Social Responsibility
Stakeholders
Our continuity depends on the support we get from our stakeholders
Stakeholder dialogue
At TNT, we are committed to ensuring that our social respon-sibility programme addresses the issues that are important to our stakeholders. Stakeholder engagement is important as it allows us to understand the impact of our activities on various groups, prevents negative repercussions, forms productive partnerships and captures a range of different opinions and perspectives. Knowledge of our stakeholders’ concerns helps us to develop new products and services as well as address social responsibility challenges in cooperative ways.
This approach has been recognised as industry-leading by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. It is also increasingly acknowledged by mainstream investors and rating agencies as indicating good operational and risk management.
What is a stakeholder?
We define stakeholders as any interested party, either group or individual, which can affect or is affected by an organisation delivering its objectives. They may be local communities, customers, NGOs, special interest or campaign groups, government agencies and officials, shareholders, business partners or suppliers. They also influence programmes, products and services. ‘Stakeholder dialogue’ is a term we use to describe our efforts to build partnerships in the same way as we would engage a business partner.
Taking account of stakeholder concerns
In last year’s report, we made a commitment to develop an approach that ensures we embed fully the results from all dialogues within our company and that they contribute to continuous improvement in our overall social responsibility.
During 2006, we developed a strategy to ensure that we can meet this commitment. This includes:
- Ensuring we incorporate stakeholders’ concerns in our overall strategy and include them in our targets.
- Ensuring the Board of Management and Supervisory Board’s involvement and commitment in social responsibility to determine strategy, develop a programme and review progress.
- Establishing a customer review panel to:
- Guide the development of the SR programme.
- Ensure the SR programme enhances customer confidence.
- Ensure the SR programme enhances customer confidence and leads to the development of new competitive/profitable products.
TNT stakeholder dialogue since 2004: results
| CIVIL SOCIETY 2004 | CUSTOMERS 2004 | SUB- CONTRAC- TORS 2005 | EMPLOYEES 2005 | INVESTORS 2005 | SUPPLIERS 2006 | CUSTOMERS 2006/7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reducing CO2 emissions (48%) | Compliance with legislation especially where enforced weakly in developing countries (71%) | Child labour in the supply chain – especially second and third tier (71%) | Increasing alternative fuels and energy in vehicles and buildings (59%) | Reducing environmental footprint (37%) | Compliance with legislation especially where enforced weakly in developing countries (68%) | Employee health and safety (67%) |
| Employee health and safety – including HIV/AIDS (46%) | Child labour in the supply chain – especially second and third tier (68%) | Compliance with legislation especially where enforced weakly in developing countries (57%) | Accountability and transparency relating to strategy and manage-ment decisions (56%) | Assuring security and safety of transportation (17%) | Reducing CO2 emissions (61%) | Reducing CO2 emissions (65%) |
| Pollution – associated with vehicle particulates (46%) | Compliance with a code on social issues (59%) | Anticompetitive behaviour associated with price-fixing and profit implications (57%) | Pensions and retirement benefits for employees (49%) | Achieving recognised excellence by customers (14%) | Discrimination – equal, fair treatment of all employees (45%) | Fair and reasonable terms of employment (54%) |
| Community health and safety – including HIV/AIDS (31%) | Implementing environmental management systems (41%) | Reducing CO2 emissions (50%) | Compliance with legislation especially where enforced weakly in developing countries (41%) | Implementing good governance and risk management (10%) | Accidents in the workforce – driving and in warehouses (42%) | No child labour (50%) |
| Partnerships with local communities and international organisations (30%) | Continuous improvement in environmental performance (37%) | Bribery, corruption and conflict of interest (50%) | Ensuring good work/life balance as essential to wellbeing and quality of life (40%) | Implementing international codes of conduct and labour standards in globalised operations (8%) | Bribery, corruption and conflict of interest (40%) | Compliance with legislation (46%) |