What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2019 Our responsibility Report Euroclear identified a range of material issues, such as business ethics, training and developing employees, fair and open access to financial markets, data privacy and data protection, carbon emissions. Among these, promoting employee wellbeing stands out as a key material issue for Euroclear.

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 reporting organization shall identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations and interests.”

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 Euroclear engages with:                          

To identify and prioritise material topics Euroclear engaged with its stakeholders through the following channels:

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement
Clients	·       Website ·       Newsletters ·       Events ·       Meetings ·       Phone calls ·       Client survey
Issuers (frequently via an agent)	·       Via agent
Network partners (CSDs and custodians)	·       Meetings ·       Website ·       Phone calls
Other ICSDs	·       Meetings ·       Phone calls ·       Industry events
New product service partner	·       Meetings ·       Phone calls ·       Events ·       Supplier questionnaire
Prudential regulators	·       Meetings ·       Phone calls ·       Website
ECB	·       Engaging with the European commission, European parliament, member states, central banks, supervisors, etc
Governments (central banks)	·       Engaging with the European commission, European parliament, member states, central banks, supervisors, etc
Shareholders	·       Events ·       Website ·       Newsletters ·       AGM
Board	·       Meetings ·       Website ·       Phone calls
Employees	·       Social intranet ·       Email ·       Internal TV screens ·       Events ·       Open door sessions ·       Union newsletters ·       Management blogs ·       Employee survey
Unions	·       Committee Meetings ·       Newsletters ·       Social intranet ·       Email
Journalists and influencers	·       Meetings ·       Phone calls ·       Email
Pressure groups/wider community	·       Through relevant bodies
Corporate responsibility partners	·       Phone calls ·       Meetings ·       Website ·       Reports ·       Events ·       Email

What actions were taken by Euroclear to promote employee wellbeing?

In its 2019 Our responsibility Report Euroclear reports that it took the following actions for promoting employee wellbeing:

• Organising the Vitality Day
• Following the success of its first Vitality Day in 2018, Euroclear is making this an annually recurring event. For the 2019 edition, Euroclear gave the option to employees in different locations to choose from a wide range of activities, targeting the health aspect from different angles, such as food, ergonomics, first aid, and a bike tour to cycle safely in a city.

• Arranging sessions on mental resilience and mindfulness
• In 2019, Euroclear organised sessions on mental resilience and mindfulness, which all had high attendance rates. Euroclear also conducted mandatory training sessions for all people managers, to show them how they are key players in absence management and how they can spot/respond to signs of non-wellbeing in their team members.

• Promoting a safe, pleasant and healthy work environment
• Euroclear invests in various initiatives to make sure its staff can work in a safe, pleasant and healthy environment, including the following:
  • a worldwide Employee Assistance Programme, which is a confidential 24/7 support service for all employees and family members
  • a full-time internal counsellor for psycho-social matters in Euroclear’s headquarters in Belgium, as well as a company nurse and doctor
  • a Mass notification tool to warn and check on employees in case of an event such as an attack, for which Euroclear conducts a test twice per year
  • comprehensive health insurance for Euroclear’s staff
• Additionally, recognising that the complexity and rapidly changing nature of Euroclear’s business means that its people need to be able to adapt easily to changing requirements, Euroclear provides:
  • opportunities for teleworking across most of its locations
  • opportunities for flexible work arrangements
  • an internal coaching programme available to all employees
  • a range of sporting and leisure activities, depending on the location
  • regular check-ups for staff over 45

Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?

The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 403-6 Promotion of worker health

Disclosure 403-6 Promotion of worker health corresponds to:

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
• Targets: 3.7, 3.8

 

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 Euroclear, 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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