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Case study: How Croda invests in its people to attract, develop and retain talented professionals

Gerasimos — Tue, 10 Jul 2018 08:07:50 +0000

As a global leader in creating, making and selling speciality chemicals for a range of products, including, among others, health and beauty, engine lubricants and plastics, operating in 37 countries around the globe, Croda focuses on innovation and attaches special attention to attracting talented professionals Tweet This! and developing its people.

This case study is based on the 2017 Sustainability Report by Croda 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

Developing, training and enabling its 4,309 employees to reach their full potential, while also attracting talented individuals, is a top priority for Croda. In order to invest in its people to attract, retain and develop talented professionals Croda took action to:

blend HR systems into one specialist system
introduce a new leadership programme
implement a graduate recruitment programme

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What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2017 Sustainability Report Croda identified a range of material issues, such as process safety, quality assurance, occupational health & safety, knowledge management, product stewardship. Among these, investing in its people to attract, retain and develop talented professionals stands out as a key material issue for Croda.

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:

“The organization should identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations.”

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 Croda engages with:

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement (in 2017)
Customers & Consumers	· Croda held 33,986 meetings with customers
Investors	· Croda attended numerous investor conferences and roadshows in the UK, USA, Europe and Asia and regularly co-ordinated investor site visits
Suppliers	· Croda held over 2000 face-to-face meetings with raw material suppliers
Employees	· Croda held face to face employee cascades across its operations throughout the year, with many locations meeting at least twice a year
Community	· Croda’s employees recorded 5,073 hours supporting the wider societies Croda is a part of through the company’s 1% club
Non-Government Organisations	· Croda continues to work closely with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, sitting on the RSPO Claims & Communications Standing Committee and frequently presenting at RSPO meetings
Governance & Regulatory	· Croda is an active member of over 190 national and international industry associations

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritize material topics Croda conducted, in 2014, an external stakeholder survey with employees, customers, suppliers and local communities, whose findings were supplemented with an internal survey in 2015.

What actions were taken by Croda to invest in its people to attract, retain and develop talented professionals?

In its 2017 Sustainability Report Croda reports that it took the following actions for investing in its people to attract, retain and develop talented professionals:

Blending HR systems into one specialist system
In 2017 Croda approved an important investment to combine the company’s core HR, talent, performance management, learning, recruitment and on-boarding systems into one specialist HR system. In addition, through its global Aspire performance management system Croda ensured that in 2017, 92% of employees received a formal appraisal that included development and career discussions.

Introducing a new leadership programme
To fill a gap in its suite of development programmes at the senior leader level, Croda launched a new leadership programme, called LEAD. The nine month programme’s aim is to improve leadership effectiveness by increasing self-awareness and understanding of being a leader in today’s business world. The programme was first introduced in the Asia Pacific region and uses residential, group coaching and a business project facilitated by the use of both internal and external trainers.

Implementing a graduate recruitment programme
Croda’s graduate recruitment programme serves as a source of new talent for the company. Croda hires graduates from a range of disciplines across the globe and makes sure it offers them fulfilling careers once they have left the graduate training scheme. As a result, Croda’s retention of graduates is better than the industry average.

Which GRI Standards have been addressed?

The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:

1) Disclosure 401-1 New employee hires and employee turnover

2) Disclosure 404-1 Average hours of training per year per employee

3) Disclosure 404-2 Programs for upgrading employee skills and transition assistance programs

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

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References:

1) This case study is based on published information by Croda, 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 at the link:

https://www.croda.com/en-gb/sustainability/sustainability-reports

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/

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Case study: How Croda promotes occupational health and safety

Gerasimos — Mon, 02 Apr 2018 10:31:03 +0000

As a world leader in speciality chemicals, high performance ingredients and technologies, operating in 36 countries around the globe across four market sectors – personal care, life sciences, performance technologies and industrial chemicals –, Croda tries to meet the highest occupational safety and health standards. Tweet This!

This case study is based on the 2015 Sustainability Report by Croda 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

Creating and maintaining, for the company’s 4,239 employees, a safe and healthy work environment is a top priority for Croda. In order to promote occupational health and safety Croda took action to:

implement the principles of organisational mindfulness
improve incident investigation
promote employee health and wellbeing

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What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2015 Sustainability Report Croda identified a range of material issues, such as process safety, quality assurance, knowledge management, product stewardship. Among these, promoting occupational health and safety stands out as a key material issue for Croda.

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:

“The organization should identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations.”

Key stakeholder groups Croda engages with:

Stakeholder Group

Customers and consumers

Investors

Suppliers

Local communities

Employees

Non-government organisations

Governments and regulatory bodies

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritize material issues, Croda held a session with guest speakers from key stakeholder groups, including customers, investors and academic institutions. Croda also carried out an internal survey among the company’s middle and senior managers.

What actions were taken by Croda to promote occupational health and safety?

In its 2015 Sustainability Report Croda reports that it took the following actions for promoting occupational health and safety:

Implementing the principles of organisational mindfulness
Croda applies the principles of organisational mindfulness across the company’s Behavioural Safety Programmes, with a number of sites integrating elements of this philosophy into local programmes. Moreover, according to a new scheme, committees representing different departments at the company’s sites will identify safe behaviours that need improvement, monitoring behaviours and providing feedback on performance against targets.

Improving incident investigation
To facilitate incident investigation, Croda implemented, in 2015, an incident investigation platform developed with the Canadian company Intelex. Moreover, Croda:
- customized the platform to be also used for change management risk assessment
- was able, through the web-entry-based platform, to achieve more efficient and quick reporting

Promoting employee health and wellbeing
Croda has adopted a decentralized approach to raising awareness and promoting health and wellbeing among employees, to ensure such activities reflect local needs and cultures. Initiatives that the company implements across the globe include:
- the promotion of exercise
- access to free health assessments
- advice on a range of health problems
- supporting a good work life balance

Which GRI indicators/Standards have been addressed?

The GRI indicator addressed in this case is: G4-LA6: Type of injury and rates of injury, occupational diseases, lost days, and absenteeism, and total number of work-related fatalities, by region and by gender and the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 403-2 Types of injury and rates of injury, occupational diseases, lost days, and absenteeism, and number of work-related fatalities