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| Copyright © 2013 Singtel (CRN: 199201624D). All Rights Reserved |
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| Stakeholder Engagement Exercise
on Sustainability Issues |
| We commenced a structured stakeholder engagement exercise in 2012. The
purpose of the three-year exercise was to review current practices, initiate
new conversations with targeted stakeholder groups and assess their
opinions on our sustainability strategy, issues and programmes. |
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| The projected outcome was to help us align our efforts on appropriate
responses and actions, address them in our review and feed into future
strategy and reporting. Stakeholder engagement can be highly valuable
in understanding stakeholders’ views, and both internal and external
consultation should increase our understanding of future challenges, risks
and opportunities for the company. |
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| The AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard (2011) was used to guide
the engagement process and provide a framework for structure and
best practice. During the 1st stage of this three-year plan, we undertook a
mapping and profiling exercise on each identified stakeholder group and
sub-groups, and conducted workshops for our internal stakeholders to
ensure that they understood the process. We then proceeded to engage the
targeted groups directly in FY2013. |
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Phase 1
Stakeholders were identified in groups and sub-groups and prioritised
according to a defined set of criteria. The output was a stakeholder map and
stakeholder matrix. An individual profile was produced and a priority level
assigned to each group and sub-group to determine when and how Singtel
planned to engage them. |
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Phase 2
Initially, engagement priorities were set for two years. In Year 1, these
were at the Customer sub-group level (digitally savvy/GenY customers
and enterprise clients) and an Investor group representing institutional,
retail and socially responsible investors (SRI). Engagement methods were
developed and executed for the digitally savvy/Gen Y and investor groups.
Engagement for the digitally savvy/Gen Y group took the form of an online
survey, and a semi-structured questionnaire was developed for the investor
group. |
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Phase 3
Nearly 1,500 responses were collected from the digitally savvy/Gen Y group
of stakeholders, outperforming all estimates of response levels. From the
invited investors, seven of nine responded to the engagement questionnaire. |
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| Key findings |
| There was a good mix of respondents from our customer survey panel
and although the sample size for investors was small, there was some
interesting feedback. Respondents noted the importance of the provision
of information on sustainability, two-way engagement and transparency
in communication. |
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| Some of the key findings from our survey, providing us with insights on
aspects where we are doing well and those where we can improve, are: |
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21% of our customers always take the company’s sustainability practices
into account when purchasing from a telecommunications service provider,
while 48% sometimes do. This highlights the importance of sustainability
issues on our customers’ agenda. |
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59% of our customers feel informed about our sustainability efforts. We
have increased our efforts over the last three years to ensure information
on sustainability is more widely available and will continue to review how
this is delivered and understood by our customers. |
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63% of our customers think that easy availability of options for e-waste
recycling is important. |
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86% of our customers stated that Singtel should conduct business in a
fair, open and transparent manner (e.g. with clear sustainability codes of
conduct, business ethics, anti-corruption and whistleblowing provisions in
place) while 66% stated we met or exceeded their expectations in this area. |
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58% of our customers believe that their health and safety relating to
service delivery such as network deployment, electromagnetic fields (EMF) and base station location are very important, with a further 31% classifying
this as an important issue. We will ensure that information is available to
consumers to understand this area of our business. |
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All investor respondents were aware of Singtel’s efforts to communicate
sustainability initiatives. |
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Investors see sustainability as a more risk or compliance focused function,
with only one of the seven investors making the link to future opportunities. |
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Issues Singtel should be aware of over the next three years include a
continued focus on good corporate governance, cost efficiencies (many
of which may be achieved through sustainability-related initiatives) and
understanding issues in the supply chain. |
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One of the seven investors thought that sustainability should not be a high
priority but mentioned many issues that had sustainability-related themes.
This could potentially be addressed with better communication about links
between sustainability issues and their effects on Singtel’s business and
customer relationships. |
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| We thank all our stakeholders for taking part in the 1st phase of this
engagement exercise. Findings of the feedback will be incorporated into
our materiality review and future decision making around sustainability
issues. We will also continue to appraise our current methods of ongoing
engagement and interaction with stakeholders. Our target stakeholder
groups in Year 2 of our engagement exercise are our enterprise customers
and our employees. |
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| Global Reporting Initiative G4 Consultation |
| In September 2012, Singtel was involved in determining the future of the GRI guidelines by taking part in a public consultation programme to discuss and
comment on the draft G4 version of the guidelines. |
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| The half-day event collected the views of over 30 participants, made up of consultants and practitioners, our peers and competitors, and fed these responses
back into the development process of G4. As a user of the GRI guidelines, and one of the biggest companies in the region, we felt that it was important to share
Singtel’s views during the consultation process. |
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