Sustainable Development Goal 8
Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all.
Responsible economic growth and an inclusive work environment are part of Facilicom Group’s DNA. This is expressed in the fact that we have 94 nationalities in our workforce. We also conduct specific activities in terms of social return, integrity and sustainable collaboration.
1. New developments within social return
Social return is a high-priority item on Facilicom Group’s agenda. We structurally take initiatives designed to increase employment participation of people with poor job prospects on the job market. Facilicom Group offers work placements, work experience places and jobs. Furthermore, the purchasing department factors in social return in its partnerships with suppliers.
Buitengewoon
In 2018, Facilicom Group launched the social enterprise Buitengewoon (Out of the Ordinary). This organisation aims to assist people who have trouble fitting into the job market in finding a job.
Last year, we met with dozens of candidates. Over twenty people were offered a trial placement, work experience placement and/or a job within Facilicom Group via Buitengewoon.
Initially, Buitengewoon was mainly active in the Utrecht area. Here we collaborate with the Incluzio district teams, the City of Utrecht and other social entrepreneurs in the city. Meanwhile, we have expanded into other regions, and we are reviewing more options of helping candidates to work at the sites of the divisions.
Appreciation for our employees
Our commitment to happiness on the work floor means that we clearly let our employees know that we appreciate them. Team meetings and the annual celebration of anniversaries are used to that effect, in addition to other ways.Trigion annually awards prizes to employees and teams that excel in enthusiasm and skill. Both employees and clients can put in their votes.
At the 2018 Trigion Awards, a total of thirteen employees and teams received an award.
In 2018, a special token of appreciation was issued to Hasan Saglam, who works with Gom Fleet Services. During the 2018 Golden Service Awards, he won the Cleaner of the Year Award.
PSO - Performance Ladder For Enhanced Social Enterprise
Various business units of Facilicom Group have been awarded a certificate on the Performance Ladder for Enhanced Social Enterprise (PSO) of the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and PSO-Nederland. This certificate is the nationally recognised quality mark for social enterprise. Gom and Facilicom Solutions have reached the first level.
The PSO is also a spearhead in the Sustainable Procurement Code. Asking suppliers and chain partners to collaborate with PSO certified parties enables us to contribute more to the solution to the issue.
2. Integrity on the work floor
For a people company like Facilicom Group, issues such as integrity, equal treatment and behaviour in interactions are essential. This is why we take concrete actions to guarantee the desired behaviour within our company.
Our Company Code of Conduct is based on the principles of the United Nations Global Compact initiative and sets out clear guidelines about the integrity we expect on the work floor. Conscientiousness and integrity are the key words.
A whistle-blower scheme makes it possible for employees to report abuse without running the risk of being adversely affected themselves. Our scheme was prepared in consultation with the Central Works Council.
Each division has a complaints procedure for complaints from clients, suppliers and other external parties. Employees can address any complaints and reports they do not want to discuss with their manager by contacting an internal confidential counsellor. Ten employees in Facilicom Group fulfil the role of independent confidential counsellor in addition to their regular work. This ensures they reflect the organisation and are familiar with the company and the work floor.
Code of Responsible Market Conduct
Gom, Trigion and Albron have signed the Code of Responsible Market Conduct. Additionally, an increasing number of Facilicom Group’s clients signs the Code. This serves to show that parties agree that the quality rather than price is leading when tendering a contract. The initiative is intended to prevent a downward pricing spiral, thereby contributing to healthy work conditions for the employees in the sector. Ellen Groenewoud of Trigion and Geert van der Laar, CEO of Facilicom Group, are members of the so-called Code Chambers and play an active role in further development of the Code of Responsible Market Conduct.
Gom Hospitality and Ibis Styles Haarlem City Hotel recently won the Best Practice Award. The award is presented annually to companies that successfully implement the principles of the Code of Responsible Market Conduct for the cleaning and window-cleaning sectors. The jury praised the way in which both companies genuinely appreciate and focus on the employees. In addition, the contracted cleaners and the hotel employees work as a single team.
3. Working together on the future
Facilicom Group aims to add value to its clients, now and in the future. Customer Excellence is one of our strategic pillars for that reason. In the past few years, we have taken new steps to optimise our client orientation. We monitor client satisfaction and client loyalty with regular surveys expressed in the Net Promoter Score and the retention rate. This serves to build long-term partnerships enabling us to make the difference in social terms.
Gender equality at Facilicom Group
Sustainable Development Goal 8 refers to inclusive economic growth and decent work for everyone, directly overlapping with the theme of gender equality set out in Sustainable Development Goal 5. Facilicom Group is of the opinion that inclusivity is integral to equal treatment of men and women.
We continue to take steps concerning the gender ratio in our boardroom. Since 2018, two of the seven members of Facilicom Group’s Governing Board are female. Forty percent of the Board of Directors are female, and in the Group Management Board team, women are actually in the majority.
In 2018, the Company convened a special meeting with the title ‘Women to the Top in Facilicom Group’ to encourage women to realise their career ambitions. Based on the results of an internal survey, the female attendants talked about their ambitions and the obstructions and impediments they experience in that context.
Annette Onrust, author of the book ‘Topvrouw in zeven stappen. Jouw weg naar de boardroom’ (Top Woman in seven steps: Your Way to the Boardroom), shared her vision, experiences and advice.
Facilicom UK annually reports on differences in the average remuneration of male and female employees in the division. However, the statutory calculation system for the gender pay gap has its limitations. For example, this method compares the total number of employees irrespective of job title. From the recent Gender Pay Gap Report, it was clear that the difference in salaries for men and women within Facilicom UK has been reduced to 5.3%. Trigion’s median gender pay gap was actually negative with -13.68%. This is a significantly better score than other companies in the United Kingdom: the national median gender pay gap is no less than 18.1%.
Male to female ratio
