Case study: How Bucher Industries promotes compliance
Bucher Industries is a global technology group with production sites on five continents, over 13,000 employees and leading market positions in mechanical and vehicle engineering. A key aspect of Bucher Industries’ long success story is its corporate culture, which is based on fair conduct with customers, colleagues, business partners, competitors and the relevant authorities.
This case study is based on the 2019 Sustainability Report by Bucher Industries 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/ ESG/ 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
Bucher Industries’ Code of Conduct builds the foundation for a corporate culture that ensures legal compliance and ethical conduct. Tweet This! In order to promote compliance Bucher Industries took action to:
- implement a Code of Conduct
- promote compliance with competition law
- combat corruption
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Bucher Industries has identified;
- How Bucher Industries proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Bucher Industries to promote compliance
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2019 Sustainability Report Bucher Industries identified a range of material issues, such as customer satisfaction, economic value creation, customer health and safety, environmental impact of products and services. Among these, promoting compliance stands out as a key material issue for Bucher Industries.
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 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 Bucher Industries engages with:
To identify and prioritise material topics Bucher Industries engaged with its stakeholders through the following channels:
Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
Employees
| · Daily interaction · Regular staff meetings · Intranet, newsletter · Trainings · Employee representatives · “Eurocommittees” |
Customers
| · Daily interaction · Regular personal contact · Workshops/visits · Conferences · Social media, newsletter · Customer surveys · Trade fairs · Industry associations |
Dealers/distributors
| · Regular meetings · Trade fairs · Technical training programmes |
Suppliers
| · Regular interaction · Supplier days · Forecasting systems |
Shareholders/financial institutions
| · Financial reports and press releases · Sustainability report · Annual general meeting · Analyst conferences and calls · Investor days and roadshows |
Local communities
| · Engagement projects · Funding requests · Open-door events |
Regulators/authorities | · Memberships in industry associations |
What actions were taken by Bucher Industries to promote compliance?
In its 2019 Sustainability Report Bucher Industries reports that it took the following actions for promoting compliance:
- Implementing a Code of Conduct
- All new employees in Bucher Industries’ group companies receive a copy of its Code of Conduct at hiring, along with the compliance regulations applicable to their function. New employees who have a company e-mail address complete online training on the Code of Conduct as well as on the subjects of anti-corruption, competition law and data protection, commensurate with their function. All group directives on the subject of compliance are based on the Code of Conduct. Compliance officers at group, division and local level support the implementation of the Code of Conduct and directives and report regularly to group management. They also serve as contact people for management and personnel for compliance questions and make sure that questions are forwarded to the body responsible for processing. Compliance officers meet periodically for training and specific courses, and compliance implementation is checked in internal audits. Employees can turn to local or divisional compliance officers, the group compliance officer, their superior or the group CEO as contact persons to report compliance breaches or suspicions. In cases of suspected compliance breaches, it is not necessary to follow the management line.
- Promoting compliance with competition law
- In line with the potential risk involved, the directive on competition law is intended for all management roles in Bucher Industries and other functional areas that are exposed to this issue. This includes members of group management, division management and the management boards of subsidiaries; managers in purchasing, logistics, sales, marketing, finance and controlling; HR and legal departments; and all compliance officers. All employees in these functions were issued the directive and completed an online training course on competition law. New employees receive the directive as part of their induction and complete the online training in the same way. Members of group management and division management along with other selected persons received additional training in classroom courses. In 2019, 192 new employees completed the online training. Participation in the training is compulsory and monitored.
- Combatting corruption
- In line with the potential risk involved, the corruption prevention guidelines are intended for all management roles in Bucher Industries and other functional areas that are exposed to this issue. This includes members of group management, division management and the management boards of subsidiaries; managers in purchasing, logistics, sales, marketing, finance and controlling; HR and legal departments; staff in all sales, purchasing and customer service departments; controlling and finance personnel with internal or external signatory authorisation and all compliance officers. All employees in these functions were issued the directive and completed an online training course on corruption prevention. New employees receive the directive as part of their induction and complete the online training in the same way. In the reporting period, 658 new employees completed the online training. Participation in the training is compulsory and monitored. Additionally, guidelines on collaboration with intermediaries set out binding measures to prevent corruption. Engaging with new intermediaries is only possible if a specific audit and risk assessment is carried out and the intermediary has been authorised in an internal approval procedure. The guidelines were implemented in 2016 and compliance is checked during annual internal audits. In 2019 (as in 2018), no corruption-related proceedings were pending. Once again, attempts at corruption by suppliers were prevented in 2019 thanks to the vigilance of employees across the Group. Certain suppliers and employees were sent a written reminder of the applicable rules. In consultation with compliance officers, the exceptional acceptance of gifts from suppliers is reviewed on a case-by-case basis by divisional management.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:
1) Disclosure 205-3 Confirmed incidents of corruption and actions taken
2) Disclosure 206-1 Legal actions for anti-competitive behavior, anti-trust, and monopoly practices
Disclosure 205-3 Confirmed incidents of corruption and actions taken corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
- Targets: 16.5
Disclosure 206-1 Legal actions for anti-competitive behavior, anti-trust, and monopoly practices corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
- Targets: 16.3
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References:
1) This case study is based on published information by Bucher Industries, 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) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
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