Case study: How alstria promotes compliance with ethical standards across its operations
As a leading German office real estate company, with a portfolio of 120 office buildings encompassing 1.7 million m² of lettable space, alstria is focused on long-term real estate value creation. Accordingly, alstria tries to conduct its business with integrity, fairness and respect for the law Tweet This!, building and maintaining stakeholder trust.
This case study is based on the 2015/2016 Sustainability Report by alstria published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
Abstract
Maintaining its good reputation and the trust of stakeholders is a top priority for alstria. As a consequence, alstria tries to operate with integrity, promoting ethical behavior among both employees and business partners. In order to promote compliance with ethical standards across its operations alstria took action to:
- promote ethical behavior through a code of conduct
- enable employees to report compliance or ethical concerns
- offer compliance training to employees
Subscribe for free and read the rest of this case study
Please subscribe to the SustainCase Newsletter to keep up to date with the latest sustainability news and gain access to over 100 case studies. These case studies demonstrate how companies are dealing responsibly with their most important impacts, building trust with their stakeholders (Identify > Measure > Manage > Change).
With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) alstria has identified;
- How alstria proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by alstria to promote compliance with ethical standards across its operations
Already Subscribed? Type your email below and click submit
What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2015/2016 Sustainability Report alstria identified a range of material issues, such as waste management, financial performance, energy efficiency, contribution to communities. Among these, promoting compliance with ethical standards across its operations stands out as a key material issue for alstria.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process s of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups alstria engages with:
Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement | ||
|
| ||
|
| ||
Employees | · Annual appraisal meetings · Open-door approach · Regular team events | ||
Local communities
| · One-on-one dialogue with affected neighborhood before and during development projects · Open dialogue with the local communities · Social media tools to provide responsive communication | ||
Investors | · Direct contact to all shareholders via alstria’s Annual General Meeting, where each shareholder is entitled to one vote per share · Quarterly financial and annual sustainability reporting as well as regular press conferences · Participation in industry discussions on alstria’s financial and sustainability performance · Discussions at roadshows and site tours of alstria’s properties · Social media tools such as LinkedIn, Xing, Facebook, the company’s blog and Twitter |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritize material topics alstria carried out a survey among 1,420 stakeholders who included shareholders, debt providers, analysts, tenants, employees, press and others.
In its 2015/2016 Sustainability Report alstria reports that it took the following actions for promoting compliance with ethical standards across its operations:
- Promoting ethical behavior through a code of conduct
- To encourage ethical behavior among employees and set out its legal and ethical guidelines, alstria created a code of conduct. Once hired, every employee receives a handbook – issued in both German and English – containing the code of conduct and alstria’s internal policies and has to confirm, in writing, acceptance of its terms. The code of conduct is also available on alstria’s website.
- Enabling employees to report compliance or ethical concerns
- All alstria employees are able to raise compliance or ethical concerns with their direct supervisor or the Compliance Officer. In addition, employees may use an external whistle-blower hotline to anonymously report possible violations of the code of conduct or alstria’s internal guidelines.
- Offering compliance training to employees
- To promote compliance with alstria’s internal guidelines, regular training is offered to all employees on the company’s anticorruption policies, data privacy protection and unlawful behavior. Moreover, every new employee receives, once hired, specific training on alstria’s compliance policy. Additionally, ‘refresher’ courses are offered annually to all employees, who are immediately updated on new policy amendments.
Which GRI indicators/Standards have been addressed?
The GRI indicators/Standards addressed in this case are:
1) G4-56: Describe the organization’s values, principles, standards and norms of behavior such as codes of conduct and codes of ethics – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 102-16 Values, principles, standards, and norms of behavior
2) G4-57: Report the internal and external mechanisms for seeking advice on ethical and lawful behavior, and matters related to organizational integrity, such as helplines or advice lines – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 102-17 Mechanisms for advice and concerns about ethics
3) G4-58: Report the internal and external mechanisms for reporting concerns about unethical or unlawful behavior, and matters related to organizational integrity, such as escalation through line management, whistleblowing mechanisms or hotlines – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 102-17 Mechanisms for advice and concerns about ethics
4) G4-SO4: Communication and training on anti-corruption policies and procedures – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 205-2 Communication and training about anti-corruption policies and procedures
78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards
SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.
Research by well-recognised institutions is clearly proving that responsible companies can look to the future with optimism.
7 GRI sustainability disclosures get you started
Any size business can start taking sustainability action
GRI, IEMA, CPD Certified Sustainability courses (2-5 days): Live Online or Classroom (venue: London School of Economics)
- Exclusive FBRH template to begin reporting from day one
- Identify your most important impacts on the Environment, Economy and People
- Formulate in group exercises your plan for action. Begin taking solid, focused, all-round sustainability action ASAP.
- Benchmarking methodology to set you on a path of continuous improvement
References:
1) This case study is based on published information by alstria, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2) http://www.fbrh.co.uk/en/global-reporting-initiative-gri-g4-guidelines-download-page
3) https://g4.globalreporting.org/Pages/default.aspx
4) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
Note to alstria: With each case study we send out an email requesting a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us.