UK
Special Award 2005
Special Award: Corporate Responsibility
Supporter: AccountAbility
www.accountability.org.uk
Winner: Novo Nordisk Ltd.
An important part of fostering trust between management and employees is demonstrating responsible behaviour. For the second year running Great Place to Work® Institute UK and Accountability will be hosting the Corporate Responsibility Award. In this context, the Corporate Responsibility award is open to all types of organisations, which echoes the spirit of the "Best Workplaces" list. Employees' perceptions of their organisations' social and environmental impact is an indication of how well integrated corporate responsibility is across core business goals. The award tries to uncover the organisation which best engages its own employees in corporate responsibility work and has most effectively communicated the importance of its value to all employees. AccountAbility's CEO, Simon Zadek comments "Corporate Responsibility is relevant to all organisations at all times and we are particularly pleased to see the shortlisted winners included leading companies and civil society organisations."
Candidates for this award were short listed based on their employees' response to Trust Index© questions regarding their perceptions about;
- The way in which the organisation contributed to the community
- The ethics of management and its business practices
- Mechanisms to address wrongdoing at work
- The organisation's commitment to reducing its impact upon the environment
- If the organisation is managing its impact upon society responsibly
Three organisations were shortlisted for this award for achieving an average of over 90% positive responses to these questions - Novo Nordisk, St Luke's Communications and Friends of the Earth. All these organisations have a very responsible workplace culture and have achieved excellent results, but Novo Nordisk stood out as winners, exhibiting a variety of best practice examples. Several of these are evidenced in its externally assured Corporate Responsibility Report, which accounts for its social, environmental and economic impact. Employees at Novo Nordisk are financially supported by the company to engage in community activities outside of work hours, such as playing football or cricket, volunteer work for charities, or improvement of the local environment. In line with the organisation's commitment to corporate responsibility, company financial support of such activities is based on the belief that they benefit employees and their families, the community and the environment, and ultimately its business. In 2001, Novo Nordisk founded the World Diabetes Foundation - improving access to proper diabetes care in the poorest countries. This is a philanthropic act aligned to its core business area. Through this foundation, the company expects to donate approximately £50m over the next ten years.
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