Sustainability HOW WE OPERATE

Our business principles provide a guide to how the Group, the Board and all of our colleagues should behave towards our customers, other colleagues, our suppliers and our local, national and international community. They are set out in our "little book of house rules" which all of our colleagues receive on induction, and all colleagues are appraised against them. We also use our business principles in our colleague communications.

As well as forming part of our business principles, the individual topics which we report against below form part of the role accountabilities of our Executive Board members and are regular agenda items for the Board and Executive Board.

The chart below details how our sustainability activities are embedded in our business.

Our Business Principles

Board

  • Overall responsibility for our sustainability
  • Oversight of the business principles
  • Approves policies
  • Executive members have line responsibility for managing specific topics
  • Monitors progress through KPIs and Board reports
  • Annual presentations on people, Health and Safety and ethical sourcing

Executive Board

  • Role models for the business principles
  • Members have line responsibility for managing specific topics
  • Approves policies prior to submission to Board
  • Regular Executive Board meeting agenda items
  • Monitors progress through KPIs, Board reports and customer and colleague feedback

Colleagues

  • Appraised by reference to our business principles
  • Provide feedback of customer and colleague suggestions via our engagement survey, Yammer and colleague council

How we engage

Customers: through customer care, online surveys and social media

Colleagues: weekly email from the CEO, in-house magazine, Colleagues' Council, Yammer (in-house communication tool), instant communication from stores, and "always on" engagement survey

Suppliers: annual conference and meetings throughout the year

Others: social media, corporate website