“Doing business in a responsible, sustainable way goes hand-in-hand with doing business successfully.”
Tim Breedon, Group Chief Executive
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Doing business in a responsible, sustainable way goes hand-in-hand with doing business successfully. It is one way we ensure we have a long term future as a trusted and well-regarded financial services organisation.
Much of Legal & General’s effort and investment is channelled through our Corporate Social Responsibility – CSR – activity. We are proud of what we do but aim to refine and improve our work continually here, as in every other part of the business.
In 2007, consumer research on Corporate Responsibility told us we must be clear about what we stand for. We must also communicate what we do, and why we do it. Our work in 2007 included a diverse range of projects and achievements, but I’d like to pick out a few themes.
Commitment to Community
We are committed to supporting the communities where we operate, so we invest money and employee time in the locations where we are a major employer. In 2007, we committed £2.4m to these activities across the UK. Both parties gain: local initiatives receive additional support and we participate in the community as a good local employer.
In December, our Chairman, Sir Rob Margetts, and I hosted our 2007 “Making a Difference Awards”. Once again, the awards showcased some outstanding local contributions made by employees, with support from Legal & General.
Commitment to Socially Responsible Investment
The scale of the investments we manage on behalf of customers makes us owners of almost 5% of the UK stockmarket. As socially responsible investors, we use our ownership position to persuade investee companies to run their businesses in line with the ABI’s Environmental Social Governance Principles. This work is done by a specialist team within Legal & General Investment Management. They met with 100 companies last year and actively followed up with 29 of them on issues which we felt mattered to the sustainable, long term success of those companies.
Commitment to Employees
Our CSR programme also focuses on employees. In 2007 we celebrated the 10th anniversary of working in partnership with our union, Unite. During that time, we believe that partnership working has become an important part of the Legal & General culture. Employee interests are considered as part of our business decisions. This helps us to embrace change in a fast-moving market place.
One initiative this year was forming an Equality and Diversity Steering Committee, chaired by my Executive Director colleague, Kate Avery. This has raised awareness of equality and diversity issues among employees. I am encouraged by the feedback we have received.
Commitment to Environment
We are committed to reduce our Environmental impact. Paper, energy, effective transport use and the effective management of our Commercial Property Portfolio form the basis of our ISO 14001 environmental management system. Our approach is to manage and reduce our consumption of environmental resources. We feel that this is more effective than merely buying carbon offsets.
I’m disappointed that we missed our 2007 C02 targets on our Group car fleet. We committed to reduce emissions to an average of 160g C02 per kilometre. We achieved an average of 163g per kilometre. In 2008 we will revisit this as well as aiming to reduce the mileage we have to drive in support of the business.
Supply Chain
Our CSR commitment extends to our supply chain. Our approach to supplier management is designed to reward suppliers and contractors for taking the right approach to managing their businesses and to supply chain sustainability. Last year’s winners of our Making a Difference Supplier Awards were Chem-Dry UK, for excellent work in supporting flood victims in Northern England.
Stakeholder Engagement
Many of these activities gain outside recognition. We are rated as an investment stock in the FTSE4Good Index and Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes. In 2007, we maintained our “Gold” Award from the Charities Aid Foundation for organisations with over 10% of their employees participating in the Give as You Earn Scheme.
We are visible and transparent with regard to our CSR activities to our peer group and other UK companies through membership of the London Benchmarking Group and Business in the Community Index.
Looking Forward
Looking forward to 2008, Legal & General’s commitment to being a positive influence as an investor, an employer and as a consumer will remain high on the agenda. We have a great chance to influence others in pursuit of a socially responsible agenda and to ensure good, sustainable returns for our clients and shareholders.
Tim Breedon
Group Chief Executive
