Wildlife Trusts to enhance biodiversity through the Carillion Natural Habitats Fund.
- Sustainable timber procurement – Carillion is a member of WWF and is working closely with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to procure certified timber. In 2010, our main joinery workshop in Oman, together with our sourcing operations, gained FSC certification.
- Noise from construction and infrastructure sites – we develop action plans to address any case of noise nuisance and endeavour to minimise incidents through our work under the Considerate Constructors Scheme. We have continually improved our Considerate Constructors performance and performed above the industry average.
Engaging with stakeholders on our 2020 sustainability strategy
In 2010, in developing our new 2020 sustainability strategy, we engaged more widely and closely with our stakeholders to get their views on our performance and areas for improvement.
We held structured interviews with selected Carillion employees and customers to discuss their views on sustainability issues for the business today, future challenges for the markets in which we operate in, and key elements to integrate into the sustainability strategy.
Among the feedback we received, our stakeholders made clear the importance of:
- challenging and influencing customers through our sustainability strategy
- retaining talented people as the company grows
- understanding the locality of available resources in our supply chain
- having a longer term presence in communities.
This feedback has been very influential in helping us to set our six positive outcomes for 2020 and highlighting areas for improvement.
Best Green Company
Carillion was awarded 4th place in The Sunday Times Best Green Company listings, in the category of large and medium-sized companies with high environmental impact, and 8th place overall. The Sunday Times’ assessment involves asking employees whether the company they work for lives up to its claims.
Making our people’s voices count
We encouraged our people to complete The Sunday Times Best Green Companies survey with an engaging communications campaign.
Take a look at our posters (6 Mb).