Social responsibility is an integral part of both our strategy and our daily operations. Managerial responsibilities for social responsibility are aligned with our hierarchical structure and our CEO has final responsibility for all social responsibility issues. Furthermore, all managing directors on divisional and entity level are responsible for implementing TNT’s social responsibility policies and for the performance of their own organisational entity. This includes responsibility for implementing the management systems, incorporating social responsibility in contracts with subcontractors, caring for local communities and improving our social responsibility performance.
In 2007 we further integrated social responsibility in the hierarchical structure by setting quantitative internal targets for 2008 in the operational areas of energy efficiency and health and safety. This will result in further integration of social responsibility in general policy-setting and increased social responsibility awareness amongst senior management.
Now that the majority of Mail and Express are certified to the five standards, the management cycle for these standards is fully aligned with general management policies, procedures, monitoring and evaluation plans within TNT.
Social responsibility governance structure
Supervisory Board and Public Affairs Committee
The Public Affairs Committee is a Supervisory Board committee that acts as a sounding board and advisory committee for the Board of Management with respect to formulating, developing, monitoring and reporting on the company’s social and environmental policies. The Public Affairs Committee presents all material findings and recommendations to the Supervisory Board for consideration.
This year, the main topics of discussion were the social responsibility reports, health and safety, Planet Me and the liberalisation of the mail market in Europe and in the Netherlands.
The Public Affairs Committee consists of at least three Supervisory Board members and discussed these topics during five meetings in 2007.
Board of Management
In 2007 the Board of Management discussed the improved policy on health and safety, the new quantitative internal social responsibility targets and Planet Me.
Additionally, as the CEO chaired the customer dialogue, there was closer involvement of the Board of Management in the stakeholder dialogues.
Our new health and safety policy has a stronger focus on reporting compliance. This is seen as an enabler to eliminate root cause on health and safety-related incidents and to allow us to share best practices quickly and efficiently.
The expertise and knowledge of the Board of Management is judged increasingly on non-financial expertise, whereby issues such as customer satisfaction and instilling pride are important qualifications. The Board of Management’s knowledge of and expertise in social responsibility is extended by involvement in various initiatives such as the Clinton Foundation, discussions with internationally-acknowledged (academic) experts and implementing programmes such as Moving the World and Planet Me.
SR Working Party
The working party is responsible for developing policies regarding social responsibility (SR) issues. Proposals must be agreed upon within the working party, which are then presented to the Board of Management. The working party is chaired by the Group Head Office SR director. Other members include the divisional SR directors, the Group Head Office SR manager, the Moving the World director and members of the central works council and the European works council.
TNT Group Head Office
The Group Head Office SR director and Group Head Office SR manager are responsible for identifying and addressing corporate needs regarding social responsibility. Additionally, they provide the divisions with relevant information, tools and resources to facilitate implementation.
Divisions
The divisional SR directors are responsible for implementing the agreed proposals regarding social responsibility issues and for identifying and addressing the divisional SR needs. They provide the reporting entities with relevant information, tools and resources to facilitate implementation.
Reporting entities
The reporting entities assist in identifying and addressing the social responsibility strategy that is set by the divisions and TNT Group Head Office. They are responsible for submitting the data in line with the definitions and in accordance with the quality criteria.
Reporting governance for social responsibility
In 2007 several steps were taken to further align SR reporting with financial reporting.
In 2007 we evaluated our process for reporting and review and we are in the process of finalising a Manual for Reporting and Review which will enable us to improve the process of monitoring, internal review and reporting. We have also commenced internal social responsibility audits performed by our Corporate Audit Services (CAS). For further details on the involvement of Corporate Audit Services see “Scope of the report”. For group governance, please refer to chapter 6 of our 2007 annual report.
In addition to the TNT SR report, all entities are provided with an entity report covering their own performance compared to the divisional performance. This allows them to benchmark their performance and to identify areas open for improvement.