Case study: How D&G promotes employee development
D&G is a leading manufacturer and service provider of medium and large asphalt mixing plants in China, focusing on innovation and environmentally friendly production. In order to fully unleash the potential of employees and promote their growth with the company, D&G is committed to providing employees with appropriate training and development plans. Tweet This!
This case study is based on the 2019 Sustainability Report by D&G 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
D&G encourages its employees to regularly enrich their knowledge and skills, and to keep abreast of changes in the industry. This is conducive to both personal professional development and D&G’s operational efficiency. In order to promote employee development D&G took action to:
- provide training programmes
- formulate the “Employee Training Management Guidebook”
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) D&G has identified;
- How D&G proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by D&G to promote employee development
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2019 Sustainability Report D&G identified a range of material issues, such as economic performance, quality assurance, occupational health and safety, air emissions control, compliance, hazardous waste management. Among these, promoting employee development stands out as a key material issue for D&G.
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 D&G engages with:
| Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
| Employees | · Quality / environmental / occupational health and safety management system training · Quality / environmental / occupational health and safety management system three-aspect audit · Employee meeting / satisfaction questionnaire · On-the-job training and physical examination |
| Customers | · Satisfaction questionnaire · Factory inspection · Site visit |
| Suppliers | · Study visit · Product technical standards exchange forum · Supplier capability survey · Supplier assessment |
| Education and research partners | · The 10th China Asphalt Mixing Plant Industry Summit · Teaching and technical sharing and exchange forum |
| Government and other public bodies | · Inspection · Factory exchange interview |
| Business partners
| · Seminar · Training session · Meeting and discussion |
| Social media | · Collaboration and cooperation · Advertising and promotion |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritise material topics D&G engaged with a total of 251 stakeholders through questionnaires, asking participants to rate anonymously various economic, environmental and social issues.
What actions were taken by D&G to promote employee development?
In its 2019 Sustainability Report D&G reports that it took the following actions for promoting employee development:
- Providing training programmes
- Based on the training needs of employees and their positions, D&G provides suitable, extensive and diverse training programmes:
- Value training: Convey the company’s strategy, behavioural norms, occupational ethics and values, and increase employees’ working motivation
- Professional knowledge training: Enhance professional knowledge and skills training related to employees’ positions
- Job skills training: Provide standardised training corresponding to job duties and improve employees’ skills in process and operation
- Management training: Provide management knowledge and idea training for the management and employees with management potential, enabling them to understand the company’s development goals and business strategies
- Formulating the “Employee Training Management Guidebook”
- D&G has formulated the “Employee Training Management Guidebook”, which designates the HR Department to carry out an annual survey on employees’ training needs, and evaluates the training plans provided by all departments to construct a training strategy for the upcoming year. The HR Department is also responsible for monitoring, organising and implementing the training plans, in an effort to consistently improve the overall professional level of the employees. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the training, the HR Department distributes questionnaires to participating employees after each training to collect their feedbacks, and takes it as a reference for improvement of future training plans. The HR Department also assesses the employees’ training outcomes and effectiveness through written test or live demonstration. D&G’s training plan is mainly classified into four categories, namely occupational health and safety, management and operation, professional knowledge and environmental protection. By providing diversified and high-quality training opportunities, D&G pledges to continuously assist employees to develop their strengths and achieve their work ambitions, which drives steady business development and delivers a corporate culture of sustainability.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 404-1 Average hours of training per year per employee
Disclosure 404-1 Average hours of training per year per employee corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4: Quality Education
- Targets: 4.3, 4.4, 4.5
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Gender Equality
- Targets: 5.1
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Targets: 8.2, 8.5
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10: Reduced Inequalities
- Targets: 10.3
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References:
1) This case study is based on published information by D&G, 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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