Labour Practices and Decent Work

We employ 4,580 people in 38 countries worldwide.

Through our global competency framework, developed by Group HR and managed by HR Managers in each of the regions in which we operate, we can ensure recruitment practices across the Group identify the people with the right skills, knowledge and attitude. Our proven track record of successfully developing future leaders from within has resulted in a consistently pleasing employee turnover rate, which is reported to the Executive Committee on a quarterly basis to monitor any potential problem areas before they have a negative impact on the business.

Our Regional Boards retain control over their remuneration and benefits packages. Through a series of previous employee surveys, which will be repeated regularly in the future both at regional and global level, Group HR are able to share learning’s on the expectations of our employees with these management teams, and at Group Executive Committee level to ensure that our approach is effective and consistent. Exit interviews also allow regional HR teams and Group HR to see if compensation and benefits are a problem in any part of the business, so that they can act accordingly.

Partial Reporting

In 2019, voluntary and involuntary employee turnover across the Group was 10.76%.

Further details on how we are tackling the issue of recruitment and retention can be found in the “Fundamentals” section of our 2019 Sustainability Report.

Partial Reporting.

A total of 48 employees took parental leave in the UK in 2019.  The parental leave categories are Maternity Leave, Paternity Leave, Adoption and Time Off for Dependants.

All policies relating to parental leave are freely available on our Company intranet and will, as a minimum, comply with the highest legislative requirement in any country in which we operate.

Basis for materiality

As a global employer, we have committed to promoting a workplace culture of health and well-being. Process safety is a top priority for us and ensures manufacturing operations and the health and safety of our employees meets reputational and legal requirements. Failure to meet health, safety and well-being requirements can have an adverse effect on productivity, employee morale, labour and operational costs. Further, our brand image can be adversely affected by negative incidents involving health, safety and well-being.

Contribution to value creation

We add value by minimising the risk of health, safety, and well-being incidents and therefore potential liabilities concerning both our people and the wider environment. We also accept that the mental and physical well-being of staff is a precondition for strong performance and retention of talent.

Boundary

Health, safety, and well-being are crucial for all our business areas, including management-controlled joint ventures including contractors as well as our employees.

Responsibilities and resources

Our Group Safety, Health, Environment and Quality (GSHEQ) specialists operate in all regions and countries and are responsible for managing occupational health and safety. The wellbeing of our employees is supported by local, regional and global HR (Human Resources) teams and initiatives in support of this occur regularly around the globe. The reporting of incidents is actively encouraged across all areas of the business and is the responsibility of the SHE Manager in each of our operations. All significant incidents and near misses are investigated by trained SHE personnel across the Group, with the ultimate management of such reviews resting with our Group Executive Committee, which receive a quarterly report through the SHE Steering Committee. In addition to this, our risk management procedure ensures that all of our regional boards review potential health and safety risks at least twice per year.

Read more: 2019 Croda SR

Goals and targets

We are focused on a target of zero work related accidents and a desire to entrench health & safety into the day-to-day life of all our operations. Achieving the target of Total Recordable Injury Rate (TRIR) in the top quartile of chemical manufacturing companies with more than 1,000 employees also demonstrates our dedication to our people and the difference we make.

Read more: 2019 Croda SR

Further components

Read more: GRI 403-1 Occupational health and safety management system

Read more: GRI 403-2 Hazard identification, risk assessment, and incident investigation

Evaluation and outcome

In order to protect our employees from occupational hazards each of our site locations undergoes systematic assessment related to temperature, humidity, illumination, sound, air quality and ergonomics. Minimum working requirements are well defined for each of these parameters and workplaces are redesigned to these requirements when they are not met. We regularly examine the health of our employees at our manufacturing sites with some locations requiring extensive health checks in order to ensure the safety of all employees on site. We employ medical health professionals to perform health checks and anonymous reporting of findings to GSHEQ. This information is used to inform mandatory workplace risk assessments and dictates whether further personal health monitoring is required. We maintain medical confidentiality at all times.

Indicators

From 2016 we have adopted the American Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standard for workplace injury reporting and have re-based our historical data to this standard. We are continuing to focus on Lost Time Injuries (LTI) – those injuries which result in an absence from work of 1 day or more, and we track the LTI rate, measured in units of ‘Injuries per 200,000 hours worked’ for: a) Croda employees, b) Contractors working on Croda premises and c) Combined employees plus contractors.

Safety Deviations and all Process Safety Events are continuously monitored at respective sites and quarterly at a global level.

When we detect a pattern in Process Safety Events that must be corrected, the responsible site is contacted and instructed to take corrective actions.

To ensure operational health and safety, we have several policies and an overarching Group SHE Manual in place which cover topics such as planning, implementation and operation, checking, management review and management of change. These policies highlight our commitment to social responsibility and workplace rights concerning our global workforce.

Numerous additional guidelines cover a large number of safety and security issues, such as fire and explosion precautions, the handling of hazardous substances, and the identification of risks associated with chemical production. Further, we have adopted the Precautionary Principle when dealing with risks where scientific understanding is incomplete. We have recently transitioned from OSHAS 18001 certification to ISO 4500. A gap analysis was conducted to identify improvement potential for our occupational health and safety management system, actions were defined and implemented, and training rolled out across the group. The new standard will apply to all employees and contractors where Croda controls the workplace. For workplaces that Croda does not control, the management system only applies to Croda’s employees.

We have established, implemented and maintain procedures to monitor and measure SHE performance on a regular basis, including the key characteristics of our operations that can have a significant environmental impact. These procedures provide both qualitative and quantitative measures, appropriate to the needs of the organisation; monitoring of the extent to which our SHE objectives and targets are met; monitoring the effectiveness of controls (for health and the environment as well as for safety); proactive measures of performance that monitor conformance with the SHE programme(s), controls and operational criteria; reactive measures of performance that monitor ill health, incidents (including accidents, near-misses, etc.), and other historical evidence of deficient SHE performance; recording of data and results of monitoring and measurement sufficient to facilitate subsequent corrective action and preventive action analysis.

Further, internal Croda guidance, activities and audits from local SHE departments helps to avoid work-related injuries and illness and regulates the identification of health hazards for the workplace.

Read more: Croda Group SHE manual

At Croda, we promote health and well-being globally but responsibility rests with local SHE teams who provide programmes tailored to each site. We go further than legal requirements to encompass the total wellbeing of our people and we are continuing to invest in wellbeing initiatives. First and foremost, this is the right thing to do, but it also makes good business sense; when employees and contractors are safe and healthy, absence is reduced and potential loss of reputation due to serious breaches in policy or regulation are eliminated.

We also offer our employees free counselling by external specialists in the event of stress, fatigue, personal crisis, substance abuse, or other challenging circumstances. Additionally, flexible working arrangements can be made and apply to both work-related stress management and unrelated, extenuating circumstances. We perform assessments of health habits and special health needs of all employees and local teams update their programmes based on any findings.

The reporting of incidents is actively encouraged across all areas of the business and is the responsibility of the SHE Manager in each of our operations. All significant incidents and near misses are investigated by SHE officers across the group, with the ultimate management of such reviews resting with our Group Executive Committee, which receive a quarterly report through the SHE Steering Committee. In addition to this, our risk management procedure ensures that all of our regional boards review potential health and safety risks at least twice per year.

Health and safety committees operate at each of our manufacturing sites and offices with representation from all employee levels on each site. Formal consultation is a requirement laid down in our Group Safety Health & Environment Manual, and there is a requirement for regular meetings to take place at each of our manufacturing sites and offices. Each of our operations is required to refresh its safety awareness and behavioural safety programmes regularly.

As such, all 4,580 employees worldwide should be represented on a joint management and labour health and safety committee.

All Croda employees are required to complete a minimum of three mandatory health and safety training courses delivered via out online training and performance management platform, My Croda. However, due to current reporting restrictions we are unable to unable to report precise figures.  Though we aim to do this in future GRI reports.

At Croda, we believe that a good work-life balance contributes notably to the wellbeing of our employees and we seek to foster a shared culture of health and well-being. To support this effort we offer a range of flexible working arrangements, such as working from home, agile-working, part-time work, mobile working and flexitime. Additional benefits intended to improve the work-life balance of employees include free healthy meals, facilities for the provision of fitness activities and access to a registered nurse practitioner.

Read more: pages 29 & 34 of our 2019 Croda Sustainability Report

Our business is only as good as our people. We are committed to building a global workforce that will help us achieve sustained success. To do this, we must attract the right ‘talent’, then continue to develop skills and abilities so we can capture the critical knowledge that we rely on to drive innovation and growth.

Our global competency framework, developed by group HR and implemented by the regional HR teams, provides the basis for employee development plans, which are monitored through our global appraisal system, My Croda. In addition, our highly trained regional HR teams provide ongoing support, coaching and development to our line managers across all business operations to ensure that they are fully equipped and capable of having effective and constructive performance and development conversations. Our global appraisal system also facilitates this process and allows group HR to oversee performance management, so that it can offer support and guidance where and when needed.

Employee underperformance is identified during the annual talent review process and carefully managed through the regional businesses to ensure that we see improved performance quickly. Our global HR database also allows performance in relation to absence to be monitored and reviewed at regional and global levels.

Partial Reporting

It is only through the continual development of our workforce that we will be able to meet the future demands of our customers in relation to enhanced creativity, innovation and service.

Our global competency framework and Cornerstone performance management system, My Croda, allows us to monitor the development, performance and potential of each of our employees. To help grow and retain our talented people, we must continue to invest both internally and externally in training programmes, graduate and apprenticeship schemes, coaching, leadership development and supporting those studying for formal qualifications. 

We are currently unable to report average training by gender or employee category due to limitations of our reporting systems.

Further details on how we are tackling the issue of talent management and employee development can be found on pages 30 & 34 – 36 of the 2019 Sustainability Report.

Partial Reporting

At Croda we promote learning and training at all levels of our organisations, with 78.7% of our employees receiving training during the year. We offer a variety of training options including internal training courses delivered by our human resources department, funding for external training courses where relevant training cannot be provided internally, as well as funding and support for educational development. Several employees have completed part-time or distance learning degree programmes relevant to their position or career development, both funded and supported by Croda. Where applicable we also bring in the expertise of external training providers to enhance the skills and behaviours of our employees.

The quality and relevance of training and development activities became more focused in 2015, through improvements in the identification of personal development needs. The launch of our internal ‘Learning Module’ within My Croda in 2018 has taken our performance development, learning delivery and accessibility to the next level, allowing all employees to have access to the training that is most relevant to them.

Further details on how we are tackling the issue of talent management and employee development can be found on pages 30 & 34 – 36 of the 2019 Sustainability Report.

Partial Reporting

In 2018 we introduced a new Performance Management System as part of a wider implementation of a new integrated global HR system called ‘My Croda’. During 2019, 3,861 employees used this system, and over 56.4% entered their objectives into the system. So far in the first four months of 2020, 91% of those had an appraisal to recognise their achievements and identify training needs. We have also introduced a complementary new Learning Management System, which will greatly increase the number of online training courses available across the business in multiple languages.

To support the delivery of our suite of development programmes for managers and aspiring leaders, in 2019 we also partnered with Ashridge-Hult Business School which is helping us update and expand the content within several the programmes we offer. We are currently unable to report by gender or employee category due to limitations of our reporting systems.

As a truly global company, it is important that we provide an inclusive work environment that ensures everyone, whoever they are and wherever they are in the world, can be supported to give their best.

A key issue for us, and many of our industry peers, is the underrepresentation of women in senior positions. Improving this is a primary objective of our business. To assist with this important goal, and to see how we can better provide the right environment and support for diversity in our teams, in 2018 we established a full-time role of Diversity and Inclusion Manager and set up a Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee.

The role of the Steering Committee is to provide a global network of ambassadors for diversity and inclusion (D&I) who will shape our work, share ideas and best practice and help to promote activities in this area. The Committee meets on a quarterly basis and is made up of representatives from our five regions and three core market sectors.

Read more: page 27, 2019 Sustainability Report

Partial Reporting*

Diversity and Inclusion is a key priority for us, and it is one of the 14 Material Areas of our sustainability programme.

We aim to embrace and empower all individuals. We do this by supporting, valuing and respecting our workforce, and ensuring that all employees feel empowered and included. In this way, we attract and retain the right people and bring out the best in them to benefit from their expertise.

*Figures correct as of 31^st December 2019.

We are currently unable to report minority groups or age by employee category due to limitations of our reporting systems or regional confidentiality of data.

Further details on how we are tackling the issue of diversity and inclusion can be found on page of the 2019 Sustainability Report.