Our approach to communicating CR
CR Reporting
This year reporting our CR report consists of this online performance report, with a supplementary summary of our key activities in 2008 available here. In addition our publication Living Corporate Responsibility explores the material issues facing our business.
In this report we detail our progress in 2008 and provide data on our performance. Further information on our principles, policies and performance can be accessed from the responsibility landing page. Copies of Living Corporate Responsibility are available from www.friendsprovident.com/requestreports
Embedding CR in the business
In 2007 we produced ‘Troublesome Rabbits’, our award winning summary CR Report for employees, highlighting the CR-related issues facing our business and our response. The report won an IVCA Clarion Award for effective communications.
Our new Chief Executive, Trevor Matthews, firmly believes that CR remains integral to our culture, our reputation, and the way we do business and he is personally responsible to the Board for our Corporate Responsibility programme.
The quality of our Corporate Responsibility communications has been recognised by awards from the International Visual Communications Association and the British Association of Communication in Business.
Feedback
In 2007, to ensure we continued to focus our efforts in the right areas, we commissioned Context to undertake research amongst 'opinion leaders'. The research showed the key issues to be: fair treatment of customers, responsible investment, financial returns for shareholders, treatment of employees, financial capability, environmental responsibilities and community investment. This research continues to inform the focus of our CR programme.
We participate in annual syndicated research with the Reputation Centre at IPSOS Mori to understand the opinions from the NGO and CR expert communities. In 2008 we were very encouraged to find Friends Provident was considered to be the leader in our sector.
At the end of 2008 we asked Corporate Citizenship to review our Friends in the Community programme, now two years old. They engaged both employees and external community partners’ views to evaluate the impact the programme makes to the community. We are awaiting the final results, which we will use to inform our plans to move the programme forward.
Finally, this year we have increased our customer engagement activity by running customer focus groups, in depth interviews and surveys on specific customer interactions such as making claims and complaints. This work is set to continue into 2009 and will help us understand what we do well and, more importantly, where we need to get better.
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