19 Vodafone Group Plc Annual Report 2024
Strategic report
Governance
Financials
Other information
Leadership diversity To better understand representation across the organisation and inform our diversity and inclusion programmes, we use ‘#CountMeIn’, an initiative that encourages employees to voluntarily self-declare their diversity demographics. These include race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, and caring responsibilities, in line with local privacy and legal requirements 1 . Our senior leadership positions have the highest self-declaration rate at 75%, and this enables transparency about our diversity at senior leadership level. Read more about Board and executive management diversity on pages 87 and 88 Gender identity 1 Sexual orientation 2 Ethnic diversity 3 Disability 4 Representation in senior leadership positions 0% 3% 24% 3% Notes: 1. Self-identification of gender identity, including trans and non-binary identities, excluding cisgender. 2. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and other sexual orientations, excluding heterosexual. 3. Asian, Arab, Black/African/Caribbean, Latinx, mixed ethnic groups, and ‘other’ identities. 4. Self-identification of disability, including long-term conditions and visible and non-visible disabilities. Policies, initiatives and targets Our commitment to diversity and inclusion is reflected across our global policies and principles, such as our code of conduct and fair pay principles. Read more about our Fair Pay principles on page 113 The achievement of our diversity targets is dependent on the Click to read more about Fair Pay at Vodafone: vodafone.com/fair-pay attraction, engagement and retention of diverse talent and skills. To support this, we have inclusive initiatives such as: hybrid and flexible working, parental leave, a mental health toolkit, learning and development programmes, allyship training, and menopause support, reinforced by the work of employee networks and executive sponsors. We refreshed our training for hiring managers and recruiters to support an inclusive candidate experience from application to offer stage. Programmes are designed to help employees through all life stages and challenge societal norms to create an environment where everyone can contribute at their best and thrive. Read more about diverse talent, future-ready skills and personalised employee experience on pages 15 and 16 Safety, health and wellbeing Nothing is more important to us than the safety, health, and wellbeing (‘SHW’) of our customers, communities, employees, and suppliers. We have a simple global commitment: no one gets hurt. This has been captured in our refreshed Global Commitment Statement which is supported by a video message from our Group CEO. Our SHW framework provides a consistent approach to safety leadership, planning, performance monitoring, governance, and assurance. Risks We continue to focus on our key risks, which account for the majority of reported incidents and remain amongst our top priorities: occupational road risk, falls from height, working with electricity, and civil works. In recognition of our key risks, we continue to use the ‘Vodafone Absolute Rules’. These rules focus on risks that present the greatest potential for harm for anyone working for or on behalf of Vodafone. The Absolute Rules apply everywhere we work and provide clear expectations for safe behaviour for everyone to follow. The Absolute Rules must be followed by all Vodafone employees and contractors,
as well as our suppliers’ employees and contractors. Where this requirement is not met, we take appropriate management action. In the April 2024 Spirit Beat survey 94% of employees agreed that the Absolute Rules are taken seriously at Vodafone. Leadership engagement Our Group Executive Commmitee (‘ExCo’) and operating company ExCo’s provide visible and clear leadership in SHW. Our senior leaders are actively engaged and carry out regular face-to-face safety engagement throughout the year. Our leaders recognise the importance of connecting with teams and frontline workers as they continue to maintain our networks and work in our retail stores and on customer sites. We encourage our people to raise any concerns or ideas for improvements in SHW and ensure the support of our leaders when they do so. We continue to mandate our ‘Leading for Health & Safety at Work’ e-learning module. This module sets out the specific impact we expect our leaders to have. On 31 March 2024, 93% 2 of assigned leaders had completed the module. Supplier engagement Most of our high risk work is carried out by suppliers on our behalf. Engagement and collaboration is essential to achieve our common goal of protecting people. We have held quarterly forums with our global suppliers for the last 10 years to develop common ways of working and share best practice. This year we held four in-person safety forums with our larger global suppliers. This year our forums have worked on collaboration with suppliers via work streams on improving how work is supervised on site, improving driver safety, and managing the risk of sub-contracting. Community engagement We play an active role in the communities where we conduct our business and as a result we have various community focused safety programmes. In Mozambique, a road safety campaign was conducted. The campaign involved the Chairman of the Mozambican Traffic Police, and the Vodafone Mozambique safety team. The event took place in the main transport corridor at critical points identified with a higher occurrence of accidents. In Lesotho, a radio campaign was run focusing on Vodacom Absolute Rules and pedestrian safety, with the key message ‘#NoOneGetsHurt’. This was aired on five national radio stations over three weeks. In Tanzania, we worked with five selected primary schools that were identified as exposed to high road risk. Our road-education programme reached 6,745 students and 100 junior traffic patrol officers were appointed and trained. In Greece, road safety events were held during April and May in collaboration with the Road Safety Institute. More than 550 employees, building tenants, and children participated in safety training using simulators. We also installed automated external defibrillators in six of our premises, which are available to all tenants. Governance SHW is managed through a global framework. This includes the monitoring and assessing of risks, setting targets, reviewing progress, and reporting performance. Our global framework is based on international standards for occupational health and safety. It is aligned to internationally recognised best practice and always meets or exceeds local requirements. In addition, five of our European local markets, one Vodacom market, and four _VOIS locations have chosen to undergo independent external certification to ISO 45001, the international standard for occupational health and safety. All incidents relating to key risks or breaches of the Vodafone Absolute Rules are reported and investigated within the timescales contained in our Incident Reporting Standard. We ensure that Notes: 1. #CountMeIn is not live in Mozambique. 2. Figure includes Vodafone Italy and Vodafone Spain.
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