Business review
GUS: corporate responsibility
GUS recognises that society has expectations of large companies that are to do with taking proper responsibility for what they do. Failure to recognise and react to these ‘ethical obligations’ can lead to damaging public criticism, boycotts or other sanctions.
Those companies, however, that are quick to respond to shifts in social attitudes are often better placed to take advantage of new market opportunities. A company with a positive social reputation will also benefit from increased customer and employee loyalty, leading in turn to advocacy on its behalf from these important groups.
GUS’ approach to Corporate Responsibility is to identify such risks and opportunities through an understanding of the social context of the Group’s businesses. We realise that a large and complex group like GUS cannot satisfy every concern of individual stakeholders, so we prioritise our response based on the current and future significance of the issue to the business. Our current priorities are:
- labour, environmental and social practices in the Group's supply
chain;
- providing a working environment that is conducive to the recruitment
and retention of the widest possible range of talented staff;
- protection of consumer privacy and the proper handling and use
of customer information;
- provision of a safe and healthy place of work;
- providing products of the appropriate quality, including responsible
product sourcing and retailing, product safety and reliability;
- serving customers to their complete satisfaction;
- Improving the Group's environmental performance,
principally our use of energy, the impact of our transport fleet and
our use of bulk materials such as paper and packaging; and
- developing strong community relationships in support of our business objectives.
Once we have identified an issue we ensure that accountabilities are defined, that we have a clear policy and that we are managing and measuring our progress. These issues are set out in our full Corporate Responsibility Report, which is published online at www.guscr.com.