Delivering on Sustainability 2023 ESG Report
Welcome & About Whistl
Whistl’s ESG strategy
Contents
3 4 6 6 8 9
26 27 31 32 33 35 35 36 39 39 40 40 40 40
Welcome from our Executive Chairman
Preserving our natural environment
Valuing colleagues
About Whistl
Carbon emissions
Whistl’s ESG strategy
Waste management
Our approach to sustainability
Sustainable supply chain
Materiality
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
Fulfilling opportunities
ESG strategic framework
Physical climate-related risks
10
UN Sustainable Development Goals
Transition climate-related risks
11
ESG Governance structure
Preserving our natural environment
Climate-related opportunities
12 12 15 18 19 20 20 23
Valuing colleagues
Appendices
Equality, diversity and inclusion
Certifications
Fair and decent work
List of policies
Occupational health and safety
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
GRI content index
Human rights and modern slavery
SASB content index
Fulfilling opportunities
About this report
Employee training and development
Supporting communities
Appendices
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2023 ESG Report
Welcome & About Whistl
Welcome from our Executive Chairman As a business, we at Whistl pride ourselves on the way we value our colleagues, play a strong and supporting role in our communities and strive to do our best for the environment. So, basing our environment, social and governance strategy (ESG) on these three pillars feels natural and logical to us. This report highlights our progress as we make this journey towards some ambitious goals. We are, fundamentally, a logistics business operating in an industry that has traditionally used fossil-based fuels to move items from A to B – and that makes the transition to less carbon-intensive operations quite difficult. Despite this, over the years, we have taken steps to operate in a sustainable manner, using the latest technology available to mitigate our impact on the environment. We aim to be a sustainable business, not only financially but also within the environment and communities in which we operate. We must create momentum despite the technological challenges. That is why we have committed to achieving net zero by 2045. By calculating science-based emissions reduction targets adhering to the Science Based Targets initiative’s framework, we have taken a pragmatic, two-stage approach in line with the latest climate science. From a baseline of 2022, the short-term aim is a 21% emissions reduction by 2030. By 2045, we commit to reducing our annual carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 95%, the details of which can be read in this report. We understand that we cannot do this on our own, and we will work closely with customers and suppliers to enable them to achieve their own emissions reduction targets.
Whistl’s growth and success are based upon a fundamental commitment to having a great team of people doing a great job with a can-do attitude to deliver exceptional service to customers. We work hard as an organisation to ensure that our colleagues are treated with respect, can be free to be themselves at work and know that they will be listened to. We have made great strides in all aspects, from promoting equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) through further developing our EDI charter, to building awareness and communication around mental health issues and expanding our flexible working approach to support employees with varying needs. We are committed to using our resources to encourage the potential within our people and in the local communities in which we operate. You will read in this report about how, over the course of 2023, we have created and maintained a variety of initiatives to support the professional development of all employees within the business. We understand that it will take commitment and investment to deliver on our ESG objectives. Beyond that, it will take time and technological change to enable us to achieve some of them. However, we are committed to do the right things by the environment, by our employees and the communities in which we work. Nick Wells, Executive Chairman
Whistl’s ESG strategy
Valuing colleagues
Fulfilling opportunities
Preserving our natural environment
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2023 ESG Report
Welcome & About Whistl
About Whistl From our beginnings in the postal sector, the Whistl Group has expanded and diversified to position our business as the UK’s leading logistics specialist, providing efficient, high-quality and competitively priced services across Mail management, Parcel management, Fulfilment solutions, Contact solutions, Cross- border solutions, Doordrop media and Product sampling both in the UK and internationally.
Our dedicated team comprises over 2,100 employees across our headquarters in Marlow and 25 additional warehouses/depots, contact centres and offices across the UK. We support businesses by managing eCommerce/customer journeys from collection to delivery. Our operations span various industry sectors, both private and public, including finance, utilities, eCommerce and charities. Our comprehensive logistics solutions are delivered through seven industry-leading business divisions that seamlessly operate within the Whistl Group and serve our clients and their end-use customers across the UK.
Whistl’s ESG strategy
Valuing colleagues
We are the largest Downstream Access (DSA) provider in the UK, providing efficient services including the collection, sorting and processing of over 50% of the UK’s bulk business mail.
Mail management
We support small- and medium-sized businesses by managing a range of delivery services, both tracked and untracked, through one collection and one point of contact.
Parcel management
Fulfilling opportunities
We offer full-scope order fulfilment through a range of supply chain and customer service solutions.
Fulfilment solutions
We offer tailored customer service solutions to support inbound and outbound customer contact channels.
Contact solutions
Preserving our natural environment
We provide strategic delivery solutions to support our customers as they expand to new markets and manage both export and import requirements.
Cross-border solutions
We are market leaders in audience targeting and doordrop services, including targeted leaflet delivery, catalogues, samples and partially addressed mail.
Doordrop media
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
We support our customers with targeted product sampling through a range of channels and techniques.
Product sampling
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2023 ESG Report
Welcome & About Whistl
Whistl’s ESG strategy
Locations: 20
Workforce: 2,144 employees at end of year
FY23 revenue: £766.3m
Valuing colleagues
10.3%
Fulfilling opportunities
Age:
Gender: Female
22.4%
15 to 26
42.4%
27 to 54
Male
57.6%
55+
67.3%
Preserving our natural environment
Average age: 41
Recent accreditations/awards:
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
Whistl Head Office
Whistl Fulfilment & Contact Centres
Relish
Parcelhub
Whistl Depots
Posthub
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2023 ESG Report
Welcome & About Whistl
From the moment we embarked on the development of our ESG strategy, we made it a priority to engage our incredible team throughout the process. Our remit was to develop a robust ESG strategy that responds to our stakeholders’ increasing expectations. The strategy needed to be clear, simple and appropriate for all our business units. It also needed to be well-informed and reflective of the external landscape. The role of our industry and our stakeholders’ perceptions of it have evolved significantly in recent years. While the proportion of physical mail has decreased, eCommerce has steadily grown.” Irene Boctor, Head of ESG and Sustainability “
Whistl’s ESG strategy Our approach to sustainability Our mission is to grow by doing a great job, with can-do people working efficiently to deliver exceptional service to our customers. Developing an ESG strategy gave us a platform and unifying structure to capture the many ESG-related activities already ongoing across our business. We have outlined some of these critical milestones and will bring these and many more to light in subsequent pages.
Whistl’s ESG strategy
Valuing colleagues
Whistl’s ESG milestones
Fulfilling opportunities
2007
2008
2009
2017
2020
2021
2022
2023
Achieved Investors in People accreditation
Achieved certification to ISO 45001 (Occupational Health & Safety) Joined the Valuable 500 global movement putting disability on the business leadership agenda
Implemented ‘Phase 1’ of the Zest Recycle waste management system across 50% of our sites Launched our employee- led EDI charter
Submitted our first TCFD disclosures Completed first full carbon footprint
Achieved certification to ISO 9001 (Quality Management Systems)
Preserving our natural environment
Achieved certification to ISO 14001 (Environmental Management Systems)
Submitted climate- related information to the CDP for the first time
Submitted carbon emissions reduction targets to the SBTi
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2023 ESG Report
Welcome & About Whistl
In 2022, we engaged an external consultancy to support us with our ESG strategy development. We were committed to focusing on the issues that mattered most, and it was worth taking the time to dig deep and figure out what these were and how best to manage them. The process we took involved identifying which ESG topics were the highest priority for our internal and external stakeholders, understanding the drivers for our ESG business approach and aligning these with best practice sustainability frameworks: the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the UN Sustainability Development Goals (UN SDGs).
Whistl’s ESG strategy
Valuing colleagues
Fulfilling opportunities
Materiality assessment
Strategic analysis
Strategic framework
KPIs and targets
Action plans
Preserving our natural environment
We conducted a robust materiality assessment that considered both the stakeholder perspective (the importance of ESG topics to internal and external stakeholders) and the business perspective (the impact of ESG topics on the business).
We performed a detailed strategic analysis to identify the key internal and external business drivers for ESG. This comprised a competitor review, SWOT analysis, PESTLE analysis and a maturity assessment.
Using the findings from the materiality assessment and the strategic analysis, we identified the priority topics that would be the basis for our strategic approach to ESG. These were grouped into three strategic pillars, all falling within our unifying ESG vision.
To track progress against our strategic objectives, we developed a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) and targets. We have set up robust processes to capture this information regularly and remain accountable.
We created a set of action plans to enable the necessary progress against our targets and integrate the strategy across the business. The actions were tied to specific working groups aligned with each of our pillars.
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Welcome & About Whistl
Materiality
The output of our materiality assessment was our materiality matrix, which shows the ESG topics that are of the highest priority to both our stakeholders and our business. These topics were evaluated alongside our strategic analysis to determine which were the most significant to the business.
Data privacy & security
Human rights & modern slavery
Whistl’s ESG strategy
Occupational health, safety & wellbeing
The priority topics for our ESG strategy were identified to be:
Fair & decent work
• Equality, diversity and inclusion • Fair and decent work • Employee training and development • Supporting communities • Carbon emissions • Waste management • Sustainable supply chain
Business ethics & compliance
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Employee training & development
Valuing colleagues
Carbon emissions
Responsible consumption Waste management Innovation & technology
‘Data privacy and security’, ‘occupational health, safety and wellbeing’ and ‘human rights and modern slavery’ rated highly in the materiality assessment. However, our robust existing policies and procedures have driven consistent performance across these areas. We have disclosed performance against these topics within our report. Conversely, ‘carbon emissions’, ‘waste management’ and ‘supporting communities’ ranked lower, but are strategic priorities for our business, requiring ambitious action through our ESG strategy. Our priority topics were reviewed and approved by our Board of Management and Executive Board. The framework of our ESG strategy demonstrates the culmination of our ESG ambitions and sets the stage for the remainder of this report. Our commitment to our colleagues, customers, communities and the environment is unwavering and gives direction to everything we do. We are proud of our strategy. It represents who we are as a business and our ambition to make positive change in the areas that matter most.
Fulfilling opportunities
Water management
Nature
Climate change resilience
Preserving our natural environment
Sustainable supply chain
Supporting communities
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Impact to business
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2023 ESG Report
Welcome & About Whistl
ESG strategic framework
Whistl’s ESG strategy
We will deliver competitive services for customers whilst enriching our colleagues and communities and minimising our impact on the environment.
Vision
Valuing colleagues
Preserving our natural environment
Strategic pillars
Valuing colleagues
Fulfilling opportunities
Fulfilling opportunities
We will embrace diversity and look after our people, recognising and rewarding their contribution
We will utilise our resources and relationships to unlock the potential within our employees and local communities
We will take action through carbon reduction and sustainable waste practices
Strategic objectives
Preserving our natural environment
Carbon emissions Sustainable supply chain Waste management
Equality, diversity and inclusion Fair and decent work
Employee training and development Supporting communities
Topics covered
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
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2023 ESG Report
Welcome & About Whistl
Whistl’s ESG strategy
Valuing colleagues
Fulfilling opportunities
UN Sustainable Development Goals The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 global goals adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015. Their importance lies in the shared blueprint they provide for how everyone – from individuals to countries – must work together to tackle global issues such as poverty, gender equality, climate action and more. Whistl is committed to supporting the UN SDGs and contributing to the global, collaborative approach they foster. We have mapped our ESG strategy to the UN SDGs to identify areas where we have the potential to have the most significant impact.
Preserving our natural environment
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2023 ESG Report
Welcome & About Whistl
ESG Governance structure Effective ESG governance is critical to ensure the successful integration and management of Whistl’s ESG strategy. As such, we have established strong governance mechanisms that provide top-down leadership from our Board of Management to the engagement of our business units. These mechanisms guarantee that the required actions are implemented and operationalised. Our ESG governance structure is outlined below, along with the roles and responsibilities delegated to each senior management team.
Our Board of Management (BoM) takes ultimate responsibility for the approval and execution of our ESG strategy, including the approval of large projects and capital expenditures. Our Business Services and ESG Director is the Board’s sponsor for reviewing, monitoring and incorporating ESG and climate-related risks into the decision-making process, as well as monitoring progress against climate-related goals and targets every month. The Board-level committee responsible for ESG performance is the Audit Committee, which receives monthly updates from the ESG Committee relating to climate-related risks and opportunities. The Audit Committee is also responsible for reviewing and approving the external disclosures that are included in our annual report. Our Executive Board is ultimately responsible for the Group’s approach to ESG at an operational level while also ensuring that there is sufficient oversight of the identification and management of our ESG and climate-related business risks. The Executive Board meets every month and considers ESG matters, including climate-related factors, as a regular agenda item. Its mandate also includes the approval of ESG-related policies. Chaired by the Business Services and ESG Director, and including our Head of ESG and Sustainability, our ESG Committee reports to the Executive Board and provides ESG-related progress updates every month. Our Chief Operating Officer is the ESG sponsor for the ESG Committee and is responsible for sharing ESG-related information with our BoM. The ESG Committee is responsible for delivering the ESG strategy across the business, drafting ESG-related policies and disclosures for approval, keeping up to date with ESG and climate-related issues, proposing large projects and costs, and reviewing ESG and climate-related risks and opportunities quarterly. The Risk Management Committee informs the BoM quarterly about climate-related risks and opportunities and progress against climate-related objectives and targets. The Risk Management Committee consists of our senior management team and their nominated risk owners and risk delegates from across our business units. Each delegate has a deep knowledge of the current strategic and emerging risks and opportunities for the business and regularly liaises with senior management to identify those most significant to Whistl. The ESG Management Committee sets out the expectations across each of the Sub-Committees and approves the project objectives and KPIs. It is responsible for sharing updates with the ESG Committee and Executive Board every month. A member of the Executive Board chairs each of the ESG Sub-Committees. The ESG Sub-Committees are comprised of subject matter experts who are responsible for remaining informed about the latest ESG topic issues. They manage and track progress against objectives and KPIs, reviewing and reporting back monthly to the ESG Management Committee. Each of our business units plays a role in ensuring the execution of our strategy, agreeing on the internal resources needed, and implementing activities. The business units report progress to the ESG Management Committee every month and are kept up to date regarding the ESG workstream, performance and progress.
Board of Management
Whistl’s ESG strategy
Audit Committee
Governance Structure
Executive Board
Board of Management
Valuing colleagues
Audit Committee
Remuneration Committee
Executive Board
Executive Board
ESG Committee
Fulfilling opportunities
Intemal Audit
Extemal Audit
Risk Committee
ESG Committee
ESG Management Committee & Sub-Committees
Risk Management Committee
Preserving our natural environment
Valuing colleagues
Fulfilling opportunities
Preserving our natural environment
Employee training & development
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
Carbon Emissions
ESG Management Committee and Sub- Committees
Fair & Decent work
Supporting communities
Waste Management
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
Mail management
Fulfilment solutions
Parcel management
Businesses
Contact solutions
Cross-border solutions
Doordrop media
Appendices
Product sampling
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2023 ESG Report
Welcome & About Whistl
Valuing colleagues Our people are the essence of our business, and genuinely valuing our colleagues is one of our core principles at Whistl. This has been – and always will be – a key and consistent focus of ours. We believe that working hard to promote a diverse and inclusive culture while also protecting our employees’ wellbeing creates a more resilient team with a stronger sense of belonging and purpose. Throughout 2023, we set out to ensure that our commitment to valuing our colleagues was supported by real, tangible action. We made great strides in this, from promoting equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) through further developing our EDI charter, to building awareness and communication around mental health issues and expanding our flexible working approach to support employees with varying needs. Equality, diversity and inclusion At Whistl, we strive to create an environment where our employees are treated with respect and fairness, regardless of their background or characteristics. To achieve this, we believe it is important to recognise the interdependence of the concepts of equality, diversity and inclusion. A diverse workforce, for example, must be supported by practices that ensure that minorities are treated equally and feel included. In 2023, we progressed in all three areas by developing our EDI charter and strategy and working to promote gender equality and ethnic minority representation throughout our business.
EDI charter In 2023, we committed to promoting EDI by updating our EDI charter and EDI sponsors. The purpose of updating the charter was to create clarity around equality, diversity and inclusion for our employees. In addition, the updated charter laid out our core goals concerning EDI. The objective of our EDI sponsors was to take responsibility for these goals and ensure that they came to fruition. Over the year, we appointed our Head of Operations as the sponsor for race diversity, our Managing Director of International and Managing Director of Parcels to lead on disability awareness and our Commercial Director of Mail and Commercial Director of Fulfilment to lead on female diversity. Within our EDI charter, we committed to supporting the Disability Confident scheme. We have increased our efforts to recruit, retain and ensure reasonable adjustments for our employees with disabilities. We have also committed to the Race at Work Charter, which aims to promote the career progression of ethnic minorities and break down obstacles to their recruitment. There are approximately 20 EDI Allies across our business, and their objective is to meet every two months to decide on relevant EDI topics that would benefit from raised awareness and action. This has led to the creation of our EDI calendar, which includes several events to promote EDI across the business. To give our EDI sponsors a helping hand, we appointed an EDI Lead from amongst our EDI Allies this year.
Whistl’s ESG strategy
Valuing colleagues
Fulfilling opportunities
Preserving our natural environment
“ My Role as EDI Lead for Whistl is to direct the EDI Allies group and develop an integrated approach to EDI in line with Whistl values, behaviours and best practice. We’re grateful for those who have put their hands up to be an EDI Ally and help to support our equality, diversity and inclusion strategy across the Whistl Group.” Louise O’Neil, HR Business Partner and EDI Lead
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Welcome & About Whistl
“ I take immense pride in launching this campaign as Whistl’s sponsor for race. It is important to pronounce people’s names correctly and to take the time to get it right. I encourage all of you to use the guide and follow the step-by-step approach on how to spell your name phonetically and put it on your email signatures and social media.” Mark Lawrenson, Head of Operations and Sponsor for Race at Work
Whistl’s ESG strategy
Valuing colleagues
EDI strategy During 2023, we continued to develop a more extensive and strategic approach to EDI as one of our principal targets. While it remains a work in progress, we have made great strides. A key component of this was listening to our employees’ concerns around EDI so we could ensure that we created relevant and effective solutions. In a bid to encourage our employees to share their ideas and experiences, we organised online ‘Tea Break’ sessions, which aimed to explore challenges and solutions around EDI at Whistl. The initial uptake of the initiative was 45 people; we will promote awareness in 2024 to engage more of our team. Gender equity As part of the development of our EDI strategy, we also made efforts to understand the distinct experiences of our female employees. In December 2023, we sent out a Women at Work development survey to gauge whether our female employees felt they were treated equally to their male counterparts, where challenges lay, and how obstacles could be overcome. We discovered that our female employees sought greater opportunities for career advancement and that approximately 33% of respondents wanted to be involved in a women’s group. As a result, we aim to create a women’s group in 2024 and will put together a series of actions to address the additional outcomes of the survey.
Whistl has a target to increase female representation in Board and management roles to 40% by the end of 2028. We are pleased to report that we achieved this target in 2023, with women representing 45.4% of management and Board positions across the Group. Looking deeper into this data, we understand that, moving forward, we need to enhance female representation at Board level, where we currently have only 9.1% female representation. We also aim to meet our target across all of our business units. One of the greatest ways that we can support our female employees and retain them year on year is to ensure they are fairly compensated. Whistl collects gender pay gap information at the reporting company level, diving deep to understand any discrepancies. We strive to maintain a median gender pay gap below a deviation of 5% year on year, and in 2023 we achieved this across two of four reporting companies. In 2023 and beyond, we will continue our hard work to close the gap and report our progress transparently.
Fulfilling opportunities
Preserving our natural environment
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2023 ESG Report
Welcome & About Whistl
2023 performance:
Increase female representation in Board and management roles to 40% by the end of 2028 Targets:
Ethnic parity We also want to improve the experience of racial and ethnic minority employees at Whistl so, in 2023, we began working with Race Equality Matters (REM). REM is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to tackle racial inequality in the workplace by offering solutions and support. Our work with REM encouraged us to take part in the #MyNameIs initiative, which prompts people to include the phonetic spelling of their name in their email signature so that all names can be pronounced correctly. Although a small action, we believe that this enables our employees to share their full names and identities with pride. We have committed to undertake a review of ethnic minority representation in management roles by the end of 2024. However, we recognise that, to carry out these efforts, we require a stronger understanding of our current position. As a result, we are in the process of implementing new data collection processes. In April 2024, our new Human Resources Information Security system is being introduced. This will enable us to understand any gaps in the pay of our ethnic minority and female employees so we can then make informed, concerted efforts to reduce them. This will enable us to complete our EDI strategy by the end of 2024.
45.4% female representation in Board and management roles
Whistl’s ESG strategy
Develop a strategic approach to EDI by 2024
9.1% female representation in Board-level positions
Valuing colleagues
Undertake a review of ethnic minority representation in management roles by the end of 2024
39.9% female representation in management roles
Fulfilling opportunities
Undertake an ethnicity pay gap assessment by the end of 2025
Gender pay gap
Reporting entity Whistl UK Ltd
Women’s hourly rate
2.8% lower Whistl Fulfilment (Gateshead) Ltd 9.1% lower Whistl Fulfilment (Rushden) Ltd 12.0% lower Whistl Fulfilment (South West) Ltd N/A
Preserving our natural environment
Maintain a median gender pay gap below a deviation of 5% year on year
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
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2023 ESG Report
Welcome & About Whistl
Fair and decent work At Whistl, we are committed to providing our employees with work that offers them security, opportunities and respect. We work hard to ensure that the differing needs of all demographic groups are understood and acted upon to improve satisfaction. To better understand our employees’ needs, we conduct annual employee engagement MySay surveys, and aim to increase survey participation annually. Our 2023 feedback helped inform us where we are doing well, and where we still need to improve. For instance:
Flexible working Flexible working refers to the adjustment of working patterns, hours or location. It can have many social and environmental benefits – such as supporting ageing, unwell or disabled employees and those with parental responsibilities – and therefore ensures that these groups have fair access to work. Where possible, we aim to provide our employees with a flexible working approach. Since 2020, we have permitted our office employees to work from home on two days per week and encouraged them to work in the office on three days. Flexible working can present a challenge for Whistl as a logistics business. A large proportion of our employees work within operations, and for this group, flexible working is not always possible. However, we allow flexible working requests from our operational workers and make decisions based on individual cases. For example, many of our drivers reduced their work hours to four days per week in 2023. This was particularly important as it enabled us to retain a range of skilled and committed drivers and operational employees.
Whistl’s ESG strategy
• 67% agree their manager encourages and supports their development • 55% feel that senior leaders are sufficiently visible and approachable • 81% agree they can be themselves at work
Valuing colleagues
In 2023, we strived to improve the wellbeing of our employees by strengthening their existing support networks and providing a more flexible approach to work. As a consequence, our wellbeing team were recognised for their exceptional efforts when they were awarded the ‘Best Health and Wellbeing Programme’ at the UK Contact Centre Forum National Awards at the end of the year.
Fulfilling opportunities
Preserving our natural environment
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
“ On the flexible work shifts, I honestly think it’s a positive step in retaining older employees who don’t want to retire fully, but because of health or family issues would like to reduce their hours.” Alan Gibson, Driver, Bolton Depot
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Welcome & About Whistl
Spotlight:
ANDYSMANCLUB is a men’s suicide prevention charity, offering 130 support groups across the UK and online.
Whistl’s ESG strategy
Its aim is to end the stigma surrounding men’s mental health, providing a safe space where they feel comfortable to talk and open up about their experiences. As part of our partnership with the charity, ANDYSMANCLUB is being promoted on our vehicle fleet, reassuring men that IT’S OK TO TALK – a message also conveyed to employees at our Bolton site (with others to follow), in an ANDYSMANCLUB session.
Valuing colleagues
Fulfilling opportunities
Preserving our natural environment
“
Male suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50. ANDYSMANCLUB is on a mission to help and, as well as raising awareness of their great work amongst
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
our employees, our van and HGV fleet is being kitted out with stickers to spread the word externally.” Andy Underwood, Managing Director of Parcels, Disability and Mental Health Sponsor
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Welcome & About Whistl
73% participation rate in MySay employee engagement survey 2023 performance:
Wellbeing The welfare of our employees is of paramount importance to us. Our main objective for 2023 was to improve awareness amongst our workforce regarding mental health issues and addiction and to develop networks through which employees could be supported if faced with these challenges. Our aim is to create a resilient workforce by applying a proactive approach to wellbeing. To this end, we created a ‘2023 wellbeing calendar’ filled with events such as ‘Wellbeing Wednesdays’ workshops with a focus on alcohol awareness, women’s health, fathers’ mental health awareness, maternity mental health awareness and personal safety. During these workshops, information was shared with participants to enable them to build their knowledge around the topics and learn how to establish healthy coping mechanisms. From February onwards, we also held free weekly meditation sessions for all employees. The purpose of these sessions was to help our employees to prioritise their emotional wellbeing and learn to cope with stress. We held our meditation sessions on Zoom to make them accessible to all workers. In our efforts to support both in-person and remote employees with their mental health, we also evolved our approach to mental health first aid in 2023. We have trained mental health first aiders (MHFAs) who act as the first point of contact when an employee or a person they know is mentally unwell. The MHFAs are available to provide advice and can encourage employees to pursue further support through either Whistl’s resources or professional assistance. In 2023, we experienced considerable employee interest in becoming an MFHA. We now have 36 trained MFHAs across our sites, supported by 16 mental health champions. To further encourage fair and decent work at Whistl, we aim to generate a greater uptake of our wellbeing initiatives amongst our lone workers by enhancing awareness and providing online access. We will continue to ensure that employees are aware that wellbeing workshop sessions are recorded and available to them at any time.
Whistl’s ESG strategy
Improve employee engagement score in the annual MySay survey year on year Targets:
Valuing colleagues
Fulfilling opportunities
“
The Whistl wellbeing team are committed to promoting the wellbeing of our colleagues. We recognise the pressures of work and modern life, which we aim to reflect in
Preserving our natural environment
our approach. As a team, we were very proud to receive the award and recognition for the comprehensive programme which was rolled out in 2023.” David Bedwin, Account Development Director (Whistl Doordrop Media), Wellbeing Champion and Mental Health First Aider
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Welcome & About Whistl
Occupational health and safety We care deeply about our team, and keeping everyone safe is a top priority for our business. This includes monitoring the frequency of workplace accidents and injuries, taking time to understand the root cause of these occurrences, and acting to prevent future incidents to the best of our abilities. Our mature approach to occupational health and safety (OHS) is established through our ISO 45001-certified OHS management system. In 2023, our ASR and AFR values (32.3 and 4.3, respectively) remained comparable to those for 2022 (38.6 and 4.2), demonstrating that our established safety management processes remain functional.
Case study: Driver safety training
To reduce the incident rate and increase road safety, we stepped up our driver training in 2023. This began with hiring a National Transport Training Manager in mid-2023, who initially focused on understanding our current systems, strengthening policies and procedures, and employing two new Driver Trainers. Since then, we have strived to enhance driver training through the use of telematics monitoring systems and driver profiling. Through telematics monitoring systems, we are able to understand critical information about each trip a driver takes. This includes metrics such as coasting, over-revving the vehicle, harsh acceleration, harsh braking and engine idle time. Taking all of this into account, driver profiling is then used to score safety performance and take proactive action to prevent incidents. Our drivers are ranked red, amber or green based on their driving performance. Our Driver Trainers are all SAFED (Safe and Fuel-Efficient Driving) certified. By better understanding our drivers’ needs, we are able to create personalised training programmes, including the following.
• Induction: New drivers are required to undertake a five-day induction to prepare them for work on the road. • Vehicle familiarisation training: This is a process designed to acquaint individuals with the specific features, controls and operational aspects of the vehicles they drive. • Annual driver refresher training: Informed by telematics and conducted by our SAFED Driver Trainers, we tailor annual driver training to what is required to improve driver performance. The training includes road safety, unnecessary braking and acceleration. • Toolbox talks: Integrating safety into the daily procedures, our toolbox talks are an informal and to-the-point way for us to discuss hazards, prevention and safe work practices. • Driver certificates of professional competence (CPC): These mandatory qualifications require 35 hours of classroom education every five years, ensuring our drivers are competent in areas of road safety, vehicle operations and regulatory compliance. We are pleased to report a 10% improvement in driver scores over the six months since the programme has been implemented. This equates to moving from red to amber using the scorecard system. We are committed to having 60% of our drivers achieve green by 2025.
Whistl’s ESG strategy
Valuing colleagues
Fulfilling opportunities
Preserving our natural environment
The nature of our business means that driving is one of the highest-risk activities we do. In 2023, we took further action to ensure our driver training met the needs of our team members throughout their careers. 2023 performance:
“
Our drivers work hard year round to improve their safety scorecards. The immediate benefits are reduced vehicle incident rate and severity, but they go far beyond keeping everyone safe. Benefits also include improving the fuel efficiency, life of moving parts and life span of the vehicle. In effect, driver training saves money and reduces the emissions produced. Despite the importance of these elements, safety will always be our primary focus; when the driver training is done
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
Total incidents
635
Total fatalities:
0
effectively, the rest falls into place naturally.” Graeme Snowball, National Transport Training Manager
Accident Severity Rate (ASR)
32.3
Accident Frequency Rate (AFR)
4.3
Appendices
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2023 ESG Report
Welcome & About Whistl
Human rights and modern slavery Whistl is committed to a zero-tolerance approach to slavery and human trafficking. Our Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement and Policy outlines the principles we follow and the policies in place to protect human rights across our operations and supply chain. We continuously improve our practices to combat slavery and human trafficking, to help protect the most vulnerable and to prevent the violation of human rights. Our Modern Slavery Committee meets at least twice per year and is chaired by an HR representative with representatives from across Whistl (Legal, Compliance, Marketing and Procurement). We also strive to achieve transparency in our approach to tackling modern-day slavery throughout our supply chain, holding our suppliers to the same high standards as our business. To demonstrate our accountability, we have a set of KPIs that are measured by Whistl and reported to the Executive Board on a quarterly basis. • Anti-slavery and human trafficking training – 95% of our workforce has undergone training related to business ethics and whistleblowing, including human rights. • Whistleblowing reports – In 2023, four whistleblowing incidents were identified, and each was responded to within 48 hours of being reported. • Supplier audits – Our supplier expectations are established within our supplier charter and upheld throughout our request for proposal (RFP) and contractual processes.
Whistl’s ESG strategy
Valuing colleagues
Fulfilling opportunities
Preserving our natural environment
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
Appendices
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2023 ESG Report
Welcome & About Whistl
“ Our people are key to our success, and we recognise their value by investing in development programmes and activities to help them to reach their potential. We endeavour to ensure that, when a Whistl employee has the desire and drive to develop their skills, they are thoroughly supported to accomplish this.” Lynn Dillon, HR Director
Whistl’s ESG strategy
Valuing colleagues
Fulfilling opportunities We owe our position as a leading logistics company to our people; in turn, we are committed to using our resources to encourage the potential within our people and local communities. Over the course of 2023, we have created and maintained a variety of initiatives to support the professional development of our employees and enhance the wellbeing of our local communities. Employee training and development When we invest time and resources into development initiatives, we want to be certain that they offer choice and flexibility to our employees. This is because our people are self-motivated individuals, so we have great confidence in them to drive their own progress. We believe this creates a sense of ownership, pride and achievement amongst our employees. This is fundamental to ensuring that we continue to develop a strong workforce capable of delivering high-quality services. Over the course of 2023, our learning and development (L&D) team facilitated the delivery of new learning and development opportunities by providing tools, resources and advice to support our employees. Some of our highlights in 2023 include the further development of our apprenticeship programme, the improvement and maintenance of our learning management system, My Academy, and the preservation of our Investors in People accreditation.
Our main priority for the year was the introduction of a mandatory People Management Programme, which is now mandatory for all existing people managers and will form part of the induction for anyone appointed to roles supervising and managing staff in the future. For existing managers, it is an opportunity to take time to reflect and share best practices with other managers. For new managers, it is a chance to meet other managers, become aware of the tools and resources available to managers, and gain an understanding of key HR processes at Whistl. The programme involves an in-person workshop focused on leadership and management behaviours, supplemented by several essential e-learning modules about key people processes. We were remarkably successful in the rollout of this programme: by the end of 2023, 81% of our existing managers had attended the workshop. To further promote learning and development, we will launch our new ‘behaviour framework’ in 2024. The framework will be bolstered by a range of learning resources such as workshops, e-learning courses, practical activities and books to enable employees to identify and close their skill gaps. We look forward to continuing to provide our employees with opportunities and support to reach their goals.
Fulfilling opportunities
Preserving our natural environment
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
Appendices
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2023 ESG Report
Welcome & About Whistl
Apprenticeship opportunities We recognise the value of offering a quality apprenticeship programme. Our apprenticeships play a key role in the development of our entry-level employees, providing new starters with the skills and confidence to advance their careers. This is a win-win situation for Whistl, as it also enables us to establish a pipeline of excellent talent in our business, enhancing our long- term success. Our Leadership and Management apprenticeships empower team members to achieve promotions or gain additional responsibilities through their roles; throughout 2022 and 2023, 42% were successful in doing so. In 2023, we took a pragmatic approach to our apprenticeships. We worked hard to understand the challenges we had faced in previous years and applied what we had learned to optimise our approach. In 2021 and 2022, we experienced a considerable number of drop-outs, so this year, we focused on selecting individuals with strong levels of interest and commitment to create greater benefits. Our approach proved successful, with our drop-out rate among Leadership and Management apprentices reducing from 45% in 2022 to 18% in 2023 with 25 individuals completing the apprenticeship scheme. We recognise that there is always progress to be made and, moving forward, we aim to identify suitable individuals by conducting a skills gap analysis. We are incredibly proud of the hard work and dedication that our apprentices exhibited in committing to develop themselves both personally and professionally. We also received immensely positive feedback from participants, who noted that the apprenticeship programme had enabled them to build their confidence and decision-making skills.
My Academy At Whistl, we believe in continuous learning for our employees throughout all career stages. We aim to fulfil this through the provision of our learning management system, My Academy, an online learning platform that employees can visit to undertake relevant training. Through My Academy, our employees can access a range of different training and skills development courses. In 2023, we issued a new course on environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics. The objective of this course was to improve our employees’ understanding of ESG and to inspire them to promote environmental and social goals both in the workplace and in their personal lives. Whistl’s aim for 2024 is to see at least 80% of our employees complete this training, taking us closer to fulfilling our strategic commitment to providing training on ESG to all employees. However, we are conscious that during the past year, My Academy was primarily used by our employees for mandatory training courses such as induction and compliance training. Recorded training averaged one and a half days per employee over the course of 2023. In the future, we are keen to attract further employee engagement by providing additional insightful training modules on the platform. On top of this, we will encourage our employees to record their training hours; this will provide accurate data so that we are able to measure progress clearly against our 2025 target of two days of training per employee each year. We also aim to review and evaluate recorded activities to monitor their effectiveness, continuously improving our approach to learning and development.
Whistl’s ESG strategy
“ The feeling of accomplishment after completing my apprenticeship was worth all the hard work. I’ve learned so much and now hold skills for life that not only help me massively in my professional life but my personal life too. It’s been great fun to join remote workshops with peers from other work areas that hold a mutual interest as everyone could openly express their thoughts, understandings, challenges, ideas, struggles and breakthroughs in work without the prior feeling of being judged.”
Valuing colleagues
Fulfilling opportunities
Preserving our natural environment
James Moor, Operations / Departmental Manager (Whistl Contact Centre) and Former Apprentice
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
Appendices
21
2023 ESG Report
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