JUST GROUP PLC Annual Report and Accounts 2020
52
non-financial information statement continued
3. Social • We give back to the communities in which we operate and are committed to good corporate citizenship, supporting charity and community initiatives which are relevant to our business, colleagues, customers and other stakeholders. Our colleagues also benefit from participating in our social activities. The risk to the business from our social impacts is considered to be low. • During the year, Just pledged support to the COVID-19 Support Fund, teaming up with a number of other businesses from the UK insurance industry, to help support some of the people hardest hit by the COVID-19 crisis. • We have been investing in our communities to help older adults get active for a happier, healthier life through our programme, Just Get Active. Further information about our community programme can be found on our website www.justgetactive.co.uk. • For further information about our social and volunteering activities and the impacts, see our Colleagues and culture report on page 40. 4. Human rights • While the Board considers that the risk of human rights violations is low, we have implemented effective systems and controls to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place anywhere in our supply chains or in any part of our business anywhere we operate. Our Modern Slavery Statement available on our Group website provides further information. We conduct due diligence on potential suppliers, impose obligations on those suppliers and monitor their compliance with those obligations. • We have a responsibility to protect our customers’ privacy when processing and using their data. We handle our customers’ sensitive personal data and it is important that this is used appropriately and protected. All of our colleagues, including those who are not customer facing, are trained on data protection and internal communications campaigns are used to remind staff of the importance of data privacy. Rigorous steps are taken to ensure the security of all the personal data we handle. • We are cognisant that a number of our customers could be vulnerable and we want to ensure that all of our customers receive the right support, the right outcome and an appropriate level of care. Our policy defines our approach to ensuring vulnerable customers receive consistently fair treatment across our Group. Relevant training and support is provided to our colleagues to enable them to identify and give support to vulnerable customers. 5. Anti-corruption and anti-bribery • We have a Group financial crime policy which is a zero tolerance policy. This policy helps us to prevent and detect financial crime. Our Group whistleblowing policy, and our whistleblowing hotline, encourages colleagues to report any wrongdoing. All such reports are fully investigated and appropriate remedial actions taken. • We have a comprehensive mandatory compliance training programme which covers the above policies as well as other important areas of compliance which all colleagues must complete on an annual basis. Completion is monitored by the Compliance team and reported to the Board, with repeated failure to complete the training being a disciplinary matter.
THE OUTCOME OF OUR POLICIES ON OUR MATERIAL AREAS OF IMPACT 1. Environment • The direct impact of our operations on the environment is relatively low due to the office based nature of our work. The Group is UK based with a small operation in South Africa. We are committed to reducing our environmental impact, including: the amount of travel undertaken by all of our colleagues; reducing our office footprint; and applying environmental standards through our Group procurement and outsourcing policy. • During the year, the majority of colleagues have worked remotely in accordance with government guidance due to COVID-19. The Group ensured that its technology was fit for purpose to enable secure remote working, which supports the wider initiative to modernise our workplace and reduce our carbon footprint over the medium to longer term. • We are committed to promoting good corporate environmental practice and have ISO 14001:2015 certification. • During the year the Group issued a Green Bond, the first insurance company in the UK to do so. The Group has committed to invest the proceeds of the bond in eligible green projects. Further information can be found on page 18. • Information about our Investment team and their sustainable investment strategy and framework is included on page 18. • Information on the steps we are taking to reduce our impact on the environment, including the greenhouse gas emissions for which we are responsible, is set out in our Environment report on page 38. 2. Colleagues • Building our organisational resilience, strengthening our talent and capabilities, and ensuring colleagues feel proud to work at Just is a strategic priority for us. • The Group has broadened its diversity and inclusion strategy in five areas: increasing diverse representation, particularly at senior levels; strengthening leadership focus and accountability for diversity and inclusion; ensuring all groups have equal opportunity for progression and development; educating on bias and developing the inclusive culture; and fostering belonging through supporting people to be themselves. The Board sponsor for diversity and inclusion is the Group Chief Executive Officer. • There is an active programme under way to improve Board diversity. The Board adopted a new Board diversity policy during the year. Further information on this policy and the steps taken to improve Board diversity can be found in the Nomination Committee report on pages 68 to 70. • Gender diversity across senior roles has increased by five percentage points to 24% and we are on track to achieve our pledge as a signatory to the Women in Finance Charter that 33% of senior leaders will be female by 2023. Just has also signed up to the Race at Work Charter which is designed to foster a public commitment to improving outcomes of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic employees in the workplace. • We have increased the range of wellbeing support and guidance for our colleagues built around mental, physical, social and financial wellbeing. This includes the support of Mental Health First Aiders and the launch of the corporate version of the Headspace App, described as a “gym membership for the mind”. • We have policies and provide training to help ensure that our colleagues act ethically and do the right thing in the performance of their work. Our activities to help our colleagues feel proud to work at Just and our compliance policies work together to help mitigate against colleagues acting unethically. • We have taken important steps in the critical areas of building a modern workplace and we have engaged with colleagues to obtain their views on what they would like our ways of working to be in the future.
Powered by FlippingBook