Sustainability Report 2012 - Forster Communications · The ground beneath our feet Forster...

Sustainability Report 2012

The ground beneath our feet Forster Sustainability Report 2012 2

Welcome to Forster Communications’ latest Sustainability ReportWe’ve never waited for the establishment of a business case for reporting on social responsibility. We’ve always known that the way forward for any business depends on measuring the impact it makes in the world, then sharing those findings as widely as possible. Our main challenge has been the long task of persuading people that sustainability is all about walking a fine line between the social and economic impacts, as well as the environmental.

Measurement isn’t fun, but it is essential. It reflects how we do business, how sustainable we are as a business. Every two years, we work with an independent auditor to measure Forster’s progress against set targets in specific areas of our operations and create new ones.

We want to share what we’ve learned on our journey.

Find out more. Have your say. Put your queries to us. Get in touch with Jo Foy who leads our review and impact programme [email protected]

Our auditor In 2004, Janet Shepherd of EcoAgility conducted Forster’s first environmental impact review. Between 2007-2009, and again this year, Janet conducted a wider audit of our relationships with stakeholders. Her 2012 findings, based on our targets set in 2009 for completion by end 2010, are reflected in this Sustainability Report, which she has formally approved as an accurate reflection of our activity and progress in 2009-2011. www.ecoagility.com

It is believed that the moon’s influence extends to human behaviour and can even affect the way people choose to vote in elections.

Contents3 Staking our claim and

standing our ground

4 Environment

8 Community

10 Employees

16 Clients

20 Suppliers

22 GRI index information

Forster is a PR agency specialising in media relations, stakeholder engagement, corporate reputation and integrated brand and social change campaigns. We have wide-ranging issue expertise in key areas of health, age, social justice and sustainability. We’ve been creating powerful communications campaigns, online and offline, since 1996.


As we’ve continued to walk the line of positive social change we’ve followed since 1996, Forster has explored creative and ethical solutions through some very tough times. We’ve been through cycles of growing and shrinking, all the time attempting to meet targets, be brave and share our learning.

But the ground beneath our feet is moving. Standing still is not an option – for the way our clients do business, for the way we interact with them. For us, an SME, the terrain is difficult, the challenges complex, the opportunities risky – but exciting.

We are here to work with clients to set new agendas, influence attitudes and change behaviour. Specialising in health, sustainability, social justice and age, Forster has been successful because we understand the ingredients for sustainable audience engagement and creating integrated campaigns.

Before the last election over 60% of our client portfolio was public sector work. As foreshadowed, in May 2010 this basically went overnight. And even though we had a significant cushion of reserves, the human cost was swift as we had to make redundancies to survive. Success is not linear nor is it achieved overnight. Failure is a component of learning, resilience and re-focusing on what is important to you. Re-invention is a struggle which starts with fine-tuning the small things while holding onto the vision that launched you on your journey in the first place.

Jilly Forster, November 2012

Staking our claim and standing our ground I’ve always admired the artist Richard Long for the way he uses the ground beneath his feet as an artistic medium. He literally walks his talk, transforming an idea into something remarkable and memorable. Long has mapped his own territory. It’s something we here at Forster Communications can relate to.

There is much to do, but the future is definitely ours. As we set out in this document how Forster has been trying to meet these challenges, working with a wide range of clients, we re-assert our intention to keep walking our talk, treading this path, using communications to help like-minded people and organisations make and measure the difference.


In 2009, Forster won the Sunday Times Best Green Company Award for our twin approach of working for positive environmental change with clients and walking our talk as a business with our own environmental impact. Our objective for the next two years to 2014 is to put environmental sustainability back into the front seat of policy making – in government, in business, in life.

Over the past five years, we’ve looked at our environmental performance from every angle. Our independent report recommends maintaining our standards, but that’s not our style. Progress is our default state. We know that climate change as an issue has left people bemused and unable to meaningfully engage, so we need to use our insight to tap into what is going to make a difference.

With the myriad environmental campaigns people have witnessed over the decades, many might suspect that the job is complete, assuming that little more can be done. Companies are still learning that they have a responsibility to understand that a sustainable future requires a balance between social, economic and environmental considerations.

As an office-based consultancy whose ‘products’ are largely intellectual, our own impacts are relatively low. However, we recognise that our activities on behalf of clients have an environmental impact and try to minimise this impact year on year. Our most significant efforts to mitigate impact relate to fossil fuels for transport; energy for office heating, lighting and power; paper and waste disposal; water usage in toilets and kitchens.

Environment


Good• Secured ISO 14001 Environmental

Management Standard in March 2010.

• Reduced overall gas usage by 19%.

• Reduced our overall electricity usage by 17%.

• Reduced our paper purchasing by 29%, an 11% drop per capita.

• 12% of our commuter journeys are now by bicycle, up from 5% in 2010 – a 140% increase.

Not so good• Managed to recycle 48% of our

waste, with 52% of waste going to landfill in 2011 – down from 54% and 46% respectively in 2010.

• Despite having fewer people, we still need to use heating and lighting in the same square-footage of space, so we need to work harder at reducing consumption per capita.

The campaigns have achieved great results. Forster impressed us with their insights into our target market and creative ideas about how to encourage behaviour change. They delivered great results last year and their social marketing expertise is impressive.

Andrew McLaughlin, Head of Communications, National Trust

• Maintain energy consumption per capita.

• Reduce material consumption of paper by 5% overall.

• Continue separating waste for recycling, increasing recycled material to 55%, decreasing landfill to 45%.

• Maintain systems to the level of ISO 14001 Environmental Management Standard accreditation*.

• Re-energise our best practice water usage policy and reduce current water usage per capita from 6.8 m3 to 6.4 m3.

• Use renewable resources wherever practical and review current suppliers to ensure we are championing the market pioneers in renewable energy innovation.

• Comply with relevant regulations and legal requirements, e.g. the Duty of Care in relation to waste.

• Uphold conditions of subscription bodies, including UN Global Compact.

• Continue to champion the Forster Five R’s to all stakeholders and develop one small but innovative initiative within each and share results amongst stakeholders.

Walking the path – top targets 2012 - 14

* Forster achieved the ISO 14001 Environmental Management Standard in March 2010 We believe we were the first company in our sector to reach this standard – no mean feat for a small organisation. We’ve gone on to advise others who are considering undertaking the accreditation on how to make the first steps. We have maintained the Standard successfully and regularly impress assessors at each audit.


Walking the path – Small steps 2012-14 Our five stepping stones

to a sustainable future

Things we’ll continue doing

Reducing wasted space, by offering free space to sole traders in need of human contact and providing meeting rooms for charities and local groups.

Minimising energy consumption by reporting monthly usage to each individual and by running annual ‘high energy/low consumption’ awareness weeks.

Our loan bank (sewing machine, electric drill, carpet cleaner, tools, etc) – so don’t buy what you don’t need or rarely use.

Staff can use Zipcars so that they can have access to personal transport without having to own a car.

Repair our own bikes, after encouraging staff to attend Better Bankside basic bike maintenance workshops; having them regularly serviced with local social enterprise Squeaky Chains.

Awarding gift vouchers for the Amazings, the social enterprise working to ensure traditional skills and knowledge built-up over a lifetime are shared, to attend classes including knitting, sewing and how to line curtains.

Reusing old and unwanted clothes, by holding regular Swishing events for staff to swap them.

Help find home for stuff we don’t want – our free book exchange outside our offices. We’ve had over 400 books donated and given out to the local community. The shelves themselves are made from re-used wine boxes from a local wholesaler.

All biodegradable food goes to our office, compost-producing, wormery.

Internally and externally we always try to reframe the confusing, complicated language of sustainability, instead we develop benefit-led entry points, de-mystify the complex, talk about creating jobs, improving public health, lowering the costs of living, looking out for children, enjoying nature and wildlife and the benefits of living on a stable, diverse, productive planet.

Reduce minimising consumption, together

Repair renewing, revitalising, giving new life to old stuff

Reuse re-homing unwanted stuff, swapping, giving it away

Recycle buying only what is recyclable, converting into something more useful

Re-frame thinking differently, innovating, finding new solutions, collaborating


2012 - 14 targets. Things we’ll do differently

Help team members make the connections and facilitate opportunities to visit local recycling or waste centres.

To increase office recycling rates through clear signage, hosting a ‘landfill challenge’ quiz and re-education.

Encourage five more ‘pass it on’ public book shelf schemes to appear in the Better Bankside area.

Holding an annual ‘repair, reuse, recycle’ event in partnership with Better Bankside for workers and residents in the area.

Proceeds will go to upcycling social enterprise, Out of the Dark, and Street Dream, the charity working with young people to ensure communities become better places to live.

Lead the charge on repairing/maintaining anything within 25m of the office – co-opting other businesses, liaising with Better Bankside and Southwark Council.

Growing a green wall on our building facing O’Meara Street..

Have all of our fridges and dishwashers serviced to ensure they are running efficiently.

Revisit our purchasing policy. Buy what we value. Buy British and local wherever practical.

Extend our loan sharing scheme by involving Better Bankside and two other businesses in the local area.

Umbrellas get lost – so we will purchase waterproof capes for all staff that can easily go on over anything, including bags – great for on foot/on bike, no worry about wet hair and hands-free.

Get a public drinking water fountain erected outside our office. Until then, an open invitation to passers-by to fill their water bottle from our Forster Tap.

Introducing a weekly Fridge Watch to reduce wasted food. Allocate budget for bulk buying of dressings, condiments, etc to reduce duplicate purchase.

Reduce takeaway cups by 20% by issuing coffee flasks to our most regular caffeine addicts.

Plough on with growing our own veg and encouraging staff to help themselves from the balconies and the window boxes around the office. Make our local bus stop ‘edible’ as part of The Edible Bus Stop project.

Particularly focus on development of creative communications devices to raise awareness, understanding, adoption of conscious consumption – offering successful internal pilots as open source for others.

Create a 24hr ‘waste sculpture’ outside our offices; working with our neighbours at Tate Modern to curate this.

Arrange quarterly ‘soap box’ events in Redcross Gardens.

Access daily local air quality measurements; share locally through Twitter.

In the past three years we’ve helped 38 Degrees grow from nowhere to now around 800k; joining an electronic campaign burst with a click of a button is quite easy to do. Where is the face-to-face engagement with the vast majority of population and decision-makers? We want to help organisations to make things personal, to help build the platforms that persuade the mainstream that big changes are possible and worthwhile.

Middle aged man in shorts seeks infrastructure

For years I’ve had the roads almost to myself as I’ve cycled about London, and I’ve secretly always liked it – being seen as different, edgy even, pretending to be annoyed when people said I was ‘brave’ riding a bike. That’s all been spoiled on a personal level by the efforts made at Forster to encourage more cycling by staff, and on a wider level by a rise in the popularity of cycling as a means of getting around. Cycling is no longer the preserve of middle aged men in shorts like me, there are more, and more diverse, people on bikes. We encouraged it here at Forster in four distinct ways: pool bikes for anyone to use; free training for new riders; 40p a mile expenses for business cycling and five minutes of extra holiday for every day staff commuted by bike. It really worked. Now, 32% of staff cycle regularly.

In this country, we are not at Dutch or Danish levels of cycling. But, culturally, we are perhaps taking the first steps towards a genuinely inclusive cycling society. Forster’s work with Bike Week, The London Cycling Campaign, Department for Transport and many others has gone a long way to support this shift. What we really need now is for conditions on the road to improve through major infrastructure investment. Then I’d be a happier middle aged man in shorts.

Peter Gilheany, Director, Forster


Small business has long played a vital role in supporting communities in our local area, Southwark. Forster has been doing this in numerous ways: cash donations; employee volunteering, employees becoming charity trustees and school governors, offering pro bono services and spaces; sharing our knowledge – open access to any advice or info we can give; encouraging clients and suppliers to get involved in activities.

For Forster, ‘community’ doesn’t just mean one that’s geographically close. It also means a community of like-minded people – suppliers or customers – even if they are spread out across the country.

We know that the target Forster has set of employees taking up 20% of their volunteering time is very ambitious, particularly in the current economic climate. But we are ambitious and we do walk our talk.

Community

Good• Consolidating the sense of

community in Southwark by funding and supporting the Southwark Mysteries, whose Easter event brought the whole community together to great critical acclaim.

• Participating actively in the business community of ‘Better Bankside’, through supporting their re-election bid and chairing their award-winning internationally renowned travel planning group.

• Supporting social enterprises, including The Amazings, Casserole, The DoNation and Ben & Jerry’s social entrepreneur competition winners.

• Forster employees have participated in community volunteering initiatives during the past two years, including: Better Bankside Travel Planning Group; Revolving Doors charity Steering Group; Envision; ODI climate change; Tate Modern.

• We’ve given financial support to numerous organisations including: Downside Fisher Youth Club, Bankside Open Spaces Trust, Indigenous People’s Cultural Support Trust, Royal Parks Foundation, Better Bankside, Children with Cancer, Vision 2020UK, The Friends of Mark Gibbons, Unicef Carbon Positive and The Forgiveness Project.

• Beneficiaries of pro-bono support have included: Alzheimers Society, Help the Hospices, Pumpaid, Royal Parks Foundation, YMCA, OPAAL, CharityComms, Grandparents Plus, Children on the Edge, UnLtd, Global Generation, CPRE, Westminster Children’s Society, Circus Space, Southwark Pensioners, Add International Stamp & Swap, UK Cards Association, Windsor Leadership Trust, Friends of the Earth, Counsel and Care, Warren Evans.

Not so good• 76% of staff agree that Forster

continues to support employee community volunteering, down from 90% in 2009.

It’s really important to us that staff can support causes that are important to them. Our 40 hours per year volunteering benefit has never been revoked, but following tougher trading conditions and the need to focus energies on business development, we haven’t been actively promoting volunteering opportunities.

Forster is a pioneering business in so many ways, and has proved a real asset to Better Bankside projects and steering groups over the years. Their advice, volunteering time and general support has helped us to deliver sustainable positive change in the local area.

Peter Williams, CEO, Better Bankside


Does localism sound like a new idea? The Localism Bill became an Act in November 2011, with the stated aim of shifting power from central government into the hands of individuals, communities and councils. Strip localism of its politics and it’s clearly an idea that’s been gathering momentum for some time. At Forster, we’ve been helping communities work better together for the last 16 years. Especially when it comes to reaching those who may be missing out: older people, young people, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and disadvantaged groups. Forster has found that, by improving people’s access to health, work and education, you can build a fairer society for all – through effective CR programmes, working with charities and the public sector to improve services and build community partnerships that include members of the public.

Our client, The Conservation Volunteers, is the environmental volunteering charity that works to improve the quality of green space for all across the UK. Director of Strategy, Miles Sibley, said, “We’re at a critical time for UK conservation and while people need green places, green places need people to look after them.” The Conservation Volunteers are calling on the public to take responsibility for the local places they want to conserve. Whether or not councils are able to fund good quality public spaces, there are things we can do at a local level to keep our communities cleaner, better and greener and make sure future generations enjoy the kind of access to green space so many of us take for granted.


• Establish an ethical business forum amongst stakeholders in Southwark which meets quarterly to exchange ideas.

• Revise and relaunch our volunteering benefit policy, ensure it compliments individual employee learning and development programme, and re-invigorate volunteering time uptake – emphasising the transferral of professional skills, including face-to-face and e-mentoring – with target of utilising 50% of total available volunteering hours.

• Run ‘Generations Talking Together’ roundtable investigation and publish report in 2013.

• Extend our company store/loan library to the wider community.

• Install a public water fountain outside the building.

Our neighbours – residents of Redcross Way, Borough.


Employees

Peter Gilheany Cambridge

Cheryl Campsie Bristol

Georgie Howlett Winchester

Kate Parker Highgate

Laura Buller Islington

George Ames Forest Hill

Adam Concar Bicester

Forster has been following a positive work/life balance agenda for several years. We believe our family-friendly policies have helped our business, delivering excellent staff morale, better customer service and low staff turnover. But this review shows we need to do more. In 2013, we’re aiming to achieve ‘Investors in People’ accreditation.

We’re a team of 30, average age is 35, 21% of us work part time and 32% of us have dependents. In this respect, we’re probably not that different from other similar sized companies in our sector. Continually improving employee policies and practices is not easy for a small business. If we can make it work better for us and our employees, we know there are win/win benefits.

We also know that, even for those not directly involved in healthcare, health and wellness are issues that need addressing like never before. Organisations will be expected to understand and respond to the wellness issues of their employees, including obesity and, increasingly, mental health and all its implications. We work with clients towards healthier lifestyles, better access to services, fewer health inequalities and to make wellness the bigger issue it needs to be for everyone. At Forster, our work is often about encouraging others to introduce new wellness initiatives. We’re committed to doing the same for all our staff during the coming two years.

On the ball, totally committed, highly collaborative and results-focused.

Sarah Winder, Campaigns Manager, RSPCA


Walking the path – top targets 2012 - 14• Earn Investors in People accreditation by 2013.

Good• 90% of staff said they are taking part

in Forster Well, the wellbeing initiative introduced in September 2011.

• Forster has participated in a pilot of the Workplace Wellbeing Charter and been awarded ‘excellence’ status by Department of Health.

• 100% of staff said they get along well with their manager.

• 71% of staff felt that internal communications were at a good standard – up from 61%.

• The introduction of shower facilities to encourage walking, cycling and running to and from work.

• 90% of staff feel informed about the strategic direction of Forster.

Not so good• 95% are proud to work with Forster –

but only 52% of those asked agreed strongly they are proud to work for Forster, down from 97%.

• 76% agreed that they found their work stimulating, down from 92%.

• 62% felt the general level of morale at Forster is good, down from 72%.

Training and development • To identify, develop and deliver training modules to help individuals reach

and exceed the requirements of their job role and progress to the next level in their career.

• Based on learnings from the apprenticeship curriculum, develop a Forster induction programme specifically for Account Executives that establishes minimum standards required.

• Recruit storyteller-in-residence to build confidence and improve presentation skills.

• Devise a more Forster-appropriate and innovative community volunteering scheme linked with wellbeing, learning and development and share with other organisations.

Work/life balance • To investigate, develop, adopt and share best practice policy for

eldercare – pushing for legislative change or new services if relevant.

• To introduce a new annual life health (a.k.a. ‘I must get round to that’) day, or two half days, for all staff, to give focused time to get all those small but important things done – e.g. bills paid, dental check, eye tests, household repairs and servicing, checking insurance policies, switching energy suppliers, developing a care plan, etc.

Wellness • To run a weekly all-staff yoga session; to investigate benefits of offering

meditation training to employees who have been with company 5+ years.

• To offer all staff an office-based health check, resulting in a specific physical/nutritional plan and 6-monthly follow up.

• To comply with the DH’s Workplace Wellbeing Charter, with particular focus on stress recognition and line management training.

• To refine and relaunch the Forster wellbeing scheme and to proactively share it with other SMEs.

• To continue to expand on the type of socialising initiatives developed over the past year.


Working life is changing. Achieving a better work/life balance is a cultural mindset, not just a set of policies. A key element is a ‘can do’ attitude. We always consider unusual requests or new ideas from our staff within the context of business needs. In practice, we’ve never had an instance where a workable solution couldn’t be found. In the past two years, we have extended policies to look at:

• Flexible working e.g. flexi-time, home working, annualised hours, compressed hours, shift swapping, self-rostering, staggered hours, job sharing, term-time working, part time working, flexible holidays and career breaks.

• Emergency leave can be critically important to carers, who can be called home at short notice when care arrangements break down or the person they care for falls ill.

• Flexible leave arrangements e.g. compassionate leave, planned leave, paid leave for emergency or planned caring.

• Workplace support e.g. in-house networking groups, employee assistance programmes, carer policies.

Helping young people into workAs a small business, we still believe that Forster can play a vital role to ensure young people are brought into the world of work. For the last 12 years we have been offering work experience and paid internships. From 2012, we intend to do more through a new apprenticeship scheme and a mentoring programme.

• Work experience A staggered, 2-week work experience programme to up to four 16-year olds wanting to get an early flavour of whether a career in the PR sector is for them, possibly leading to a paid PR apprenticeship.

• Apprenticeships We are pioneering a new apprenticeship programme developed for the PR sector and will employ up to two young apprentices from the London area from October 2012.

• Interns We will continue to offer paid internships lasting up to three months for graduates wanting to explore a role in PR and older people who may have worked in complementary disciplines.

• Mentoring In 2013 we will start a mentoring programme to help up to six young people a year who live in Southwark – tutoring, job shadowing, career exploration and role playing.

Working with Wellness When we look at the broad range of clients with whom we’ve worked on healthcare projects since we last reported in 2009, it’s become more difficult to home them under a heading called ‘health’. Our work to give a higher profile to BAPRAS (the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons) is markedly different to our work with the Electrical Safety Council. Helping Danone set up their ‘Eat Like A Champ’ programme aimed at 9-10 year-old children shares little with transforming Bike Week into the UK’s largest mass participation cycle event. While they all have something in common, there’s somehow much more to it than ‘health’.

At Forster, we have created a holistic approach to help clients work towards healthier lifestyles, fewer health inequalities, better access to services. We call this wellness.

In 2011, we piloted Forster Well, our very own employee engagement programme. This was designed to focus on the personal and social aspects of wellness to help employees make the connection between how they feel physically and how this emerges as good health. In the short term, following a 90% uptake of the scheme, we’ve seen higher levels of reported job satisfaction and staff feeling more involved and valued by the company. We’ve noticed increased cross team collaboration and better staff retention rates. The scheme has formed a significant part of our award of Excellence from the Workplace Wellbeing Charter – marking us out as a progressive company in this area. Now, we’re sharing our experience with clients, suppliers and other SMEs.

Top left: Volunteering at a local community project Top right: A meeting room was turned into a crêperie for an afternoon Bottom: Yoga class in our office every week


Excellent to work with, hugely creative, and always able to recognise the important commercial objectives running alongside our communications targets.

Sara Lom, Director, The Royal Parks Foundation

Focus: Mental healthSociety will no longer tolerate discriminatory legislation that prevents people affected by mental illness from being full and active citizens. A long-term vision, or an emerging reality?

14 June 2012 was a historic day for mental health. Gavin Barwell MP announced his Bill to remove outdated discrimination relating to mental health in four areas: MPs, school governors, jurors and company directors. In the debate around this, four MPs spoke about their own personal experience of mental health problems. When such high profile public figures speak openly about what is so widely considered a taboo subject, it’s a massive step forward in breaking the silence and stigma surrounding an issue that affects so many of us.

Forster has been engaged on mental health issues for the past decade and a half, working with clients from the Department of Health, Young Minds, Mind and Rethink to Blackdog Tribe, Mental Health Foundation, Time To Change and the Campaign to End Loneliness.

In 2010, Forster published MindShift, a report to reframe how society sees and values mental health, challenge the damaging fear and stigma surrounding mental health issues and to represent people with mental health problems as people. Our idea was to promote the choices and autonomy of people with mental health problems, and advance their recovery and wellbeing.

As we review our progress on mental health issues, we can say we’re actively stepping up our change agenda. In the short term, we’ll be working for changes in knowledge, skills, attitudes, motivation and awareness. In the medium-term, we’ll be targeting change in behaviour, policy and legal change. Ultimately, long-term, change in the culture. We stand by our big original ambition to reframe how society sees and values mental health.

The ground beneath our feet Forster Sustainability Report 2012 14Young, middle-aged, old. As we move through life, the ground changes beneath our feet. It’s different for everyone. But the one thing we have in common is progression through these life-stages. Middle-aged people are younger people becoming older. How can we understand older people without relating to younger people?

Forster wants to reframe how society sees old age and to help re-establish the value of being old. We help businesses, organisations and communities of all kinds make changes that help young people build a more positive future.

This is a critical campaign for us. We’ve been impressed by the creative ideas Forster has developed and their ability to communicate clearly a sensitive and horrifying issue like child sexual exploitation.

Puja Darbari, UK Director of Policy, Research and Media at Barnardo’s

More than 6,000 vulnerable girls and boys were groomed then sexually exploited last year.

Cut theM free

Forster created the attention-grabbing ‘Cut Them Free’ campaign, positioning Barnardo’s as leaders in this issue.


Work with Forster.APT is Forster’s working process to: help progressive organisations realise why later life planning is important to their customers, employees and their business; enable clients working with older people to increase awareness and understanding of products and services available.

Take a new look at old age.

People are getting older than ever before. Your employees. Your customers. Your service users. Trouble is, not enough people are planning to get older.

LeT’s change ThaT.

Adapt/Plan/Thrive (APT) is Forster’s practical way of working with clients to pursue our goal of reframing how society sees old age and to help re-establish the value of being old. We want to see better informed and more proactive attitudes to ageing; more older people living more independent, more fulfilled lives; positive attitudes and practical action.

Is your orgAnIsATIon’s APProAch To older PeoPle aPT?


Over the course of a couple of years, a company like Forster can work with scores of clients, across all sectors. We can say we’ve worked with Barnardo’s, Danone, NHS and WSPA. We know we’ve made a difference with clients on everything from body image and attitudes to fresh food to getting people on their bikes and opening minds to better mental health. If we want to continue reaching millions of people, we need to keep showing our clients, existing and new, our reason for being, as we walk a similar path together.

In the past two years, Forster has helped over 197 million people see the world differently.

Our work with clients over the coming years will be about demanding change, improving health, building stronger neighbourhoods, taking a fresh look at old age, raising aspirations among young people, protecting the environment, supporting vulnerable young people, decreasing stigma around disability and mental health, protecting animals, encouraging volunteering and giving.

ClientsGood• 100% of clients interviewed

felt the staff working on their accounts were honest and ethical.

• 100% of clients said they would recommend Forster.

• New clients since 2010 include: Anglian Water, Astellas, JHub, Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), Canal and River Trust, Business in the Community (BITC), Campaign to End Loneliness, BOND.

• We extended our offer to formally include digital: we have a new digital account handler and all staff undertook a 10-week digital/social media training course.

• We developed an Age Segmentation model as a consultancy and audience insight tool.

Forster really know their stuff – from strategic planning to inspired execution, from crisis management to extensive opinion-forming media coverage. Real issue insight, brilliant results … we think of them as an extension of our team.

David Babbs, Director, 38 Degrees

Forster – the people who:

• Encouraged 500 cyclists an hour to share the space and drop

the pace on London’s towpaths

• Inspired people to grow their own with National Trust

• Created Stop the Violence campaign for WAGGGS and the UN

• Got 35 million to take a fresh look at the hospice movement

World Associationof Girl Guidesand Girl Scouts


Walking the path – top targets 2012 - 14• To take on client projects congruent

with Forster’s strategic change agenda for 2012-14.

• To conduct formal impact assessment of all completed projects.

• All new clients to be offered ‘This is Forster’ talk to staff – focusing on reason for being, our values and principles; how we engage employees; stakeholder approach to sustainability.

Top: National Trust sowing squad, part of their Food Glorious Food campaign. Left: WAGGGS partnered with UN Women to ‘Stop the Violence’; the campaign launched at the annual world conference.Top right: Professor Brian May campaigning to ‘Stop the Cull’ with the RSPCA. Bottom right: Ewan McGregor takes the one word challenge and shows what he associates with hospices for the Help the Hospices ‘Be Surprised’ campaign.

• Increased employee volunteering with Vodafone, Astellas, KPMG and Nokia

• Caused the government to act to ‘Cut Children Free’ from child sexual exploitation

• Encouraged a healthier diet for young people with Danone

• Devised and developed the Carers Trust brand, the new charity formed by the

merger of The Princess Royal Trust for Carers and Crossroads Care

• Got 100,000 virtual dogs marching against animal cruelty

Co-op Charity of the Year


Forster – the people who:

• Reduced smoking in Tower Hamlets

• Opened minds about mental health

• Got over 480,000 people on their bikes for Bike Week 2012

• Repositioned the debate around plastic surgery with BAPRAS

Top left: Esther Rantzen CBE, journalist, broadcaster and Trustee of NSPCC; Trevor Pears CMG, June Ross-Wildman, founder, Esther Community Enterprise; Martyn Lewis, former BBC and ITN anchorman and Chair of NCVO; Patricia Hewitt, non-executive director, BT, launch the Give More campaign at the BT Tower. Top right: The launch of Bike Week – the annual All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group bike ride. Bottom left: Collars Not Cruelty campaign which promotes vaccination as an alternative to killing dogs in misguided attempts to control rabies. Bottom right: Young people get involved in football matches to fight knife crime.

They’ve got the brains to deliver the strategy and the imagination and creativity to bring the campaign to life.

Trevor Pears, Executive Chair, Pears Foundation


• Encouraged young people to put down knives – and pick up footballs, microphones and paint

• Helped over 17 million UK adults to understand the negative impact of invasive pond plants

and how to dispose of them properly

• Inspired more than 10,000 people to publicly pledge to give more time, money and energy

to causes they care about

• Helped RSPCA maximise the Stop the Cull campaign for badgers

Focus: Better body image

Forster’s focus on Body Image goes back to the 90s, supporting The Body Shop and its campaign for self-esteem based on women’s real body shapes. More recently, we have been highlighting a new focus that is not often talked about – Physical Disfigurement.

Over one million people in the UK (1 in 44) have significant disfigurements to their face, body or hands. Physical disfigurement can affect anyone, at any time, from any age and from any social and ethnic background. There are all sorts of causes. From birthmarks and cleft lips to scars from accidents and burns and war injuries to cancer and eye conditions.

Forster is working to ensure that decision makers, healthcare professionals and the public at large understand the need to help build the confidence of people with physical disfigurement so that they can live to the full.

We know that effective communication campaigns can help people with disfigurement have access to the best treatment available and reduce the numbers of people having accidents that can cause disfigurement. Specifically, we’ve helped to position the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS) as the authoritative industry leader.

.

Through strategic media, digital and social media, we’ve raised the profile of plastic surgeons as an essential part of NHS teams and helped the organisation ensure that UK patients have access to world-class surgery from properly qualified surgeons. We’ve increased awareness of the field’s specialisms (such as post-mastectomy reconstruction) and promoted innovation within the discipline. Last Winter, we worked with BAPRAS through the global PIP breast implant crisis, developing clear support and advice for the women involved. BAPRAS experts became ‘the voice of reason’ as both media commentators and members of the Government panel.


Our ambition is to create supportive partnerships with best practice suppliers – partnerships which reinforce our change agenda and deliver mutual business objectives. We work with a wide variety of individuals, businesses and organisations, supplying us with everything from office supplies to specialist communications. We avoid association with companies and organisations that aren’t committed to improving the social, ethical or environmental impact of businesses.

Who do you bank with? Who looks after the building? Who services the I.T. system? Which specialist freelancer is available at short notice to support our work with that client? Many of these questions will be familiar to anyone running a SME. You simply can’t do it all yourselves, and wouldn’t want to. The important thing is to include suppliers as a key stakeholder, especially when living and breathing a positive social and environmental image.

While continuing to promote high standards, Forster’s work with suppliers has gone beyond vetting for like-mindedness and encouraging positive evolution, to being inclusive, welcoming and participative.

Having a no-cost desk for a day or two a week at Forster has been a bit of a lifesaver for me. I started my own business earlier this year, so having somewhere to work where I can get away from the distractions of home, and spend some time surrounded by great people who really know their stuff has been a massive bonus. It’s helped me to expand my network of other freelancers too, which can only be a good thing.

James Barry, Copywriter

Suppliers


Good• 100% of suppliers and freelancers

interviewed were aware of Forster environmental and social policies and able to cite particular things that Forster does in support of our values and commitments.

• 100% of suppliers interviewed considered Forster to be a good company who paid on time – i.e. within 14 days.

• To encourage suppliers to share best practice in managing their environmental impact, we created a hubspace for an extended network of suppliers and associates to have free central London desk space with internet access.

• On learning that our cleaning company did not pay staff London Living Wage, contrary to their original statement, we acted. We now work with Ecoboothe – who also took on our same cleaners, ensuring they are paid fairly.

• We changed our bank to Co-operative banking for their ethical approach and the commitment to supporting charities and social enterprises who deliver positive social and environmental change.

As a freelancer who hates working from home (too isolated, too many distractions) I jumped at the idea of having a workspace in Forster’s hub. Working alongside other freelancers means you can share experiences and find answers to questions like “How much do you charge?”, “How can I set up my website?” and “How do you get more business?”. It’s also great to be located in one of the most forward-thinking ethical PR agencies in the UK. I work in issues-based PR, so this is a great synergy. And the space is free.

Anne Nicholls, Communications and PR consultant


• Develop and deliver a clear induction on our ethical practice.

• Revisit our supplier engagement policy, only buying what we value and encouraging supplier evolution by keeping our standards high.

• Further develop, establish and promote our Hubspace, request formal feedback and fully evaluate the benefits of the scheme and how we can evolve it.


As well as sharing our story with stakeholders, transparent and comprehensive reporting is important to us and we aim to measure up against the highest standards. This is why we have chosen to disclose information in line with the Global Reporting Initiative Reporting Guidelines. On this occasion we have taken the decision to self-declare our Application Level, rather than seek a formal Application Level Check by GRI, as we do not feel that the investment required is met by the level of interest from our stakeholders. If this proves to be a wrong assumption, we may reconsider and submit our report for formal checking in the future. In the meantime we, along with our independent auditor, feel that we have met the standard up to level A and have either included all of the relevant data below or signposted to where this can be found within the main body of the report. We hope the GRI Guidelines provide a logical format for sharing this information and enables readers to make meaningful comparisons with other reporters in our sector. If you have any questions regarding this decision, please do not hesitate to get in touch: [email protected] 02074032230.

GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines version G3.1 Table for Forster

GRI Element Comments

Profile:

Strategy and Analysis:

1.1 Statement from the most senior decision maker e.g. CEO about the relevance of sustainability to the organisation and its strategy.

See page 3.

1.2 Description of key impacts, risks and opportunities.

As an office-based consultancy whose ‘products’ are largely intellectual, our environmental impacts are relatively low. However, we also recognise that the activities we undertake or manage on behalf of clients e.g. sourcing printed materials, have an impact on the environment and believe that it is our responsibility to minimise this impact and continually strive to better our performance year on year. Our most significant direct environmental impacts relate to the use of: Fossil fuels for transport; Energy for office heating, lighting and power; Paper and waste disposal; Water in our office kitchens and toilets. Our social impacts relate to the way we work with our other key stakeholders (employees, freelancers, clients, suppliers) and these are covered in the main body of this report. Our key sustainability opportunity is our core campaigning communications work – communications to bring about positive social and environmental change.

Organisational Profile:

2.1 Organisation Name. Forster Communications.

2.2 Primary brands, products and/or services.

A PR agency with wide-ranging issue expertise in key areas of health, sustainability, social justice and age. Experts in corporate reputation, media relations, stakeholder engagement and integrated brand and social change campaigns.

2.3 Operational structure. The senior team (Executive Committee) is made up of six members of staff. They make all of the decisions regarding the running of the business. Jilly Forster (Founder) currently operates as CEO and oversees each of the other members of the Executive Committee who run the operational teams. We have four delivery teams and the General Management team. There are currently 28 employees in total.

2.4 Location of HQ. 49 Southwark Street, London, SE1 1RU.

2.5 Number of countries where the organisation operates.

1 – UK.

2.6 Nature of ownership & legal form.

Private Limited Company.

2.7 Nature of markets served. We work with change-makers from multi-nationals and Government to social entrepreneurs and charities.

2.8 Scale of reporting organisation. We employ 28 members of staff (21 full-time and 7 part-time). Capital & Reserves of £1.4m. The largest shareholder is Jilly Forster.

2.9 Significant changes during the reporting period regarding size, structure or ownership.

Since our last Ethical Impact Review report published in 2009 we have sub-let one floor of our offices following a reduction of staff numbers from 46 to 28.

2.10 Awards received in the reporting period.

Certification to Environmental Management Standard ISO 14001; awarded ‘excellence’ for Department of Health’s Employee Wellbeing Charter.

Report Parameters:

3.1 Reporting period for information provided.

2010 & 2011.

3.2 Date of most recent previous report.

2009.

3.3 Reporting cycle. Biennial.

3.4 Contact point for questions regarding the report or its contents.

Joanna Foy, General Manager.

3.5 Process for defining report content.

The report covers those company stakeholders that Forster interacts with on a regular basis: (employees, suppliers (including freelancers), clients, the local community, and the environment. All employees were included in an employee survey. A sample of other stakeholders were interviewed by our auditor on the basis of significant levels of spend by Forster, clients who indicated a willingness and availability for interview and had not already been covered by a Forster non-executive board member review process, non-inclusion during previous biennial Reviews and/or the level of environmental or social impact of products or services supplied. The content was also guided by these GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines and the interest of the stakeholders who read our reports.

3.6 Boundaries of the report. The whole of Forster and key stakeholders.

3.7 Any specific limitations on the scope or boundary of the report.

None.

3.8 Basis for reporting on joint ventures, subsidiaries, leased facilities, outsources operations and other entities that can significantly affect comparability from period to period and/or between organisations.

Not applicable.

3.9 Data measurement techniques and the bases of calculations, including assumptions and techniques underlying estimations applied to the compilation of the indicators and other information in the report.

Explained within the report as applicable. Happy to disclose all measurement techniques. Please contact Jo Foy [email protected] for details.


3.10 Explanation of the effect of any re-statements of information provided in earlier reports, and the reasons for such re-statements (e.g. mergers/acquisitions, change of bases years/period, nature of business, measurement methods).

Not applicable.

3.11 Significant changes from previous reporting periods in the scope, boundary, or measurement methods applied in the report.

Where the amount of office space occupied by Forster or staff numbers have changed this is stated within the report or reflected in data being provided per capita or per square meterage.

3.12 Table identifying the location of the Standard Disclosures in the report, identify the page numbers or web links where these.

Supplied in this table.

3.13 Policy and current practice with regard to seeking external assurance for the report. If not included in the assurance report accompanying the sustainability report, explain the scope and basis of any external assurance provided. Also explain the relationship between the reporting organisation and the assurance providers.

No external assurance for the report provided. However we used an external consultant, EcoAgility Ltd to conduct our Stakeholder Review.

Governance, Commitments, and Engagement:

4.1 Governance structure of the organisation, including committees under the highest governance body responsible for specific tasks such as setting strategy or organisational oversight. (describing mandate, composition, non-execs, responsibilities, gender, age, diversity etc).

Shareholder Board and Executive Committee comprising 4 women and 2 men, responsible for delivering the formal strategy and business plan agreed with the Board.

4.2 Indicate whether Chair of the highest governance body is also an executive officer etc.

Jilly Forster, Founder and shareholder, chairs the Board and the Executive Committee.

4.3 For organisations with a unitary board structure, state the number and gender of members of the highest governance body that are independent and/or non-executive members.

None.

4.4 Mechanisms for shareholders and employees to provide recommendations or direction to the highest governance body.

Forster is a small company with a relatively flat structure with open communication lines from top to bottom. The Founder and CEO operates an ‘open door policy’ in as much as she sits in an open plan office with the rest of the staff. Regular whole company lunches are organised on a monthly basis. All employees are invited to take part in confidential biennial employee surveys and provided with feedback on the results (with highlights provided in this report). Whole company meetings take place each Monday and formal company update meetings to share financial information take place quarterly. Executive Committee Meetings take place every month, and Meetings between the Environmental Office and the CEO take place at least twice a year.

4.5 Linkage between compensation for members of the highest governance body, senior managers and executives and the organisation’s performance (including social and environmental performance).

The company operates a bonus system linked to whole company profitability. Non financial goals are included in biannual appraisals, and performance against these goals can have a direct bearing on compensation.

4.6 Processes in place for the highest governance body to ensure conflicts of interest are avoided.

The hands on role of the Founder minimises any conflict of interest.

4.7 Process for determining the composition, qualifications and expertise of the members of the highest governance body and its committees, including any consideration of gender and other indicators of diversity.

Forster is a meritocracy that favours and attracts talent from junior apprentices through to senior executives, regardless of gender or other differences.

4.8 Internally developed statements of mission or values, codes of conduct and principles relevant to economic, environmental and social performance and the status of their implementation. Explaining the degree to which they are applied across the organisation and relate to internally agreed standards.

Forster holds a range of policies which we would be happy to share in full on request.

These include:– Our 10 Commitments (the founding

principles of the company)– Equal Opportunities and Employee

Development Policy – Health & Safety Policies– Sickness Absence policy– Flexible Working Policy– Drugs and Alcohol Policy– HIV and AIDS Policy– Mental Health policy– Quality Assurance Policies– Client and Supplier Engagement Policy.

These are applied fully and consistently across the company.

4.9 Procedures of the highest governance body for overseeing the organisation’s identification and management of economic, environmental and social performance, including relevant risks and opportunities and adherences or compliance with internally agreed standards, codes of conduct and principles. (including frequency with which highest governance body assesses sustainability performance).

The Board meets twice a year to oversee business performance, including progress towards achieving our sustainability objectives, with adjustments to strategy and direction as necessary in light of perceived risks and opportunities at the time. Meanwhile sustainability performance is reviewed by the Executive monthly as part of the review of monthly management accounts. Other standards and policies are reviewed at least six-monthly, including those covered by our comprehensive Employee Handbook and those relating to Health & Safety.

4.10 Processes for evaluating the highest governance body’s own performance, particularly with respect to economic, environmental and social performance.

This is covered in the annual audit by our accountants and as part of our biennial Ethical Review. Our CEO is always interviewed as part of this process and other senior Executive Committee members are included.

Commitments to External Initiatives:

4.11 Explanation of whether and how the precautionary approach or principle is addressed by the organisation.

ISO14001 standard requires regular review of commitment to external initiatives and this is addressed annually through external monitoring. The precautionary approach to Environment forms principle 7 of the UN Global Compact Corporate Commitment below.

4.12 Externally developed economic, environmental, and social charters, principles or other initiatives to which the organisation subscribes or endorses.

Forster has signed up to The Corporate Commitment of the UN Global Compact and is up-do-date in providing the required communication on progress reports to the UN – see www.unglobalcompact.org/participant/3835-Forster.

4.13 Memberships in associations (such as industry associations) and/or national/international advocacy organisations in which the organisations has positions in governance bodies, participates in projects or committees, provides substantive funding beyond membership dues or views membership as strategic.

Director Peter Gilheany is a trustee of CharityComms. Jilly Forster is a Trustee of the Jamie Oliver Foundation, Patron of Royal Parks Foundation and The Forgiveness Project. Joanna Foy is on the board of the local Business Improvement District, Better Bankside.

Stakeholder Engagement:

4.14 List of stakeholder groups engaged by the organisation.

Employees, Freelancers, Suppliers, Clients as part of the biennial Ethical Review, members of the community through employees community volunteering and other members of society as part of Forster’s client work and campaigning.

4.15 Basis for identification and selection of stakeholders with whom to engage.

With guidance from the consultant who conducts our ethical review and the ISO 26000 Social Responsibility Standard we engaged with those stakeholders that Forster interacts with on a regular basis (employees, community, clients, suppliers & freelancers).

4.16 Approaches to stakeholder engagement, including frequency of engagement by type and by stakeholder group.

As described in the relevant stakeholder sections of this report. Environment P4-7, Community P8-9, Employees P10-13, Clients P16-19, Suppliers P20-21.


4.17 Key topics and concerns that have been raised through stakeholder engagement and how the organisation has responded to those key topics and concerns, including through its reporting.

As described in the relevant stakeholder sections of this report. Environment P4-7, Community P8-9, Employees P10-13, Clients P16-19, Suppliers P20-21.

Performance indicators:

Economic:

EC1 Direct economic values generated and distributed, including revenues, operating costs, employee compensation, donations and other community investments, retaining earnings and payments to capital providers and governments.

Over the past two years Forster has donated over £26,000 to charitable organisations and dedicated volunteering and pro bono hours to a variety of causes.

EC2 Financial implications and other risks and opportunities for the organisation’s activities due to climate change.

As an office-based consultancy the direct risks to Forster are small but we have great opportunities to reduce society’s impacts on climate change through our work with clients to influence attitudes and change behaviour. Our own energy usage reduction initiatives have resulted in a minor financial saving. P4-5

EC3 Coverage of the organisations defined benefit plan obligations.

36% of the company take up the company pension scheme.

EC4 Significant financial assistance received from government.

None.

EC5 Range of ratios of standard entry level wage by gender compared to local minimum wage at significant locations of operation.

Not applicable.

EC6 Policy, practices and proportion of spending on locally-based suppliers at significant locations of operation.

Forster’s highest areas of spend are on specialised services rather than products and there are limited opportunities for these to be sourced locally. However, Forster is a member of Better Bankside a regeneration body for the area where their offices are located, which seeks to improve the quality of the local environment and enhance trade. Where products and services can be sourced locally e.g. food, meeting venues, bike maintenance etc Forster does this and encourages employees to do so.

EC7 Procedures for local hiring and proportion of senior management hired from the local community at locations of significant operation.

As Forster only operates out of one office, it is not always possible to prioritise hiring from the local community for senior management positions. However opportunities for facilities and administration support staff are advertised locally and are appointed from the area where possible.

EC8 Development and impact of infrastructure investments and services provided primarily for public benefit through commercial, in-kind, or pro bono engagement.

The nature of the work carried out by Forster results in positive social and environmental change through a variety of projects across the sectors. In addition to this various community volunteering efforts, pro bono projects and charity donations have had additional impacts.

EC9 Understanding and describing significant indirect economic impacts, including the extent of impacts.

Forster has some indirect economic impacts through products but mainly services it purchases but, due to the size of Forster, none of these are felt to be large enough to have significant impacts.

Environmental:

EN1 Materials used by weight or volume.

The most significant material used is paper. In 2011 378kg of printer/copier paper was purchased.

EN2 Percentage of materials used that are recycled input materials.

All printer/copier paper purchased is made from 100% recycled material. Other stationery items purchased are specified to be recycled, where available and Forster encourages clients to select printed materials and promotional items made from recycled material.

EN3 Direct energy consumption by primary energy source.

None.

EN4 Indirect energy consumption by primary source.

Gas and electricity are consumed.

Electricity is purchased from Good Energy where all their energy comes from certified renewable sources.

EN5 Energy saved due to conservation and efficiency improvements.

The energy saved due to employees switching off equipment, sensors being fitted on lights and a new gas boiler being installed are detailed in the Environment section of this report. P4-7

EN6 Initiatives to provide energy-efficient or renewable energy based products and services, and reductions in energy requirements as a result of these initiatives.

We do not provide energy based products or services. However, we do encourage our clients to source printed materials from printing companies that employ the best energy efficiency measures and/or use renewable energy and/or pay to offset their CO2 emissions.

EN7 Initiatives to reduce indirect energy consumption and reductions achieved.

We screen our suppliers for their corporate social responsibility policies, practices and performance and this includes energy efficiency.

EN8 Total water withdrawal by source.

We purchase water for office usage from Thames Water. Our consumption in 2011 was 204m3 which is 32.9% less than in 2008.

EN9 Water sources significantly affected by withdrawal of water.

Not applicable – our usage is negligible and Thames Water reservoirs are not depleted.

EN10 Percentage and total volume of water recycled and reused.

None.

EN11 Location and size of land owned leased or managed in, or adjacent to, protected areas and areas of high biodiversity values outside protected areas.

None.

EN12 Description of significant impacts of activities, products and services on biodiversity in protected areas and areas of high biodiversity values outside protected areas.

None.

EN13 Habitats protected or restored. Not applicable.

EN14 Strategies, current actions, and future plans for managing impacts on biodiversity.

Not applicable.

EN15 Number of IUCN Red List species and national conservation list species with habitats in areas affected by operations, by level of extinction risk.

Not applicable.

EN16 Total direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions by weight.

24,223kgs of CO2 in 2011 total electricity and gas purchased but not including transport.

EN17 Other relevant indirect greenhouse gas emissions by weight.

Not applicable.

EN18 Initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reductions achieved.

Electricity and gas usage reductions described in environmental section of this report. P4-7

EN19 Reductions of ozone-depleting substances by weight.

Not applicable – our offices are not air conditioned.

EN20 NO, SO and other significant air emissions by type and weight.

None.

EN21 Total water discharge by quality and destination.

Our only water discharges are wastewater from toilets, basins, sinks and dishwashers in our single office.

EN22 Total weight of waste by type and disposal method.

1157.9kgs of waste landfilled and 1063.9kgs of waste recycled in 2011.

EN23 Total number of volume of significant spills.

None.

201136,817127032,2941114

201045,485151638,9521298

200935,82177941,51090

Gas (kwh):Gas per capita (kwh): Elec (kwh): Elec per capita (kwh):


EN24 Weight of transported, imported or treated waste deemed hazardous under the terms of the Basel Convention Annex I, II, III and VIII, and percentage of transported waste shipped internationally.

None.

EN25 Identity, size, protected status, and biodiversity value of water bodies and related habitats significantly affected by the reporting organisation’s discharges of water and runoff.

None.

EN26 Initiatives to mitigate environmental impacts of products and services and extent of impact mitigation.

As a communications consultancy we do not produce products and the environmental impacts of our services are minimal. As described in the Environmental (P4-7) and Client (P16-19) sections of this report we have systems in place to reduce the impacts of our business travel and any print and promotional items we source for clients.

EN27 Percentage of products sold and their packaging materials that are reclaimed by category.

Not applicable.

EN28 Monetary values of significant fines and total number of non-monetary sanctions for noncompliance with environmental laws and regulations.

None.

EN29 Significant environmental impacts of transporting products and other goods and materials used for the organisation’s operations and transporting members of the workforce.

Our transport impacts are not significant but we do have environmental transport policies and practices relating to the use of couriers, business travel and commuting.

EN30 Total environmental protection expenditures and investments by type.

Since the last report, we invested £15,000 in replacing our boiler with a view to improve energy efficiency.

Labour Practices and Decent Work:

LA1 Total workforce by employment type, employment contract, and region, broken down by gender.

In 2011 permanent employee numbers were 28. Of these 21 were full-time and 7 were part-time. 8 were male and 20 were female. We also regularly work with contractors, interns and freelancers.

LA2 Total number and rate of employee hires and employee turnover by age group, gender and region.

During 2011 we hired 6 (2 male, 4 female) new members of staff – totalling 21% of the team.

LA3 Benefits that are provided to full-time employees that are not provided to temporary or part-time employees by significant locations of operations.

Part-time employees are provided with the same benefits as full-time employees pro rata. The only temporary employees are paid interns who are entitled to paid annual leave pro rata.

LA15 Return to work and retention rates after parental leave, by gender.

100% return to work rate after parental leave.

LA4 Percentage of employees covered by collective bargaining agreements.

None.

LA5 Minimum notice period(s) regarding operational changes, including where it is specified in collective agreements.

None, apart from any statutory obligations.

LA6 Percentage of total workforce represented in formal joint management-worker health and safety committees that help monitor and advise on occupational health and safety programmes.

None, although through open communications channels, all staff have the opportunity to raise health and safety issues and concerns with senior management, and are involved in their resolution.

LA7 Rates of injury, occupational diseases, lost days and absenteeism and number of work related fatalities by region and by gender.

59 days sickness absence during 2011. 15% male, 85% female. All through sickness – no recorded occupational diseases. No work related fatalities.

LA8 Education, training, counselling, prevention and risk control programs in place of assist workforce members, their families, or community members regarding serious diseases.

As a purely office based consultancy the main disease risk are those related to use of computers, stress and cycling. We have policies and systems in place to manage these.

LA9 Health and safety topics covered in formal agreements with trade unions.

Not applicable – no Trade Union members.

LA10 Average hours of training per year per employee, by gender and by employee category.

Employee training varies depending on level, but taking into account internal, external, on the job training and personal development opportunities, employees receive an average of 75 hours training per year.

LA11 Programs for skills management and lifelong learning that support the continued employability of employees and assist them in managing career endings.

Carried out on a case by case basis, although has not been an issue as yet.

LA12 Percentage of employees receiving regular performance and career development reviews, by gender.

100% of employees have formal annual performance appraisals that include learning and development need identification.

LA13 Composition of governance bodies and breakdown of employees per employee category according to gender, age group, minority group membership, and other indicators of diversity.

Executive Committee comprised of 4 women and 2 men with ages ranging from 32 to 59. Delivery teams and general management comprise of 17 women and 6 men. Our age spectrum ranges from 23 to 59: 20-24 years old: 4%; 25-29 years old: 26%; 30-34 years old: 33%; 35-39 years old: 11%; 40-44 years old: 11%; 45-50 years old: 7%; 50-54 years old: 0%; 55-59 years old: 7%.

LA14 Ratio of basic salary and remuneration of women to men by employee category, by significant locations of operation.

Salaries are based on our capabilities framework (available upon request) which indicate spectrums per role level. This is applied consistently regardless of gender.

HR1 Percentage and total number of significant investment agreements and contracts that include clauses incorporating human rights concerns, or that have undergone human rights screening.

Not applicable – although we have changed our business banking to the Co-operative Bank because of their Ethical Investment Policy.

HR2 Percentage of significant suppliers, contractors and other business partners that have undergone human rights screening and actions taken.

We do not specifically screen for human rights but we send all core suppliers an ethical screening questionnaire, rate the responses according to ethical criteria and favour suppliers with the best policies and practices.

HR3 Total hours of employee training on policies and procedures concerning aspects of human rights that are relevant to operations, including the percentage of employees trained.

11% of staff are regularly involved in supplier screening and carry out the process. All staff are aware of requirements, with new staff receiving specific training on this during their induction. This results in approximately 15 hours training in total per year across the company.

HR4 Total number of incidents of discrimination and corrective action taken.

None.

HR5 Operations and significant suppliers identified in which the right to exercise freedom of association and collective bargaining may be violated or at significant risk, and actions taken to support these rights.

None.

HR6 Operations and significant suppliers identified as having significant risk for incidents of child labour, and measures taken to contribute to the effective abolition of child labour.

Not relevant to our direct suppliers. Where we use three suppliers to source promotional items for our clients we ask them for assurances relating to the potential labour issues in the supply chain.

HR7 Operations and significant suppliers identified as having significant risk for incidents of forces or compulsory labour, and measures to contribute to the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour.

As above.


HR8 Percentage of security personnel trained in the organisation’s policies or procedures concerning aspects of human rights that are relevant to operations.

Not applicable.

HR9 Total number of incidents of violations involving rights of indigenous people and actions taken.

Not applicable.

HR10 Percentage and total number of operations that have been subject to human rights reviews and/or impact assessments.

Not applicable – the only human rights impacts relevant to our operations are those relating to employment conditions of single UK office based staff. These are covered by UK employment legislation and our own best practice policies.

HR11 Number of grievances related to human rights riled, addressed and resolved through formal grievance mechanisms.

Not applicable.

SO1 Percentage of operations with implemented local community engagement, impact assessments and development programs.

Our work does is not of a type that has negative impacts on our local community. On the contrary, we engage with our local community to find ways in which we can contribute to improvement – see Community section of this report. P8-9

SO9 Operations with significant potential or actual negative impacts on local communities.

None.

SO10 Prevention and mitigation measures implemented in operations with significant potential or actual negative impacts on local communities.

Not applicable.

SO2 Percentage and total number of business units analysed for risks related to corruption.

Not applicable.

SO3 Percentage of employees trained in organisation’s anti- corruption policies and procedures.

Not applicable.

SO4 Actions taken in response to incidents of corruption.

Not applicable.

SO5 Public policy positions and participation in public policy development and lobbying.

We do business with people, businesses, charities and social enterprises who are looking to create positive social, ethical and environmental change. In this, we encourage the highest standards of environmental protection, social responsibility and human rights.

SO6 Total value of financial and in-kind contributions to political parties, politicians and related institutions by country.

None.

SO7 Total number of legal action for anticompetitive behaviour, anti-trust and monopoly practices and their outcomes.

None.

SO8 Monetary values of significant fines and total number of non-monetary sanctions for noncompliance with laws and regulations.

None.

PR1 Life cycle stages in which health and safety impacts of products and services are assessed from improvement and percentage of significant products and services categories subject to such procedures.

Not applicable – we produce no products and our services do not have health and safety impacts.

PR2 Total number of incidents of non-compliance with regulations and voluntary codes concerning health and safety impacts or products and services during their life cycle by type of outcomes.

Not applicable.

PR3 Type of product and service information required by procedures, and percentage of significant products and services subject to such information requirements.

Not applicable.

PR4 Total number of incidents of non-compliance with regulations and voluntary codes concerning product and service information and labelling, by type of outcomes.

Not applicable.

PR5 Practices related to customer satisfaction, including results of surveys measuring customer satisfaction.

We carry out a client satisfaction reviews on completion of significant projects and these are usually carried out by a Director. As part of the biennial Ethical Review conducted by an external consultant a limited number of clients were contacted and interviewed with regard to their satisfaction and information on this is included in this report. P16-19

PR6 Programs for adherence to laws, standard and voluntary codes related to marketing communications, including advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

As an ethical business we would not stand for misrepresentation of ourselves or do so on behalf of our clients. Our Marketing Manager, works alongside our CEO to ensure that all communications regarding the company are accurate. In addition, a number of senior staff members are members of the Market Research Society.

PR7 Total number of incidents of non-compliance with regulations and voluntary codes concerning marketing communications, including advertising, promotion, and sponsorship by type of outcomes.

None.

PR8 Total number of substantiated complaints regarding breaches of customer privacy and losses of customer data.

None.

PR9 Monetary value of significant fines for noncompliance with laws and regulations concerning the provisions and use of products and services.

Not applicable.


Very few consultants have made me sit up and think like Forster. An inspiring group of people.

Keith Abel, founder, Abel & Cole

Photo credits:Page 4, 9, 20: © Clive Boursnell. Page 17: National Trust: © David Parry/PA, © WAGGS, RSPCA: © Joe Murphy/RSPCA, © Help The Hospices. Page 8: © David Parry/PA, Knife Crime: © David Parry/PA.

Forster Communications49 Southwark Street London SE1 1RU Tel: 020 7403 2230

Twitter www.twitter.com/Forster_Comms

LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/forster

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© November 2012The Ground Beneath Our Feet is designed and produced by Forster Communications.

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Sustainability Report 2012 - Forster Communications · The ground beneath our feet Forster...

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