What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2018/19 Sustainability Report Singapore Airlines identified a range of material issues, such as product and service innovation, employee well-being and development, environmental sustainability, safety performance. Among these, promoting business integrity stands out as a key material issue for Singapore Airlines.

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 Singapore Airlines engages with:

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement
Employees	·      1SQ ·      Chill Out with CEO ·      Digital Innovation Lab Demo Day ·      Learning & Innovation for Everyone ·      Organisational Climate Survey ·      Outlook ·      Staff Ideas-in-Action ·      Transformation Campaign ·      Transformation Pulse Surveys ·      Transformation Website ·      Scoot’s Engagement with Employees ·      SilkAir’s Engagement with Employees ·      Cabin Crew Circular ·      CC Times ·      Crew-in-Charge Briefing Sheet ·      Divisional Yammer Group ·      SharePoint ·      Crew Engagement Sessions ·      Fleet e-Newsletters ·      Fleet Talks ·      Flight Operations Notices ·      Internal Notice to Airmen and Flight Staff Instructions ·      Divisional Yammer Group (Flight Chatter) ·      New Mailbox for Dissemination of Company-related News ·      Provision of Company iPads to Pilots ·      Series of Senior Vice President Flight Operations’ (SVPFO) Six-monthly Updates ·      Technical Crew Circulars ·      Divisional Charity Activities ·      Divisional Gatherings and Celebrations ·      Fleet Chill Out Session ·      Fleet Dialogues ·      Fleet Meetings ·      Flight Operations Get-Togethers ·      Instructor Meetings ·      Operations and Training Symposium ·      Quarterly Ground Staff Briefing ·      Safety Focus Forums ·      Safety Symposium ·      SVPFO’s Dialogues
Customers	·      Enhancement of HighFlyer Programme ·      Ensure Positive Customer Experience at Customer Touchpoints ·      ‘Kris’ the Chatbot ·      KrisFlyer Programme Enhancements ·      Seamless Access to Mobile Boarding Passes Via Google Pay ·      Timely Follow-up on Customer Feedback ·      Cabin Products ·      In-flight Dining ·      In-flight Entertainment System ·      In-flight Sustainability Initiatives ·      KrisPay Mobile App ·      SilverKris Lounge
Shareholders	·      Annual General Meeting ·      Dialogue with Shareholders ·      Disclosure of Pertinent Information ·      Engagement by Subsidiaries’ Senior Management
Suppliers	·      Regular Audits ·      Regular Discussions ·      Regular Engagement ·      Service Level Agreements ·      Adjust Uplift Quantities ·      Purchase Locally-sourced Products ·      Sustainable Seafood Sources

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics Singapore Airlines engaged with its stakeholders through written and digital communications, face-to-face dialogues and briefings.

What actions were taken by Singapore Airlines to promote business integrity?

In its 2018/19 Sustainability Report Singapore Airlines reports that it took the following actions for promoting business integrity:

• Implementing a whistleblowing programme
• Singapore Airlines has channels for employees, stakeholders and the public to raise concerns about possible improprieties in any matter confidentially, and implements a whistleblowing programme called ‘Policy on Reporting Wrongdoing’. The programme is communicated to employees through Singapore Airlines’ internal Intranet, Staff Regulations and a mandatory web-based training module. Employees, stakeholders and the public may report suspected matters of wrongdoing affecting the company either through email or via telephone. The Audit Committee constantly reviews the whistleblowing programme to make sure it is adequate and all whistleblowers’ reports on suspected wrongdoings are reviewed by the Audit Committee at its quarterly meetings, to ensure independent investigation and adequate resolution. In FY2018/19, there were no confirmed incidents of corruption involving Singapore Airlines’ employees or business partners. There were also no legal cases of corruption brought against Singapore Airlines.

• Addressing conflicts of interest
• Singapore Airlines has a policy on conflicts of interest which requires employees in a conflict of interest situation or in one which could potentially lead to a conflict of interest, to report the matter to the company. The policy requires all employees to make a declaration of all actual and potential conflict of interest situations to the Human Resources Division, once a year.

• Providing anti-corruption training
• Anti-corruption policies and procedures are communicated to Singapore Airlines employees through a web-based training module. The module includes information and assessments regarding Singapore Airlines’ anti-corruption policy. Employees receive email notifications which encourage them to complete the web-based training, while business partners and service providers are required to sign contracts which include an anti-corruption and anti-bribery clause. Singapore Airlines aims to have at least 95 per cent of employees required to take the anti-corruption training complete it by the due date every year. This percentage excludes line pilots and cabin crew, as they do not need to enter into transactions on behalf of the company in the ordinary course of their work. In FY2018/19, 5,311 ground employees were required to complete the anti-corruption training and 5,041 (94.9 per cent) completed it, including 388 (out of a total of 407) holding managerial positions.

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

The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:

1) Disclosure 205-2 Communication and training about anti-corruption policies and procedures

2) Disclosure 205-3 Confirmed incidents of corruption and actions taken

 

Disclosure 205-2 Communication and training about anti-corruption policies and procedures corresponds to:

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
• Business theme: Anti-corruption

Disclosure 205-3 Confirmed incidents of corruption and actions taken corresponds to:

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
• Business theme: Anti-corruption 

 

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References:

1) This case study is based on published information by Singapore Airlines, 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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