GFCL Archives - SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine Insights on how you can protect the environment, maintain and increase the value of your company, through a structured CSR/Sustainability process with the use of the GRI Standards. Learn how Today's Best-Run Companies are achieving Economic, Social, and Environmental Success - and How You Can Too... Mon, 06 Mar 2023 08:27:34 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1 Case study: How GFCL promotes sustainable procurement https://sustaincase.com/case-study-how-gfcl-promotes-sustainable-procurement/ Fri, 11 Feb 2022 07:09:35 +0000 https://ccprowebs.com/new-sustaincase.com/?p=13276 GFCL (Gujarat Fluorochemicals Limited) is a leading global chemical producer and a market leader in chloromethanes, refrigerants and PTFE, with operations in 75 countries. By integrating sustainability in procurement policies and practices, including supply chains, GFCL endeavours to manage risks – including opportunities – for sustainable environmental, social and economic development. This case study is based on the 2019-20 Sustainability and UNGC Communication on Progress Report by GFCL 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, […]

The post Case study: How GFCL promotes sustainable procurement appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

]]> GFCL (Gujarat Fluorochemicals Limited) is a leading global chemical producer and a market leader in chloromethanes, refrigerants and PTFE, with operations in 75 countries. By integrating sustainability in procurement policies and practices, including supply chains, GFCL endeavours to manage risks – including opportunities – for sustainable environmental, social and economic development.

This case study is based on the 2019-20 Sustainability and UNGC Communication on Progress Report by GFCL 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

GFCL works hard to choose reputable business partners, suppliers, vendors and service providers who are committed to ethical standards and business practices compatible with GFCL.  Tweet This! In order to promote sustainable procurement GFCL took action to:

  • implement a Sustainable Procurement Policy and Code of Conduct for suppliers
  • build capabilities
  • assess suppliers

What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2019-20 Sustainability and UNGC Communication on Progress Report GFCL identified a range of material issues, such as economic performance, process safety and emergency preparedness, environmental compliance, product safety and stewardship, anti-corruption, climate change. Among these, promoting sustainable procurement stands out as a key material issue for GFCL.

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 GFCL engages with:

Stakeholder Group                Method of engagement
Investors / Shareholders

 

 

 

 ·      Investor meetings

·      General Meetings

·      Annual Report

·      Press Briefings
Customers

 

 

 ·      Customer visits by Sales and Marketing team

·      Technical support interaction

·      Regular Conferences

·      Trade fairs

·      Product brochures and website
Suppliers

 

 

 ·      Vendor Satisfaction surveys

·      Vendor meetings

·      Vendor capability webinars
Employees

 

 

 ·      CEO talk

·      Employee Surveys

·      Joint Committee forums

·      Company In-House Magazine

·      Let’s Talk and Stay interviews

·      E-mail Communication

·      HR Buddy

·      Ethics Line
Community

 

 

 

 

 ·      Public Hearing

·      Community meeting with Community leaders

·      CSR Cell engagement with community

·      Community Development programmes and events

·      Community Development Newsletter
Regulatory and Government Bodies

 

 ·      Participation is Seminars and events organised by the Regulatory Bodies

·      Making representations whenever required
Industry Bodies and Media

 

 ·      Press Conferences

·      Regional and national conferences and seminars of Industry Bodies

·      Memberships
Educational Institutes

 

 ·      Campus engagement

·      Senior Management Lectures

·      MOU

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics GFCL conducted a survey, with a questionnaire rolled out to approximately 230 individuals across the different stakeholder groups. Out of these, a total of 128 individuals responded by giving a rating against each sustainability topic, based on their view on its importance.

What actions were taken by GFCL to promote sustainable procurement?

In its 2019-20 Sustainability and UNGC Communication on Progress Report GFCL reports that it took the following actions for promoting sustainable procurement:

  • Implementing a Sustainable Procurement Policy and Code of Conduct for suppliers
  • GFCL’s Sustainable Procurement Policy and Code of Conduct for suppliers, vendors and third parties, which applies to all purchases of goods and services, sets out how it will conduct business with them and describes its expectations regarding the way they conduct their business. GFCL’s aim is to make sure that the way business is conducted throughout its supply chain conforms to its own standards and is legally compliant at all times. It outlines GFCL’s expectations with regard to ethics, business integrity, human rights, health and safety, environment, the local community and quality of product and operations and a formal commitment (in writing) is sought from suppliers, vendors and service providers to ensure compliance to GFCL’s GFCL expects all its suppliers, vendors and service providers to support the principles set out within the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Labour Organization Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the UNGC and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. All group companies are required to identify, prevent and manage risks pertaining to Health and Safety, Social Responsibility and Environment in their supply chain. This will help GFCL and all its suppliers, vendors and service providers to:
    • Meet the demands of customers and other stakeholders to assume responsibility for its supply chain
    • Identify legal, financial and moral risks associated with sustainability in the supply chain
    • Monitor and improve the sustainability performance of suppliers
    • Build supplier relationships that create long-term, sustainable value
  • GFCL expects its vendors and service providers / contractor and their contractors to abide by this policy and code and help GFCL reduce environmental and social impacts by establishing and operating state of the art standards for a sustainable supply chain. Nonadherence to this code may lead to discontinuation of business relationship.
  • Building capabilities
  • The implementation of the Sustainable Procurement Policy at GFCL was initiated through a structured programme of communication and capability building of the in-house team and the suppliers and vendors. The policy was circulated amongst suppliers and a declaration to adhere with the policy was sought. Moreover, GFCL extended a supporting hand to its vendors for creating awareness on sustainable procurement by conducting multiple webinars. The policy was also circulated among GFCL’s procurement and a declaration of adherence was sought. This team too was taken through an awareness programme on Sustainable Procurement.
  • Assessing suppliers
  • To ensure conformity to ISO20400 standards, GFCL underwent a third-party audit and launched a digital supplier audit tool with the help of DQS-AUDIT ORGANISER 4.0 (Enterprise Audit Management). GFCL partnered with DQS to implement the DQS-NEXT Supplier Audit Management Platform for its business partners. This will help GFCL manage a wide range of audit-related activities, data and processes in a single, centralised application. This platform will be progressively used to cover all existing and new suppliers, in evaluating and reviewing their performance on all sustainability criteria. The platform covers various sustainability dimensions and requests the respondent to answer questions on those dimensions and upload confirmatory documents and do self-rating. Based on the response, GFCL conducts audit and gives ratings. The platform covers all aspects of GFCL’s Sustainable Procurement strategy.

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

The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:

1) Disclosure 308-1 New suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria

2) Disclosure 308-2 Negative environmental impacts in the supply chain and actions taken

3) Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria

4) Disclosure 414-2 Negative social impacts in the supply chain and actions taken

 

Disclosure 308-1 New suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria does not correspond to any SDG.

Disclosure 308-2 Negative environmental impacts in the supply chain and actions taken does not correspond to any SDG.

Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria corresponds to:

Disclosure 414-2 Negative social impacts in the supply chain and actions taken corresponds to:

 

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, ISEP, 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

See upcoming training dates.
References:

1) This case study is based on published information by GFCL, 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/

Note to GFCL: 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.

The post Case study: How GFCL promotes sustainable procurement appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

]]> Case study: How GFCL promotes employee welfare https://sustaincase.com/case-study-how-gfcl-promotes-employee-welfare/ Fri, 02 Apr 2021 06:05:43 +0000 https://ccprowebs.com/new-sustaincase.com/?p=12388 Operating in 75 countries across the globe, GFCL (Gujarat Fluorochemicals Limited) is one of the leading chemical producers in the world and a market leader in chloromethanes, refrigerants and PTFE. Continuously focusing on the needs and well-being of employees while providing suitable benefits so as to induce improved employee productivity and build a strong retention rate, is a top priority for GFCL. This case study is based on the 2019-20 Sustainability and UNGC Communication on Progress Report by GFCL published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim […]

The post Case study: How GFCL promotes employee welfare appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

]]> Operating in 75 countries across the globe, GFCL (Gujarat Fluorochemicals Limited) is one of the leading chemical producers in the world and a market leader in chloromethanes, refrigerants and PTFE. Continuously focusing on the needs and well-being of employees while providing suitable benefits so as to induce improved employee productivity and build a strong retention rate, is a top priority for GFCL.

This case study is based on the 2019-20 Sustainability and UNGC Communication on Progress Report by GFCL 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

By offering a congenial working environment, providing the best of amenities and employee-centric policies, GFCL seeks to motivate its employees to aspire for professional success   Tweet This! while also retaining its position as an employer of choice. In order to promote employee welfare GFCL took action to:

  • offer benefits
  • promote work-life balance

What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2019-20 Sustainability and UNGC Communication on Progress Report GFCL identified a range of material issues, such as economic performance, process safety and emergency preparedness, environmental compliance, anti-corruption, occupational health and safety, climate change. Among these, promoting employee welfare stands out as a key material issue for GFCL.

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 GFCL engages with:

Stakeholder Group                Method of engagement
Investors / Shareholders

 

 

 

 ·      Investor meetings

·      General Meetings

·      Annual Report

·      Press Briefings
Customers

 

 

 ·      Customer visits by Sales and Marketing team

·      Technical support interaction

·      Regular Conferences

·      Trade fairs

·      Product brochures and website
Suppliers

 

 

 ·      Vendor Satisfaction surveys

·      Vendor meetings

·      Vendor capability webinars
Employees

 

 

 ·      CEO talk

·      Employee Surveys

·      Joint Committee forums

·      Company In-House Magazine

·      Let’s Talk and Stay interviews

·      E-mail Communication

·      HR Buddy

·      Ethics Line
Community

 

 

 

 

 ·      Public Hearing

·      Community meeting with Community leaders

·      CSR Cell engagement with community

·      Community Development programmes and events

·      Community Development Newsletter
Regulatory and Government Bodies

 

 ·      Participation is Seminars and events organised by the Regulatory Bodies

·      Making representations whenever required
Industry Bodies and Media

 

 ·      Press Conferences

·      Regional and national conferences and seminars of Industry Bodies

·      Memberships
Educational Institutes

 

 ·      Campus engagement

·      Annual Senior Management Lectures

·      Annual MOU

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics, GFCL conducted a survey to objectively capture the opinion of all stakeholder groups on the importance of sustainability topics. The survey questionnaire was rolled out to approximately 230 individuals across the different stakeholder groups. Out of these, a total of 128 individuals responded by giving a rating against each sustainability topic, based on their view regarding its importance.

What actions were taken by GFCL to promote employee welfare?

In its 2019-20 Sustainability and UNGC Communication on Progress Report GFCL reports that it took the following actions for promoting employee welfare:

  • Offering benefits
  • GFCL’s employee policies and benefits apply to company employees globally at all levels of the organisation while due to local laws and regulations, some policies and benefits vary by country and work location. These benefits include Group Medical Insurance, Personal Accident Insurance, Leaves, Flexi Work schedule, Loans & Advances, Free Transportation, Canteen Facility, Uniform and other Social Security benefits. The company medical insurance scheme voluntarily covers all employees and their immediate families, under a Group Medical scheme. Employees are also covered under an Accident Insurance scheme. GFCL has well-defined policies in place in this regard: ‘HR/33 – Group Medical Insurance’ and ‘HR/34 – Group Personal Accident’ for all employees. These policies are a part of the HR Operations Manual and Employee Handbook. All employees, including trainees and employees on probation, are covered under these policies. All labour/workers of contractors who work in GFCL’s premises are also covered under a group accident insurance scheme, the cost of which is borne by GFCL as the principal employer. In addition to other employee benefits, GFCL also extends social security benefits to its employees which include employer’s contribution to Provident Fund, Pension scheme and ESIC (Employees’ State Insurance Corporation) coverage for employees who are not covered under group medical reimbursement scheme. GFCL also pays Gratuity under Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 to its employees and Bonus or Ex-Gratia at the rate of 20% of the basic salary (to labour/workers of contractors who are working in its premises, too).
  • Promoting work-life balance
  • To facilitate better work-life balance and encourage punctuality and discipline in regularity of attendance among employees, GFCL has an established leave policy for availing leaves as per the entitlement. Benefits on account of flexi-timing system, an alternate Saturday extended weekend, are also provided to employees working in specific offices. Leaves are generally of three types: privilege leave, sick leave and casual leave. GFCL also makes sure that all labour/workers of contractors are provided leaves as per the Factories Act, 1948. In addition, GFCL extends special leave when an employee joins or gets transferred to a new location, to support them during relocation. GFCL applies the following policies in this regard: ‘HR/50 – Guideline on Working Hours’, ‘Late Attendance and Extended Alternate Saturdays Off’ and ‘HR/52 – Guideline on Over Time’. At manufacturing plants, GFCL has a standardised process for the Administration of Overtime. All technicians and trainee technicians in the technician grade/level, as applicable in the respective plants, are covered in this policy. Furthermore, all the women employees are entitled to avail child-care leave as per the Maternity Benefit Act. These matters are covered in the Employee Handbook and awareness sessions are held regularly, with contract workers also offered an awareness programme on these subjects.

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

The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:

1) Disclosure 401-2 Benefits provided to full-time employees that are not provided to temporary or part-time employees

2) Disclosure 401-3 Parental leave

 

Disclosure 401-2 Benefits provided to full-time employees that are not provided to temporary or part-time employees corresponds to:

Disclosure 401-3 Parental leave corresponds to:

 

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, ISEP, 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

See upcoming training dates.
References:

1) This case study is based on published information by GFCL, 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/

Note to GFCL: 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.

The post Case study: How GFCL promotes employee welfare appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

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