The development of staff and employment practices

As an international group with a presence in a number of developing countries, we focus significant resource on the employment and development of local employees both to improve our operations in those countries and to bring benefit to the wider local community. In doing so, we recognise that the success of our business is dependent upon the quality, commitment and behaviour of our employees. Accordingly, we provide clear policies and direction to our managers and strive for the highest standards in management practices, delivering training and development programmes and reward arrangements which are tailored to meet the needs of our business and the local markets in which we operate.

We continue to develop a performance-driven culture which supports motivated people who are passionate about our future. We believe that to achieve our business objectives we should encourage our employees to embrace our CANDO values and reflect those values in everything which they do. We aim to retain and develop our employees and to help them to fulfil their career potential. The employment policies of the Group embody the principles of equal opportunity irrespective of race, colour, religion, age, sex or marital status and these are fundamental to the way in which we conduct our business. We operate procedures to support the Group's policy that disabled persons shall be fairly considered for appropriate employment and subsequent training and career development.

We expect employees to operate to high ethical standards in all their business dealings and this is reflected in the Group's own stance on business ethics. PZ Cussons has no involvement whatsoever in the use of child labour or forced labour in any of its businesses and audits suppliers to ensure that they comply with the Group's standards on this issue. We also take steps to ensure full compliance with applicable national laws and industry standards on working hours and all other employment regulations. As part of the ongoing review of staff welfare and benefits, the Group continues to make available to all UK employees an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP). The EAP is a 24 hour phone helpline which is available to employees should they wish to discuss any issues, personal or work related, in confidence with a trained professional. The objective of the EAP is to assist in the identification and resolution of the various problems, strains and issues which everyone faces from time to time and which can affect work performance. Surveys are undertaken to measure and monitor employee satisfaction within the Group. The results of these surveys are used to improve communication, motivation and engagement across the business.

During the year, we have also completed the roll-out of the ‘Speak Up’ policy which was first implemented in the UK and Asia during 2008. ‘Speak Up’ has been established to encourage employees to voice any concerns which they might have in respect of business practices throughout the Group and is designed to ensure that employees may report any such issues, confidentially and without fear of recrimination, through a telephone hotline and online facility provided by a third party expert. ‘Speak Up’ is particularly focused on any allegation or concern of malpractice (including concerns over breaches of health and safety, criminal activity or fraud and breaches of local laws or environmental regulations) and incorporates procedures which ensure that any such issues can be brought promptly to the attention of the Board and addressed at the earliest opportunity.

In addition, during 2009:

  • the Group continued to evolve graduate development schemes in developing world territories. These schemes include extensive formal and informal training we ran training programmes in manufacturing environments to ensure that we meet international standards throughout our manufacturing processes in terms of quality, environment and health and safety
  • we continued to offer a wide range of development opportunities which support continuous professional and personal development to all people in our organisation
  • the Group invested significantly in its premises in a number of developing countries to ensure that local employees have a good working environment which is conducive to productive work. In particular, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc (a company listed on the Lagos Stock Exchange in which the Group holds a majority share) is one of the largest companies in Nigeria with a high reputation as an employer of choice
  • as part of our commitment to our employees, we continued to expand our work/life balance programmes to encourage people to balance their work life with their personal life through flexible hours of working, job sharing and opportunities to work from home
  • we continued the roll-out of a Groupwide incentive programme from senior management to factory level
  • we developed our Employee Involvement Groups and continued to provide regular business performance updates and presentations to staff at all levels of the business.