Foundry ESG Mission Statement

At Foundry our ESG strategy seeks to define the values, visions and principles that we operate by and
provide guidance on how to demonstrate and implement our ESG strategy.
ESG is an umbrella term for a broad range of environmental, social and governance factors against which we can assess our corporate and social responsibility. Our mission statement aims to ensure that we evaluate how we manage, direct and control our environmental as well as our social aims and responsibilities. We enter into these commitments on a voluntary basis.


Main Objectives:

 

  • Assessing our own corporate behaviour and ethics and taking more account of ESG considerations in decision-making at all levels of the business.
  • Motivating staff to be more involved in ESG
  • Set out our position on ESG both internally and externally
  • Long term resilience and sustainability, managing future customer and legal considerations
  • Minimise negative impact of our business activities on local communities including both human rights related or environmental issues including in our supply chain.
  • Accountability: To set, publicise and evidence achievement of specific targets. We have nominated Leads for each area of our ESG Strategy and a way that we can demonstrate accomplishment of objectives and show value to the business and society.


Environment

Committee/ Lead: Eco- Team
Impact and Value Measurement: IIE Accreditation and ESOS Report


Foundry’s four environmental pillars:


Education: Educate the Foundry team and raise company wide awareness. Lead communication related to learning resources, individual actions to reduce environmental impact, community initiatives, and opportunities to participate.


Measure and Reduce: Quarterly reporting and an annual report focusing on scopes 1 and 2 and starting to both work on and report on scope 3, accredited by Investors In the Environment (“IIE”) for our UK operations, ESOS reporting, SECR reduction targets


Advocate: Advocate for positive environmental change at Foundry


Environmental factors relate to how a company performs as a steward of the natural environment.


Policies:

  • Environmental policy: sets out our objectives, principles and targets in relation to managing the environmental impacts and aspects of our operations
  • Waste Management Policy: set out our waste management, use and recycling programmes
  • ESOS Reporting: compliance reporting to identify cost- effective, energy saving measures we can implement
  • Travel policy: setting out the perimeters around travel and hotel stays to meet our commercial objectives as a business with the environment in mind.
  • Third Party Procurement Policy: this policy sets out our aims and expectations around third parties that we appoint and contains a code of conduct for third parties around data protection, environmental conduct and social conduct.
  • Streamlined Energy Carbon Reporting (SECR): compliance reporting in our annual finance reports.

 

 

Social

Committee/ Lead: People Team
Impact and Value Measurement: Internal survey scores for Engagement & DEIA and usage of Passion Days, IIE reporting


Social factors relate to how a company manages relationships with its employees but also how a company manages relationships with its suppliers, customers, and the communities it operates in. Relevant policy areas are wide- ranging but resources are listed under the topics set out below.

  • Human rights: Making sure that supply chains are free from illegal and unethical employment practices is an important part of ESG for our business. Our Procurement Policy includes wording to this regard.
  • Modern Slavery Statement: We undergo an annual update of this statement which we publicly file.
  • Health and safety: Employee health and safety remains high on our agenda. In addition to the changes that were made during the pandemic to ensure the physical safety of our team members, we have further increased our focus on mental health and wellbeing through the introduction of a Mental Health Allies programme and other initiatives which focus on improving the holistic wellbeing of employees.
  • Anti-harassment and bullying policy: We are committed to creating a work environment free of bullying and harassment, where everyone is treated respectfully by colleagues, customers or partners. Our policy is contained on the People Team Confluence pages, detailing our process for managing such matters and associated repercussions. Our employees undertake annual training on Anti-harassment, Ethics and the Roper Code of Conduct. It is important that everyone at Foundry feels safe to raise concerns without fear of negative consequences, which they can do via the Roper Ethics and Compliance line or directly with a member of Foundry management.
  • Community engagement: As part of ensuring sustainable development, businesses need to evaluate their economic, social, cultural and environmental impact on the communities they operate in and minimise any negative impacts. Where companies look to engage with and offer support to the communities they operate in, that engagement requires a procedural framework to ensure that those activities are conducted both ethically and lawfully. We support employees in their individual community engagement by allocating a handful of Passion Days each year to each employee to conduct charitable activities and engage with the local community.
  • Gifts and hospitality policy: this is found in the employee handbook under Standards of Conduct.
  • Family Leave Policies: We have a generous and inclusive family leave policy, which supports all Foundry employees welcoming a child into their family through childbirth, adoption or surrogacy. Our policies are regularly reviewed and updated to incorporate the anticipated needs of our employees appropriately.
  • Pay reporting: gender reporting and pay-ratio reporting which we report internally using our own methodology.
  • DEIA: We believe a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive Foundry benefits us all. Partnering with our customers, anticipating future problems, and providing solutions that enable our customers’ creativity is at the core of our business. We are progressing with this through 4 pillars, (a) Education, (b) Talent Pipeline, (C) How we Operate, (d) Customers and the Community. Further information can be found on the DEIA page on Confluence.

 

Governance

Committee/ Lead: Finance, I.T., Cyber, Legal
Impact and Value Measurement: Maintaining and improving our internal scoring, annual policy review and update.


Governance relates to a company’s leadership and the frameworks it implements to deliver on its environmental and social aims, and its due diligence, disclosure, transparency and reporting obligations. Governance structures come under more scrutiny, reporting requirements are increasing and reforms are underway.

 

  • Bribery and corruption: Closely linked to many of the social drivers for improving ESG credentials, bribery and corruption is a key area of risk for many businesses and therefore a major area of focus for corporate governance.
  • Conflicts of interest: A conflict of interest arises where a person has two (or more) competing interests and serving one of those interests could damage or harm the other interest. A conflicts of interest policy is a vital aspect of a wider system to prevent fraud, bribery and corruption within a business and therefore essential to good governance. We have conflicts wording in our employment contracts, as well as established Denied Party Screening for customers which includes sanctions screening.
  • Whistleblowing and Investigations: Having a clear and comprehensive approach to investigating wrongdoing will contribute towards a robust system of governance and help embed a strong ethical culture within our company. This policy is contained within our internal People Team website and in the Roper Code of Ethics and Standard of Conduct which includes annual refresher training and access to a third- party whistleblowing hotline.

 

 

James France

CFO

The Foundry Visionmongers Ltd.