On Monday 4 April 2016, Luxembourg-based Millicom has published its 2015 annual Corporate Responsibility (CR) Report which has added three new topics: Social Investment, Responsible Supply Chain Management and Workforce Care.
Millicom, a telecommunications and media company with a focus on emerging markets and wishing to promote a digital lifestyle, has published its stand-alone CR report for the 4th successive year which outlines its approach to conducting business ethically and managing sustainability risks and opportunities. The report has grown this year to encompass its fixed line business in Colombia, following the merger with UNE in 2014, as well as its operations in 13 markets and the corporate offices in the US, Luxembourg and the UK, in additon to their African markets and the operations in Latin America.
In 2014, Millicom set a goal for five years into the future; the 2015 report notes the progress in reaching this goal.
The CR Report has been structured according to the topics that Millicom considered to be the most closely related to their actions in Corporate Responsibility: Protecting children’s rights, responsible supply chain management, gender diversity, reducing environmental impact, and privacy and freedom of expression can all be found in the report of 2014. However, three more topics have been added this year: acting responsibly (anti-corruption compliance), taking care of its people (health and safety), and social investment.
The report gives a strategic summary of the eight topics, highlighting their relevance and Millicom’s approach to the issue. The report goes further by focusing on each topic and analysing it in detail. Included in the report are the highlights in social investment as well as key performance indicators in all the eight main topics.
The first of the three new topics (added for the 2015 report), “taking care of its people” shows extensive work in order to create a “future-proof” business. With over 15,900 employees, 13,351 in Latin America and over 4,700 in Colombia, Millicom employs a total of 81 nationalities and a workforce where 31% of those employed are aged under 30 years. 2015 saw a significant change in the workforce numbers as the figure for outsourced work rose to almost the double the number of employees (14,133 employees and 27,088 outsoucred workforce). Millicom also made improvements to their personal safety and security risks, from completing a risk review regarding personal safety risks from cross-border terrorism threats in Chad, to implementing an upgrade in security protocols in El Salvador due to the increase in gang activity.
The second new topic, that of responsible supply chain management, concerns the relationship between the company and their suppliers. In 2015 Millicom appointed EcoVadis to aid them in monitoring suppliers and to implement corrective action plans where needed. Of the three goals set to achieve both to define ‘high risk’ suppliers and to begin supplier self-assessments through Ecovadis supplier self-assessment tool, focusing on global top 20 suppliers by risk, were completed, whereas the third, to provide training to all internal procurement teams, and to top buyers internally on Supplier Code and monitoring, is still in progress. Of the 62 suppliers invited to complete first round self-assessments, 46 attended. Their average score was 45/100, which is slightly above the EcoVadis average of 42/100.
Millicom’s Social Investments, the 3rd new topic, shows them promoting volunteering and achieving the three goals set out as well as identifying four themes, digital inclusion, education, health and entrepreneurship and financial inclusion in their review of over 100 current local initiatives. The report shows that 20,335 hours went towards volunteering in 2015.
