Corporate Social Responsibility Policy

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• Introduction
• Aims
  • Aim 1: To maintain strong business ethics
  • Aim 2: To manage our environmental impacts
  • Aim 3: To promote sustainable development through our procurement practices
  • Aim 4: To encourage our staff to be active citizens, committed to high performance and continuous improvement
  • Aim 5: To support the local community
• Implementation
• Monitoring and review
• Assurance

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Introduction

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) for Lesniak Swann means that we take account of the impacts of our activities on the environment, society and the economy. By demonstrating our commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility we aim to align our business values, purpose and strategy with the needs of our clients, whilst embedding such responsible and ethical principles into everything we do.

The elements of this policy set out our overall aims, key activities and targets to continue our efforts in relation to CSR. It covers operations at our main office in Stoke-on-Trent and our approach in dealing with our clients, suppliers and the local community principles in an effort to support reducing our energy, procurement, transport, water use, and other business usage to reduce our carbon footprint and environmental impact.

Aims

This policy is structured around five aims:

• To maintain strong business ethics
• To manage our environmental impacts
• To promote sustainable development through our procurement practices
• To encourage our staff to be active citizens, committed to high performance and continuous improvement
• To support the local community

Aim 1: To maintain strong business ethics

We want to continue to be an organisation that provides the highest levels of public service by embodying high ethical standards and engendering mutual trust and respect among our stakeholders.

We will achieve this through:

• meeting, and where possible, exceeding all relevant legal requirements
• behaving with honesty and integrity in all our activities and relationships with others
• acting ethically and fairly at all times in our dealings with our stakeholders
• maintaining internal controls that are adequate to ensure standards are met.

Aim 2: To manage our environmental impacts

Protection of the environment in which we live and operate is part of Lesniak Swann’s values and principles. We want to continue to be a company that improves its environmental performance continually, prevents pollution, complies with, and where possible exceeds, applicable environmental legislation.

We will commit our company to:

• Complying with all relevant environmental legislation, regulations and approved codes of practice
• Protecting the environment by making the most efficient and effective use of all resources, encouraging and training all staff to develop a sustainable approach to their work
• Minimising carbon emissions from business travel by avoiding unnecessary travel and travelling by public transport unless there are reasons why this is not practicable. Also promoting sustainable modes of transport for commuting to work to employees
• Identifying and implementing cost-effective measures to reduce energy and water consumption
• Seeking to reduce the amount of waste generated and disposed to landfill by maximising the efficient use of materials and resources
• Managing and disposing of all waste in a responsible manner
• Developing our management processes to ensure that environmental factors are considered during planning and implementation.
• Work towards becoming a zero carbon business.

How will we demonstrate our progress?
We will regularly communicate our environmental performance to our employees and other interested parties.

Since implementing this policy we:

• Continue to recommend (for printed items) paper/stock that carries the FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) certification, the internationally recognised standard of responsible forest management
• Have replaced our office recycled paper with ‘Tree Free Paper’ that is made from wheat straw. (Reduced Carbon Footprint from paper mills and no chlorine used for bleaching, keeping rivers cleaner)
• Continue to recycle all ink toners and cartridges
• Have introduced separate recycling bins in the office for paper/cardboard, tins and plastic.
• Continue to have paper recycling facilities for all employees
• Ensuring that we use local suppliers as much as possible to cut down on delivery emissions and travel costs

Aim 3: To promote sustainable development through our procurement practices

We want to continue to be an organisation where our procurement practices deliver value for money from non-pay spend and improvements in areas such as human rights, greenhouse gas emissions, community relations and product recycling.

We will do this through:

• Ensuring that we use local suppliers as much as possible to cut down on delivery emissions and travel costs
• Continue to recycle all ink toners and cartridges

Aim 4: To encourage our staff to be active citizens, committed to high performance and continuous improvement

As a knowledge-based organisation, our continued success depends on the expertise, talent, interpersonal skills and proactivity of our people. To be regarded as effective we need to be responsive to, and trusted by, our stakeholders. We aspire to empower and appreciate each other and operate with the principles of fairness and integrity at all times.

We will seek to achieve this aim through implementing a People Strategy, which articulates our overarching principles in relation to people management and identifies the following aims:

• promote an organisational culture that embodies the Agency ethos and values
• have an approach to human resource management that supports the delivery of Lesniak Swann’s strategy within a continually evolving environment and is based on the organisation’s overarching principles
• attract and retain high calibre people
• provide training opportunities throughout the year with a budget for every individual to undertake appropriate form of training
• enable people to achieve their full potential in delivering Lesniak Swann’s success, and encourage creativity and innovation in appropriate circumstances
• provide people with a healthy, safe working environment in which individuals are treated with respect
• encourage members of the team to support the chosen charity of the year in fund-raising activities and matching the time spent with paid leave.

Aim 5: To support the local community

Lesniak Swann’s mission includes a role to promote and fund high-quality, cost-effective marketing communications, meeting the diverse needs of clients, the economy and society. We also want to be an organisation that continues to undertake initiatives aimed at helping local communities, the communities in which our staff belong.

We will do this through:

• a volunteering policy that enables staff who wish to undertake voluntary activities to do so
• enabling our staff to continue to support charitable organisations every year through voluntary fundraising activities and giving them the time and opportunity to participate in charitable events
• supporting a chosen charity by providing pro-bono work.

How will we demonstrate our progress?

• Continue (since 2008) to unconditionally support a regional charity based in Stoke-on-Trent. This year we support the Samaritans.
• We demonstrate our progress by issuing the amount raised through fund-raising activities for our chosen charity at the end of the financial year. This year we are supporting Young Minds.
• Regularly take work experience students from local Universities and Colleges
• Work closely with the local community, giving young unemployed a chance to enter the labour market, by having members of staff on the governments apprentice scheme.

Implementation

The operational and ultimate responsibility for the commitment to our corporate social responsibility principles lies with the Directors of Lesniak Swann. Every employee of Lesniak Swann Limited is expected to give their full co-operation to the above principles in their activities at work. Clients and suppliers are encouraged to apply our environmental principles.

Monitoring and review

Lesniak Swann will ensure that we benchmark and evaluate what we do in order to constantly improve our competitive edge in the market place. The effectiveness will be monitored and reviewed every year by the Directors to ensure the Company’s continuing compliance with any relevant legislation and to meet new business requirements and to evaluate what we do in order to improve our CSR performance. We will also ensure that all area changes will be brought to the attention of employees as necessary.

Assurance

We seek assurance that the ways we measure our CSR performance are robust through periodic internal review of the methods used to calculate our environmental performance indicators and progress against targets.

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