Sustainability
Sustainability framework
The impact of climate change and social inequality has become more and more evident, highlighting the need for common cause, understanding and purpose.
We recognise that people are the enabler of our business and a critical resource that needs to be empowered. As a Group that serves virtually all industry sectors, it is our responsibility to ensure that we contribute to the success of our host nations. We use the United Nation’s 17 SDGs, which provide a comprehensive definition of sustainability, as a guideline. We identified the SDGs that are most relevant to us: Good health and wellbeing; Gender equality; Decent work and economic growth; Industry, innovation and infrastructure; and Responsible consumption and production. Using these SDGs as guidelines, we are able to assess the impact we are making, through our basket of services and goods as well as our operations and corporate citizenship activities.
In FY2021, Bidvest established an ESG Framework which is a culmination of our sustainability ambitions, focused on the areas where we can make the biggest difference with specified targets and metrics. These medium-term targets were used to determine specific ESG performance hurdles in the incentive scorecards. The consistent, focused attention on six key metrics yielded great momentum and results during FY2022.
Looking ahead, there is more to be done. As one of the largest employers in SA where inequality and unemployment is widespread, we are contemplating an emphasis, through a greater weighting, on the social component, both from a people and broader socio-economic perspective, of sustainability in incentive scorecards from FY2024 onwards.
Gillian McMahon
Executive director
Executive director
Commitments
To conduct profitable business in a responsible and accountable manner
To care for the Bidvest family and the Group’s connected societies
To drive positive change through partnerships and social dialogue
Objectives
Preserve empowering decentralised governance model
Nurture people and business diversity
Unlock value through innovation and efficiencies
Represent responsibly made products
Maintain financial strength through growth, focus and discipline
Targets
Inclusive employer with females at all levels making up 45%, and African people representing 50% of the SA businesses’ management by 2025
Reduce carbon, water and waste footprint by a further 20% by 2025
Become SA’s leader in supply chain transformation by targeting more than 90% of local sourcing from suppliers that have a Level 4 or better B-BBEE rating
Ensure that 100% of our tier 1 suppliers are compliant and responsible in their dealings, that we contribute to the circular economy while protecting and enhancing livelihoods
Actively manage cybersecurity risk to a global benchmark 25% IT hygiene score, continuously assessed by ALICE (Bidvest's AI 'employee')
Measuring our performance
Social: Caring for the Bidvest family and driving positive change through partnerships and social dialogue
In line with SDGs aimed at good health and wellbeing and gender equality, the Group is committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace with equal opportunities conducive to learning and personal development. The social element of ESG is of particular importance to Bidvest as it is one of the largest private sector employers and touches multiple sectors and communities. Furthermore, through its operations, the Group continues to promote and offer out-of-home hygiene services and integrated facilities management services in order to support safe and healthy occupational environments.
The Group is proud to be a deep-rooted corporate citizen in SA, as it is highly engaged in community development activities, with a particular focus on enhancing education, health, economic advancement and diversity. Investing in communities and human capital and supporting local suppliers, affords us the opportunity to operate, do business in and draw skills from the communities in which we operate. The Group’s operations are focused on gender diversity with considerable initiatives directed towards individual development.
| Topic | Our aim | We will | Measurement | FY2019 base |
FY2025 target |
FY2022 actual |
||
|
Social |
S1 |
Diversity | To be an inclusive employer where everyone is treated equally with females at all levels making up 45% and African people 50% in SA operations by 2025 |
We will actively manage appointments at top, senior and middle-management to achieve race and gender diversity | ||||
| Total employees: | ||||||||
| Female | 45% |
45% |
43% |
|||||
| African |
50% |
67% |
||||||
| Gender and race split at top, senior and middle-management; % appointments: |
||||||||
| Female | 36% | 45% | 37% | |||||
| Appointments – female | 29% | |||||||
| African | 34% | 50% | 35% | |||||
| Appointments – African | 11% | |||||||
|
S2 |
Occupational hygiene and safety |
Provide safe working environment by reducing workplace injuries by 5% per annum |
Reduce workplace injuries, both serious and nonserious | LTIFR (major injuries) | 1.92 | 5% annual reduction |
2.68 |
|
| Fatalities | 4 |
11 |
||||||
| Implement learnings from particular incidents and regular training | # of employees trained on Health and Safety | 90 181 | ||||||
|
S3 |
Wellbeing | Protect and enhance livelihoods and wellbeing of our employees | Support employees through enterprise wide employee wellness programme and initiatives | # employees that participated | 79 993 | |||
| Continuously develop the skills of our employees and in industries in which we operate |
# learnerships, internships and apprenticeships |
5 596 participants; 406 absorbed | ||||||
|
S4
|
Labour practices and human rights in our own operations and supply chain |
To protect and advance livelihoods | Protect and treat our own people fairly | # lost CCMA cases | 77 | |||
| Engage with tier 1 suppliers to ensure that they have adopted the commitments described in our Code of Ethical Purchasing (industry standard or equivalent labour assessment) | % offshore suppliers being compliant as measured by self disclosure |
100% |
66% | |||||
|
S6 |
Supply chain transformation |
To support local businesses in their growth aspirations |
Source locally from B-BBEE compliant suppliers. Goal is >90% sourcing from local suppliers with a Level 4, or better rating, by 2025 | % local procurement from compliant suppliers |
50% |
>90% |
74% |
Environment: Conduct profitable business in a responsible and accountable manner
In line with SDGs aimed at affordable and clean energy and climate action, the Group is focused on energy and water efficiency, responsible waste management, and innovative solutions to aid customer sustainability.
Bidvest’s environmental footprint is largely concentrated in its Freight operations, Bidair Cargo, laundries and the businesses with extensive operational networks, which collectively represent the vast majority of Group emissions and water usage.
| Topic | Our aim | We will | Measurement | FY2019 base |
FY2025 target |
FY2022 actual |
||
|
Environmental |
E1 |
Own carbon footprint | To reduce the emission intensity of our operations by 20% by 2025 from the 2019 base | Continue to improve energy efficiency, shift our energy consumption to lower emission sources, invest in renewable sources and configure our properties to be environmentally-smart |
Scope 1 and 2 emissions intensity |
4.33 |
3.46 |
3.07 |
| % electricity sourced from renewables | 1% | 2% | ||||||
|
E2 |
Resource use | To reduce the waste generated and water intensity in our operations by 20% by 2025 from the 2019 base | Step up waste recycling efforts | Quantum of recycled waste (ton) | 511 413 | 2 117 298 | ||
| % of waste generated recycled | 3% | 96% | ||||||
| Increase recycled raw material content in products and packaging whilst also making it more environmentally friendly | % product and packaging content from recycled material | Refer commentary | ||||||
| Reduce the net quantum of water used taking into account recycling | Net water intensity | 24.91 |
19.93 |
18.41 |
||||
| Source product from supply chain partners that are responsible in their dealings and achieve 100% compliance by 2025 and contribute to the circular economy |
Engage with these tier 1 suppliers to ensure that they have adopted the commitments described in our Ethical Purchasing Code (industry standard or equivalent environmental assessment) |
% offshore suppliers being compliant as measured by self disclosure |
100% |
66% |
||||
| Introduce the recovery/take-back of product at the end of life |
Quantum of items recovered | Refer commentary |
Governance: Doing the right thing even when no one else is looking
Bidvest has a deeply entrenched functional governance structure that places significant reliance on the ethical behaviour of all employees. This places a very high hurdle of responsibility and accountability on everyone. Rather than having many policies and manuals, we have a Code of Ethics that sets out our behaviour. When someone missteps, decisive action is taken, and communicated back into the business. An authority matrix forms the backbone of day-to-day governance.
Formal reporting structures complement business-level processes that result in dynamic and iterative risk assessments and mitigation actions. Relevant management and executive committees have been structured into each of the seven divisions. These in turn report into divisional boards, represented by the divisional exco as well as representatives from Bidvest’s corporate office executives. Matters from these divisional board meetings are escalated further to the Exco, which is attended by the Group directors and functional executives (covering strategy, M&A, finance, transformation, ESG, business development) as well as the seven divisional CEOs. The three executive directors in turn report into the main Group board of directors, directly or through the established committees.
ALICE, the Group’s autonomous, intelligent capability robot (see page 60), has become embedded in the operations of each of the environments across the Group as our governance mindset has shifted from annual audit, risk and compliance reviews to continuous monitoring of their control environments.
| Topic | Our aim | We will | Measurement | FY2019 base |
FY2025 target |
FY2022 actual |
||
|
Governance |
G1 | Ethics | To conduct business with uncompromising integrity |
Be honest, respectful and accountable at all times to all stakeholders |
Cases reported via the Ethics Line and the resolution thereof |
146 | ||
| Transparently and actively monitor and manage product and service safety as well as regulatory compliance |
# of product recalls | 10 | ||||||
| # regulatory violations/fines | 0 | |||||||
| G2 | Governance structures |
To provide assurance to all stakeholders through independent oversight |
Uphold the established governance structures and have a B-BBEE Level 2 rating by 2025 |
B-BBEE audited rating | L3 |
L2 |
L3* |
|
| % board independent | 75% | |||||||
| G3 | Risk management |
Identify material risks, qualitative and
quantitative, and mitigating them |
Formulate mitigating actions for all identified material risks | Risk register | Refer pg 6 | |||
| G4 | Data privacy | To comply with legislation and reduce ITsecurity risks |
Deploy ALICE across all businesses to continuously assess data governance and basic IT hygiene. We target a score of 25% or lower by 2023 | ALICE IT score |
<25% |
33% |
||
| # of reported cyber/information breaches | 6 | |||||||
| Implement a data privacy framework and raise internal awareness | # of employees trained | 35% externally trained; balance internal awareness |