CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility
Social conditions and working environment Statutory statement on corporate social responsibility pursuant to section 99 a of the Danish Financial Statements Act We see it as part of our corporate social responsibility to contribute to growth, knowledge sharing and development, create new local jobs, support sports, culture and associations through sponsorships and support the local community as a whole – both in the Municipality of Randers, where Verdo is one of the largest employers, and in the Municipality of Herning. Policy for social activities Verdo wants to retain and develop our existing workforce while at the same time attracting new employees and thus giving back to the local community we are part of by creating new jobs. That is why we are working actively to be an attractive workplace by promoting sports, cultural and social activities among our employees. Social activities In most areas, 2020 was a year in the shadow of COVID-19. Bans on large assemblies and lockdowns significantly impaired our ability to organise social initiatives and activities for our employees.
Verdo’s dedicated employees usually participate in local running and cycling events. We call the initiatives ‘Den Gode Energi’ or Good Energy. This has been extremely difficult in 2020, and most of the events we normally participate in have either been cancelled or postponed due to COVID-19. In 2020, we continued our internal dialogue meetings, where all employees can put questions to the CEO. However, the meetings were primarily held online as most employees were working from home for much of the year. The purpose of the dialogue meetings is to contribute to a more open and transparent organisation, and the initiative gained strong internal support. Verdo participated in the ‘Knæk Cancer’ campaign to run, walk or cycle to raise awareness of cancer. To stay in touch, we also held virtual coffee meetings and walkand-talk meetings. In 2020, our hunting club was able to go hunting despite the COVID-19 restrictions. Verdo’s cycling club managed to arrange a cycling race starting at our head office in Randers, and after the race we got together over beers and sausages. Furthermore, we moved the Good Energy initiative to Instagram, where
employees could share pictures of their home office with their colleagues. During the pandemic, we also increased the news communication to our employees with daily and weekly Corona News, which helped to navigate the events of the crisis and illustrate its impact on the employees’ everyday lives. We have many other staff benefits that continue regardless of lockdowns and restrictions, including training opportunities, health insurance, attractive pension schemes and personal pension talks for white-collar and hourly paid workers. Verdo has always made a point of working with educational institutions to set up traineeships, apprenticeships and internships. In addition, we are working with the Municipality of Randers to meet the need for testing the ability to work of unemployed citizens and citizens on long-term sick leave. Health and safety Half of our approx. 550 employees work on construction sites, in warehouses and in production on a daily basis. Therefore, we have health and safety standards and are committed to reducing the number of workplace accidents. We also give high priority to the psychological working
Annual report 2020
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