Travis Perkins plc Annual Report and Accounts 2021
72
Travis Perkins plc Annual Report and Accounts 2021
72
Engaging with stakeholders
Building positive relationships through strong engagement,
collaboration and dialogue with stakeholders that share our values
is important to us. Working together towards shared goals assists
us in delivering long-term sustainable success.
Our Group comprises a number of businesses and all engage with
each other because the value of working together is recognised.
Each business also has extensive engagement with its own unique
stakeholders. The Group’s governance framework delegates authority
for local decision-making to businesses, up to defined levels of cost and
impact, which allows the businesses to take account of the needs of their
own stakeholders in their decision-making.
The leadership teams of each business make decisions with a
long-term view and with the highest standards of conduct in line
with Group policies. In order to fulfil their duties, the Directors of each
business and of the Group itself take care to have regard to the likely
consequences on all stakeholders of the decisions and actions which
they take. Where possible, decisions are carefully discussed with affected
groups and are therefore fully understood and supported when taken.
The Board is well informed about the views of stakeholders. Reports
are regularly made to the Board by the businesses about strategy,
performance and key decisions taken, which provides the Board
with assurance that proper consideration is given to stakeholder
interests in decision-making. It uses this information to assess the
impact of decisions on each stakeholder group as part of its own
decision-making process. Details of the Group’s key stakeholders
and how we engage with them are set out below.
Shareholders
We rely on the support of shareholders and their opinions are important
to us. We want to enable shareholders to have an in-depth understanding
of our strategy and operational and financial performance, so they can
accurately assess the value of our shares.
We have an open dialogue with our shareholders through one-to-one
meetings, group meetings, and the Annual General Meeting. Discussions
with shareholders cover a wide range of topics including financial
performance, strategy, outlook, governance and ethical practices.
Shareholder feedback along with details of movements in our
shareholder base are reported to and discussed by the Board and
their views are considered as part of decision-making. The Group
held a Capital Markets Update in 2021 to set out its ambition to
become the leading partner to the construction industry and to
set out how the Group intends to grow total shareholder return.
It was necessary to consider the potential impact of Covid-19
restrictions when planning the 2021 AGM and with regret we had to
insist that shareholders did not attend the AGM venue. The 2021 AGM
was, therefore, undertaken via a webcast, through which shareholders
could see and hear the Directors; and could ask questions and vote in
real-time at the meeting.
Colleagues
Our people are key to our success and we want them to be successful
individually and as a team. We aim to build a fully inclusive environment
where treating each other with respect and encouraging everyone to be
themselves is at the heart of our values.
We work hard to engage with and listen to our colleagues in a variety of
ways. Our Group-wide engagement survey in 2021 was sent to 16,559
colleagues with a completion rate of 67%, representing the views of
approximately 11,000 colleagues. The engagement survey included
detailed questions around people, safety and ESG.
Group diversity and inclusion networks with GLT sponsorship
and diversity and inclusion forums established within the individual
businesses, aiming to: retain a diverse pipeline of colleagues, enable
a high performance culture, develop inclusive leaders and positively
impact a generation of young people.
Pete Redfern was the designated workforce engagement Non-executive
Director in 2021 and focused on holding listening sessions with
colleagues to seek direct insight into what was important. Participants
nominate themselves for the listening sessions, which have a strong
emphasis on confidentiality. Agendas for the meetings were driven by
the colleagues who participated rather than Pete. His role was to listen
and facilitate the conversation. During the meetings in the first half of
2021, six key themes emerged: safety, resources, Covid-19, diversity &
culture, mental health and IT. Feedback from colleagues was broadly
supportive of the businesses’ direction and changes being made, however
some concern was expressed at the pace of change and resources.
In response, taking account of the on-going additional pressures caused
by the pandemic, deliberate steps were taken to slow the pace of some
change activity over the summer to allow colleagues additional time to
catch up. Key themes emerging from listening sessions in the second half
of 2021 focused on workload and the communication of change, rather
than change itself. The themes from earlier in the year did not emerge in
the same way. The change in emphasis and topics in the feedback during
the second half suggested that the deliberate slowing of some activity
over the summer had worked and that engagement with colleagues
via the listening sessions had made a difference.
Further information on how the Group engages with colleagues can
be found under “Colleague voice and engagement” on page 70.
Customers
Our ambition is to be the leading partner to the construction industry by
delivering an exceptional, innovative service to customers. We build quality
relationships with our customers and spend considerable time with them
to understand their needs and views and listen to how we can improve our
offer and elevate and deepen the relationship.
Our most significant customers and customer groups are fundamental
to our success and they are monitored closely so that we can identify
their needs and bring them innovative solutions that help resolve the
pain-points in the most effective way. We use this knowledge to inform
our decision-making as customer needs evolve over time, including
tailoring our digital propositions to suit customer demands. E.g.
launching the Travis Perkins app in order to offer more flexibility
in accessing products and account management.
Suppliers
Our suppliers are experts in the wide range of products we source
from them. Macro factors such as the increasing relevance of ESG and
sector-specific changes seen in the development of modern methods
of construction are raising expectations of us and our suppliers and
creating opportunities. We aim to build strong supplier relationships
and develop mutually beneficial, lasting partnerships that meet these
expectations and seize these opportunities.
Section 172 statement