Ongoing dialog with stakeholders helps Electrolux deepen its understanding of company impacts, global and local operating environments and emerging issues.
Staying informed and taking other perspectives into account is an important aspect of sustainability leadership and good business management. Within Electrolux, Sustainability Affairs oversees dialog on sustainability-related issues with a wide range of internal and external groups. Each year, many types of consultation and engagement take place—from the annual Electrolux Employee Survey to one-on-one deep-dive conversations on evolving expectations with key customer accounts. Feedback from these activities is reported to Group Management and feeds into decision-making to strengthen company strategy and response. To find out how please read Materiality process and Setting priorities.
Employee input is highly valued at Electrolux. The Employee Engagement Survey (EES) measures corporate culture, team efficiency, employee engagement and leadership In 2014, the group-wide EES measured safety awareness levels among all factory workers. Improvement areas include more active ‘leadership by example’ from managers and Health and Safety training. Starting 2014 the EES will be conducted annually.
Introduced in 2012, the Purpose program engages employees in meeting the Group’s sustainability objectives and builds understanding of the value Electrolux creates beyond financial and market objectives. Since the start, approximately 4,200 employees have engaged in Purpose workshops. In total around 260 workshops have been conducted.
Dialog is held between management, employee representatives and unions at several levels of the company. At local level, collective agreements are in place for 63% of the workforce. At regional level, the European Works Council consisting of the European unit’s union representatives and management representatives met once in 2014 in a plenary session, and five times with the Steering Group. Electrolux senior management representatives took part in this dialog, and topics covered included updates on restructuring plans and regular feedback on business development for the Group.
The Group's Board of Directors includes three employee representatives and three deputies who contribute directly to company decision-making, in accordance with Swedish law. Since signing the International Framework Agreement (IFA) with unions in 2010, meetings have been arranged on an annual and as-needs basis with employee representatives (KFD) to review the Group’s Workplace Code of Conduct compliance and fulfillment of the IFA. Meetings take place with the head of Industrial Relations and union representatives before each Board of Directors meeting.
The Group has gradually restructured its production through a carefully planned manufacturing footprint program due to be finalized by 2016. 2014 marked the launch of the Group Industrial Relations strategy.
Electrolux Major Appliances, Small Appliances and Professional hold a number of meetings with relevant customers and consumer representatives to stay abreast of evolving market requirements. Sustainability is an integral part of these interactions. In addition, ad-hoc meetings are organized between sustainability experts from Electrolux and customers to ensure the company is aware of emerging expectations. During 2014, issues touched upon included transparency and business ethics, supply chain monitoring, logistics carbon footprint and material efficiency.
In Q4 2014, the Sustainability Module was again added to the overall Brand Scorecard. As in 2012, the survey was conducted with approximately 600 consumers in 6 countries (USA, Brazil, China, Australia, France and Germany) to follow up on the goal of becoming the preferred and most trusted brand in terms of sustainability. Results will be compared with the 2012 findings to identify trends, and will be integrated into strategy work and shared internally with relevant groups, including global and sector marketing teams.
The AEG documentary The Next Black engages customers and consumers around making, wearing and caring for fashion and fabrics in a sustainable way.
Through the Global Logistics team, Electrolux has partnered with Business for Social Responsibility’s Clean Cargo Working Group to minimize CO2 emissions from ocean shipments. The working group members represent approximately 85% of global container shipments, as well as global shippers. Sharing knowledge and developing common thinking has been key in driving down emissions from ocean transport
As part of the Responsible Sourcing Program, Electrolux dialogs with suppliers on sustainability issues of mutual interest. As well as creating awareness and improving sustainability performance in the supply chain, the aim is to better understand baseline conditions and success factors. During 2014 more than 180 suppliers were trained in general Code of Conduct with particular focus on suppliers in China, Egypt and Chile. Special meetings were conducted with a further 13 suppliers on Transparency and Compliance, and it is clear that the new international frameworks on bribery are impacting suppliers’ focus on these matters. Conversely, it is difficult for suppliers to adopt proactive processes and principles when their home markets place no or few requirements on industry, as is the case in Chile on industrial environmental management.
We engage with investors on sustainability-related issues on an ad hoc basis and in larger forums. In 2014, two meetings were arranged with the Group’s main shareholders, including banks and pension funds, alongside socially responsible investment rating agencies. Senior management including the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Technology Officer and Head of Human Resources presented key elements of the strategy and participants were encouraged to engage and ask questions. They were also invited to provide input to our materiality process by voting on the company’s most material sustainability issues.
Issues highlighted by the investor community in 2014 included product and material efficiency, human rights and privacy related to connected appliances.
Each region is responsible for establishing local contact with policymakers, with dialog carried out by authorized Electrolux employees. In 2014 Electrolux External Affairs was formed to foster greater coordination of public policy issues.
Electrolux also engages in dialog with policymakers through industry organizations such as AHAM and CECED and via participation in conferences and meetings including company representatives, NGOs and politicians. Key areas of discussion in 2014 were product labeling, efficiency, recyclability and durability.
Across the Group, employees engage in business networks to stay abreast of developments in their respective areas of work—such as innovation, design, HR, and engineering. Sustainability Affairs engages with various networks including the UNGC Nordic Network, the UNICEF Corporate Network for Children’s Rights, the Swedish Network for Business and Human Rights, the Transatlantic Business Council, Teknikföretagen (Sweden) and Business for Social Responsibility (BSR). BSR develops sustainable business strategies and solutions through consulting, research, and cross-sector collaboration.
Key insights included, among other things, sustained focus on anti-corruption, implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, an increasing focus on protection and safeguarding of juvenile workers’ rights and supply chain monitoring of environmental performance.
In the United States, Electrolux works actively with local, state and national business organizations to support sustainable economic growth, job creation and workforce development. We also contribute to strengthening the communities in which we have a presence through volunteerism, charitable donations, and an active product donation program.
Electrolux engages in a number of ad hoc discussions with NGOs on sustainability-related topics. In 2014, we had discussions with E3G regarding EU state aid rules that could negatively impact the evolution of energy efficiency; with DUH (Deutsche Umwelt Hilfe) concerning CFC recovery as part of the recycling of refrigerators; and with BEUC (The European Consumer Organization) on product durability.
Electrolux also participated in several multi-stakeholder forums hosted by global networks to discuss water risks for business and society, including scarcity and human rights. For instance, "How to integrate considerations of children's rights and broader human rights into operations” was discussed with UNICEF as part of their Corporate Network on Children's Rights.
In 2014 Electrolux and Worldchefs announced an international alliance aimed at sharing common knowledge and increasing awareness of sustainable cooking practices.