Our Approach to
Corporate Responsibility.
Working with clients in the not for profit and higher education spheres to help them aim higher, fulfil their potential and make change happen we are entrusted with clients’ most precious assets – their reputation – and we consider this trust to be mutual, and we must operate as a responsible business at the highest, consistent and transparent level.
These, as all our values – Integrity, Professionalism, Honesty, Transparency, Authenticity – are core to everything that we do and are evident in our overall desire to be a responsible and ethical business.
Cairney & Company’s (C&C) people are comprised of Strategic Partners, Advisors, and Senior Consultants based across the world, which gives the company a first-hand, in market experience and different perspective on many sustainability issues. Being sensitised to the problems, C&C know that we can also be part of the solutions or mitigating the problem and so we endeavor to operate collectively in a way that enables a more sustainable business as usual. In helping our clients to aim higher, we will also try to assist them consider such corporate responsibility aspects, as is appropriate to their business and operations.
C&C people are chosen for their knowledge and skills, as well as being like-minded and united by a shared professional standard. Due diligence is undertaken to gauge the eligibility of new people to be invited to join C&C, and alignment to Our approach to Corporate Responsibility is one of the factors that influence that decision. We also use ongoing alignment to this approach as one way to evaluate the success and fit of retaining people in the team. If a C&C person is considered to have failed to meet C&C’s standards, their relationship with C&C will be terminated.
We have various touch points with stakeholders and are committed to being a responsible business and regularly review our activities and processes to ensure that we are addressing matters that are material to the business. We define these as being the areas that are most significantly impacted by C&C’s operations plus the most significant areas that impact C&C operations.
This document – Our approach to Corporate Responsibility – encapsulates our view of what is material and our approach to handing these areas.
We consider our Corporate Responsibility under four broad headings:
1. Governance
2. Economic
3. Environment
4. Social
1. Governance
1.1. As a professional advisory company we practice what we preach – we believe in strong governance and doing the right things in the right way.
1.2. We believe that rigorous compliance with applicable requirements – environmental, labour, health and safety and more – is a base line and minimum standard that is required for C&C to be able to operate.
1.3. We engage professionals to ensure C&C complies with ongoing governance requirements across the business and will seek advice where a new issue arises, for example in a jurisdiction new to us where local market requirements are unknown/not as well known to us, or when there is a change to local and national requirements. While enjoying the qualities of being a privately held limited liability company, we try to be as open and transparent as we can, without comprising our commercial privacy.
1.4. We also turn to and count on our Advisors to keep C&C in optimal shape for governance matters. In being a step removed from day to day operations, they offer a valuable and more external perspective.
1.5. Our Advisors are listed here: https://www.cairneyandcompany.com/people
1.6. They are seasoned experts who act as mentors for a range of topics, including being in tune with the nuances of market developments and expectations. They are a check to keep C&C in line with the spirit as well as the letter of what is required.
2. Economic
2.1. As a ‘for profit’ business C&C aims to be economically sustainable in the long term. We maintain tight control of finances so that the risk of no longer being a going concern and able to fulfil a contract is kept to a minimum.
2.2. In serving our clients, we track the macro market environment in which businesses operate. Periodically we reflect on these conditions and evaluate what if any impact they have to the business strategy and operations of C&C.
2.3. We strive for our integrity and professionalism to be unequivocal and evident starting from the scoping of projects. We will work with clients to ensure to the best of our ability that the engagements are the right size and time for an organisation’s needs.
2.4. We will not accept an engagement where we consider it to be unethical, counter to C&C values and in a sector that C&C has chosen to blacklist.
2.5. C&C bills clients in a transparent way, based on the costs involved in the provision of the services delivered. C&C terms and conditions of contract are clearly set out and included in project contract documentation.
2.6. C&C is a Living Wage Employer. Moreover, C&C remunerates C&C people according to their fair market rate (more below). C&C accepts that corporate responsibility includes paying a fair tax bill and is fully accountable for other costs of business, according to the regulations.
3. Environment
3.1. As a professional services provider, environmental matters are not among the most significant sustainability matters to the operations of C&C. That said, we do fully recognise the increasingly critical concerns arising from how we all are producing and consuming the earth’s finite resources, and so try to minimize our small environmental impact if not avoid it altogether or even make choices that have a positive net impact.
3.2. We consider our environmental footprint under three headings. We seek to avoid/minimize C&C’s impact in these ways both in the normal run of the C&C business as well as when delivering projects for clients:
3.2.1. Travel. We aim to reduce the emissions created through travel by where possible:
3.2.1.1. Using technology like Zoom and Skype to converse with clients rather than physically travel and share soft versions of documents rather than arrange deliveries of physical items.
3.2.1.2. Using public transport whenever it is practical to do so
3.2.1.3. Minimising flying to only where absolutely required.
3.3. What we consume/buy
3.3.1.We scrutinize purchases to ensure they are in fact absolutely necessary.
3.3.2.Where it is reasonable to do so, we source from local and responsible providers, and will seek items with a sustainable design and production process.
3.3.3.We will favour working with other service providers who are supporting sustainable choices eg restaurants.
3.3.4.We avoid consumption of any item that is widely known to endanger species, such as sharks fin and ivory.
3.3.5.We look to minimize the impact of our choices by considering factors like energy usage and packaging in our buying decisions.
3.4. What we produce
3.4.1.Where we can, we will lever technology as a means to avoid/reduce producing items of a higher environmental impact. For example, instead of an event, we would look to hold a webinar; instead of producing hard, printed copies, we would evaluate soft copies and projection
3.4.2.If there is any waste arising from a C&C activity, we will seek to recycle it through a responsible channel appropriate to the material concerned.
4. Social We look at C&C’s responsibility to social matters under three broad headings:
4.1. People
4.1.1. A core purpose of C&C’s business is about helping people bring their best selves to work and we aim to achieve the same of C&C people. In C&C and with clients:
4.1.2. We believe in supporting equal opportunity for all people, regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, nationality, marital status, sexual orientation and other distinguishing characteristics.
4.1.3. We are opposed to all forms of unlawful and unfair discrimination.
4.1.4. We encourage diversity and inclusive culture and consider it to be a highly positive attribute. We believe that the individual differences and the contributions of all team members should be recognised and valued.
4.1.5. We select C&C people based on the aptitude and ability and encourage clients to do the same when choosing their employees.
4.2. Processes
4.2.1. Data security
We take data security very seriously and monitor and comply with relevant international standards, including GDPR.
Our Privacy Policy is available on our website: https://www.cairneyandcompany.com/privacy-policy
In our work we use platforms and tools from widely used and reputable providers and maintain robust anti-virus and password protection practices.
We restrict information sharing to a ‘need to know’ basis and require all C&C people to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements so that C&C client confidentiality is clear and fully respected.
4.2.2 Supply chain
4.2.2.1 C&C select and engage specific individuals of best fit for client projects from its pre-vetted bank of talent. Where C&C does not have all the skills and experience required for a client project or for the operation of the company, it will go to market to source what is required, applying C&C’s due diligence criteria.
Contracts are negotiated, agreed, documented and signed off with the named individuals, normally in advance of work being undertaken, and with the mutual agreement of the parties involved.
Should there require, from the outset or subsequently, any outsourcing to another party, C&C requires that person to be presented for C&C approval.
This consensual and highly personalised approach assures comfort that the people involved in providing services are doing so of their own volition.
C&C aims to create a working environment that promotes dignity and respect for every person involved. C&C does not tolerate any form of intimidation, bullying, or harassment.
C&C people determine their own working conditions and environments which C&C will encourage to be fully aligned with requisite health and safety standards. Where C&C people are required to operate from an external location eg a shared office facility, C&C will ensure that that location is in line with health and safety standards.
4.3. Products
When acquiring significant or material capital or operating items, C&C will undertake appropriate and reasonable steps that the vendor is not benefiting from forced labour or other modern-day slavery activities.
To gain comfort on this, C&C will undertake some or all of the following, depending on the item and its impact: media search; review of previous clients; request testimonials from previous clients; industry league tables.
4.4. Ethical practices
C&C has a zero-tolerance approach to corruption. C&C will not participate in or tolerate any transactions that involve bribery, extortion, fraud and money laundering.
C&C embraces and operates with complete honest and transparency. We are open with C&C people and encourage them to share any ethical concerns that they may come across in fulfilling their contribution to C&C projects. Communication channels are open and the culture of the company is open so that people can voice concerns in confidence and knowing that appropriate action will be taken.
4.5. Community
At the heart of Cairney & Company is a philosophy of supporting our communities by helping to make change happen. Our Strategic Advisors, Partners and Senior Consultants give back in their own individual way, whether volunteering their time on boards or actively giving to the charities of their choice.
You can learn more about C&C commitments to community on the website: https://www.cairneyandcompany.com/about
We review this approach from time to time, to ensure it encapsulates the latest requirements and expectations of a brand of C&C’s international stature and professionalism. It is also important to C&C that we adjust our understanding and adoption of sustainability commitments to incorporate the optimal current practices and so can lead by example.
Latest updated: April 2019