Our corporate social responsibility framework
The Group’s framework of priorities covers four key areas: our community; our environment; our marketplace; and our workplace. This framework is called the Group’s scorecard. These four areas are relevant to all our business activities and reflect our core values.
Our community
Wherever we do business, our priority is to contribute positively to the communities that we serve. Community health is at the centre of this activity. Through our network of pharmacies and the independent pharmacies we supply, we can reach millions of people in many countries.
Being a good neighbour means encouraging employees to share their expertise to help people lead healthier lifestyles. This is why we provide employees with opportunities to devote their time, energy and talent to supporting causes that matter through volunteering.
Our environment
At Alliance Boots, we are determined to be a leader and an example to others in addressing the threat of climate change.
We pursue many practical activities which contribute to the overall reduction of our carbon footprint.
Our marketplace
Wherever we work, our values come alive and underpin our mission to make Alliance Boots the world’s leading pharmacy-led health and beauty group. We are responsible for bringing these values to life for our customers and partners, every day, wherever we operate.
Our workplace
For a group that is all about helping people look and feel better, it is second nature to make the health and wellbeing of our own employees a very high priority. It is one of the main reasons why so many are proud to work for Alliance Boots and eager to play their part in building a sustainable group.
We continue to support our people through training and development so that they can successfully meet the challenges of our industry.
The Alliance Boots scorecard
Every year, after consultation with our stakeholders, we review the Group’s priorities in each of these four areas and, where appropriate, set new revised priorities within which targets can be set for the year ahead. For example in 2009/10, our priorities will focus on community healthcare (community); carbon management (environment); product sustainability (marketplace) and healthy workplaces (workplace).
All the principal businesses in the Group have their own scorecard based on these four key areas and, with the Group’s priorities in mind, set their own programmes and targets as appropriate.
Each principal business has a corporate social responsibility ‘action group’, with a ‘champion’ who has overall responsibility for the day to day running of our corporate social responsibility agenda, and for delivering against locally set targets. Guidance and additional expertise are available if required from a member of our corporate social responsibility management team within the Group, referred to as a ‘buddy’.
The key to the success of our Group-wide corporate social responsibility strategy is the recognition that businesses across the Group face different challenges. Therefore, it is necessary to have a support structure which helps each individual business to develop and take ownership of a corporate social responsibility programme that is appropriate to local circumstances, while remaining within the Alliance Boots framework.
Data management processes
We have a Group-wide approach to recording, measuring and reporting on our corporate social responsibility performance. We have a defined set of reporting criteria and have developed a set of corporate social responsibility measures and performance indicators, which are in line with Global Reporting Initiative guidelines and are applicable to all parts of the Group.
The corporate social responsibility data is collected in all businesses using a web-based management system. We have a comprehensive data verification process in place. The information entered by the businesses is first reviewed by the relevant Finance Director and then reviewed at Group level by our Head of Corporate Social Responsibility. The corporate social responsibility data captured is used to inform and assist in the development of each business’ own corporate social responsibility programme.
We have continued to participate in the Business in the Community Corporate Responsibility Index, again achieving ‘gold’ performance standard in June 2009. We scored 91.5% in the assessment carried out for the year ended 2008/09. We continue to be proud of our record in the Corporate Responsibility Index, which is a pre-eminent public measure of corporate social responsibility and sustainability engagement in the UK.
