Corporate responsibility management

Corporate responsibility is integrated in Hansel’s strategy, and it is considered an enabling factor applying to all operations, in the same way as digitalisation, competence, innovation and efficiency are. In the Executive Committee, corporate responsibility is included in the Director of Finance’s job description, and he/she functions as the chair of the Corporate Responsibility Team. In the Board of Directors, there is no designated member who is in charge of responsibility. In its meetings, the Board of Directors has regularly discussed matters related to corporate responsibility, and it has also encouraged the management to stress the importance of the Code of Ethics to the personnel.

The Corporate Responsibility Team, which convenes regularly, consists of experts from various functions within the organisation, such as financial administration, the legal team, category management, procurement development, tendering process and communications. The basis for the corporate responsibility work is the company’s strategy, which is implemented in the form of various projects and activities. The Corporate Responsibility Team is also in charge of responsibility-related working instructions and processes.

Distribution of information regarding responsibility matters and providing internal support in tendering projects are important parts of corporate responsibility efforts. Team members participate in corporate responsibility related events and training sessions organised by various stakeholders. In addition, Hansel employees themselves provide training in various events focusing on responsible procurement.

Some corporate responsibility efforts are carried out with central procurement units in other countries. Cooperation between the Nordic countries, in particular, has been strengthened by sharing information and exchanging experiences. To support corporate responsibility efforts, the expertise of various organisations was also made more extensive use of than before: in 2017, Hansel collaborated with Finnwatch, WWF, Open Knowledge Finland and the Finnish Association of People with Physical Disabilities.

There are still challenges in the measuring of how environmental and social responsibility targets are met, and practices are under development. There has been talk about a practice similar to Hansel’s ecolabel for other elements of corporate responsibility, too. Terms and conditions regarding social responsibility have been included in agreements, but auditing practices are still being determined.