Group Social Objectives 2006-2010
In the “2005 Report to Shareholders and Society” Umicore introduced five Group social objectives for the period 2006–2010. They are part of the overall Group Sustainable Development objectives. The objectives offer flexibility for all the sites to contribute at their own pace to the overall 2010 target.
The social objectives apply to 84 sites. This number is significantly higher compared to the 2006 reporting (63 sites), since most non industrial sites have now been included. The external report verifier (ERM CVS) reviewed the actions related to the objectives as part of its verification activities.
In the summary graph, the status is reported as a percentage of the total number of sites, using the following definitions:
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“objective met”: the improvement plan is fully deployed at the site
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“actions ongoing”: actions are being analyzed and prioritized and the improvement plan is being developed but not yet fully deployed
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“actions yet to start”: no specific actions have yet been taken
In this section, more details are provided on the status of each social objective and additional key performance indicators are reported upon using the Group social data management system.
In 2006, these objectives were deployed for the first time. Some sites found it difficult to grasp their full extent. This is why intensive training and communication efforts have been made in order to increase the accuracy of the reported progress. Particularly the progress made on social objectives 1 (accountability to the local community) and 2 (preferred employer) is linked to these efforts.
In order to facilitate a comparison with 2007, the 2006 numbers have been adjusted following the carve-out of the zinc alloys business and the progress reported during 2006 has been “rebased” as a result of a clarified understanding of the social objectives.
Recent acquisitions which were closed in the final quarter of 2007 have not yet been added to the reporting on the social objectives and key performance indicators, with the exception of the headcount numbers and the related gender statistics.