Global CR management
Accountability
The Group Executive Committee (ExCo) is responsible for CR policy and discusses CR issues. The Group CR Director, Chris Burgess, reports to the Group Corporate Affairs Director, Simon Lewis, who is the ExCo member with responsibility for CR. CR performance is reported to the Chief Executive quarterly and a report is made annually to the Vodafone Group Plc Board. The Chief Executive is ultimately responsible for Vodafone’s CR performance.
Group CR team
Our Group CR team manages issues at a global level and is responsible for:
- Formulating CR strategy, policies and goals
- Monitoring performance across the Group
- Stakeholder engagement
- Raising awareness among employees
- CR reporting
- Helping management to ensure that CR standards are consistent across the Group.
Our Group CR team works closely with local operating companies and Group operational functions on all these activities.
Global workshops
Every six months, our Group CR team runs a workshop for CR managers and issue owners from all our local operating companies. The workshops provide the opportunity to meet colleagues from around the world, develop CR strategies and share best practice. This helps us build a consistent programme across the business. Our affiliates and partner networks, as well as external stakeholders are also invited to attend.
In July 2007, we held a two-day workshop at our headquarters in Newbury. Participants discussed Vodafone’s five-year CR plan and shared best practice from across the Group. Key issues discussed included CR in the supply chain and energy management in the ICT industry. The second CR workshop of the year was held in Budapest in November 2007. It focused on the need to provide better access to communications, and how we can help our customers use mobiles responsibly.
In addition to these workshops, a teleconference is held once a month and a newsletter is distributed monthly to local operating companies and partner networks. CR is discussed between Group functions and operating companies in many other forums connected with operational issues, for example through our Technology, Network, EMF (Electromagnetic Fields) and Marketing Boards, and our Supply Chain, Content Standards and Privacy committees.
Issue taskforces
We have a combination of teams, committees and boards to focus on issues of particular importance. This structure is often mirrored at local operating company level.
Their function is to formulate policy, plan our strategy and coordinate implementation. These groups are formed and adapted according to changes in the CR agenda and the need for Vodafone to focus on a particular issue.
The groups create a flexible networked structure for issue management with broad involvement of people from across the Group.
- See a list of our issue taskforces.
