SOCIAL

Employee safety reporting

EMPLOYEE SAFETY

Our Sustainability Policy document also is concerned with our labor force and those working in our entire supply chain. Safety to us is of paramount importance. Besides investing in resources, improving work systems and upgrading equipment we in particular focus on the behavioral aspects within our working environment, as we recognize that it is in the daily routine where accidents often happen.

We stimulate our workers to report and inform about what they see as hazardous situations, however minor they might be. We use so-called ‘stop-and go’ cards whenever someone is in doubt whether a procedure or workflow is correct. We train and coach all of our employees both in the factory as well as in the office environment.

Key indicators of our safety performance are:

Total accident frequency rate
Lost time accidents
Lost days injury
Safety concerns frequency rate

These key performance indicators are measured and reported at all Flooring Systems sites world wide every month for individual feedback and measure on a yearly bases.

GENDER

We consider the consolidated reporting of gender specific data on safety incidents to be immaterial from a safety management point of view in our operations; also because of privacy reasons we therefore do not compile such figures centrally or include them in our divisional figures.

LOST TIME INJURY FREQUENCY RATE

The lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR), is defined as the ‘lost time accidents times 1 million, divided by total amount of hours worked’. This indicator is reported to senior management every month in order to improve our overall safety performance. The growing safety awareness of our workforce is key to lowering the total accident frequency rate. In 2022, after having lifted the most stringent Covid-19 limitations again, showed a downward trend in the total number of accidents which was also because of more intense safety management carried out by the team leaders in our operations.

These data exclude our building and construction adhesives activities.

Employee health and well-being

HEALTH AND WELL BEING

Taking care of the physical and emotional well-being of our employees, is as important as employee safety. Although it is imperative to have a good absenteeism protocol, prevention and promotion of good and healthy life style is increasingly important too. We therefore run a number of programs to promote the health and well-being of our employees. These may differ per entity and/or country. Some examples of healthy life style programs are:

Stop-smoking programs; in 2022 all of our production sites in the Netherlands became ‘smoke free’, a measure taken for the entire premises.
Sponsored fitness activities (indoors and outdoors) and facilitating sports activities by sponsoring Flooring Systems running, biking and tennis clubs.
Promoting healthy food, served in our company restaurants
Regularly monitoring and reviewing the well-being of our employees
Offering regular medical check-ups and assessments for well-being
Employee surveys

CONCERNS AND GRIEVANCES PROCEDURE

At Flooring Systems we are running an independent, third party certified compliance with the Social Accountability Standard SA8000 in the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, and Switzerland, at least 85% of our employees and all of our employees in the production entities are covered by a grievance procedure.

SA8000 therefore provides another confidential means of communication that fosters exchanges on issues which are sensitive or hard to express. This approach is only sustainable if every single concern or non-conformance is addressed quickly and systematically. In order to do so, we have implemented a standardized procedure to handle complaints.

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Company culture

COMPANY CULTURE

Forbo Group culture is embedded in the Forbo Way to Win (FWW) values program. This covers the entire organization and has been developed by the senior management of the two divisions, Flooring Systems and Movement Systems, and the Forbo Group. The program has been rolled out within the organization and today forms part of the induction program for new employees at Flooring Systems. In the Forbo Way to Win, we have defined three core values that each encompass three guiding principles: Inspiring, daring and caring. The Forbo Group and its two divisions are proud that its activities form part of everyday life. Its products and services connect with people in professional and private environments to contribute to their lives.

With our Global reach and connection to local communities, we are proud to experience the longstanding relationship with our employees many of whom are part of our organization any where in the world for many years. We cherish the diversity of our organization and the inclusive culture we pursue.

MEMBERSHIPS

In 2022, Flooring Systems was a member of the following associations:

European Resilient Flooring Manufacturers’ Institute (ERFMI)
European Floor Covering Association (EuFCA)
European Carpet and Rug Association (ECRA)
Multilayer Modular Flooring Association (MMFA)
Various national industry and trade associations European Committee for Standardization (CEN) through national member committees
The Floorcovering Committee of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

ENGAGEMENT WITH THE COMMUNITY

We believe it is good business practice to build meaningful, long-term relationships with local Communities, similar to those with our employees, customers and suppliers. This is, and always has been, the founding principle of our commitment to social equity. Through proactive engagement, we locally support local economies and contribute to the social fabric of the local society.

Flooring Systems plays an active role in the communities in which we operate. We conduct a stakeholder and impact assessment analysis at all our operations as part of environmental management, in accordance with ISO-14001. The fact that this management system is third party-certified ensures improvement and development programs are ongoing. All our production units register and monitor complaints received from stakeholders in relation to that unit’s environmental performance. This forms an integral part of their respective environmental management systems.

CHARITY

The focus is on small, locally initiated projects and partnerships that are carried out locally by our sales and marketing organizations and the business units, where the local factories support the local community. Most of the support in delivered ‘in kind’, where it concerns donations of floor covering material for local community facilities such as sports, culture, and community buildings. Other donations are in small financial contributions and sponsorships. This we do for our own employees whenever they participate in charity events or those of our employees’ children, who we support in their sponsored charity activities for local or national causes.

CONTINUATION OF THE SANITATION AND WATER PROJECT (BANGLADESH)

Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal together form the historic former state of Bengal, a distinct geographical and ethno-linguistic region in South Asia. Jute is an important crop for the farmers in this region, and the fibers of the jute plant are spun into yarn and woven into cloth locally; they are also used as backing for our linoleum products. Clean drinking water and good sanitation are essential for good health and preventing the spread of disease. For over ten years now we are running a project with our local supplier, Janata jute mills, to give everyone who works in the mill a domestic toilet, a water well for drinking water and in some cases both. In 2022, we continued our involvement in the region in making sure that our project was kept in good working condition.

Employee training & education

TRAINING AND EDUCATION

The division-wide annual performance review provides a starting point and an appraisal for training. In this appraisal, individual training requirements are matched with the training needs indicated in the Flooring Systems strategy as well as any legal training requirements that are in place.

Flooring Systems operates a wide range of training formats, from management development to the enhancement of factory floor skills. For specialist training, our employees can attend seminars and conferences, or follow one of the educational courses offered by expert institutions and learning centers. On-the-job training for our production and warehousing operators includes:

Site and company introduction
Hazard identification, control, and risk assessment
Job safety analysis
Job-specific training

Several local and international training programs are in place. The development of learning and training programs is evaluated every year, with improvements implemented whenever we see opportunities to do so. In 2022, we continued the use of e-learning modules which is an important element in our employee training. We also continued our Webinar learning sessions for our external audience.

In 2022 the following training programs have been conducted over the year:

Leadership principles course for management
Sales skill matrices have been part of our annual performance reviews
Flooring Systems’ STEP strategy execution process, to help and facilitate teams using this methodology
SA8000 module in order to improve knowledge on this standard
A sustainability training, supporting our ‘Sustainability 2025 program as well as introducing our ‘Going Round, Moving Forward’ campaign on circularity
Product knowledge programs for new collections, features and USP’s
Code of Conduct full program e-learning as part of the introduction program as well as a refresher course for all our employee
A cyber security program for new employees and a number of follow-up modules for all employees in the target group
Two new ‘respect at work’ program to all managers and HR employees world-wide.

In the Flooring Systems strategy, the people objectives include programs to continuously improve and standardize knowledge and skills in the division, as well as reducing time to knowledge for new employees, with focus on sales.

Procurement

RESPONSIBLE SOURCING

For Flooring Systems, responsible sourcing means showing true commitment to global responsibility, addressing the concerns of our key stakeholders, complying with regulatory frameworks, adhering to best practices, and managing supply risks. About 10 years ago, we launched our supplier requirements program to build further on the sustainability requirements that were already in place. These requirements are an integral part of the contract between Flooring Systems and our suppliers, and require the management and control of:

Quality
Environmental impacts anti-corruption human rights
Health and safety
Social accountability (SA8000 standard) community relations
Financial risk

The requirements related to quality, environment, and responsible sourcing practices are regularly reviewed and updated according to legislation and steps made in implementing our sustainability strategy under the ‘Sustainability 2025’ program.

SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT

In our endeavor to innovate and improve on our environmental footprint we also cooperate with our world-wide supplier network – as well as new suppliers – in order to find raw materials that provide an alternative for conventional virgin raw materials. Replacements with raw materials that are fully recycled or contain a percentage of recycled content are tested in our laboratories to find suitable use in our product recipes. Added to this is our quest for bio-based raw materials, for other products than our current linoleum portfolio as they promote the circularity of our portfolio.

SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL RISK PROFILE

Supplier companies are selected for auditing based on a pre-evaluation of their social and environmental risk profile, taking into account their geographical location, the nature of their own supply chain, the product category, our purchasing power, and the spend volume.

In 2022 audits indicated that none of the suppliers’ own management systems were inadequate.

The conclusions, minor findings and recommendations of all audits each time were reported to the suppliers management involved and, when deemed necessary, discussed with them. None of the non-conformances identified during these audits involved child labor or forced labor. These reports and discussions resulted in corrective action plans, specific schedules for the implementation of the necessary improvements, and agreements on any practical support that the supplier might need to undertake remedial actions. During 2022, all main suppliers we assessed either complied directly with our requirements, or did so after taking corrective actions.

SA8000 STANDARD ON SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY

We treat the SA8000 standard as the key performance indicator for measuring our progress in responsible sourcing. Our supplier requirements program imposes minimum requirements on our suppliers as a legally binding document. However, our approach also involves close cooperation with individual suppliers. This is realized through meetings, on-site visits, and supplier assessments that involve audits conducted by our purchasers or quality, health, safety and environment managers. These assessments ensure that our suppliers properly observe human and labor rights, occupational health and safety requirements, environmental performance goals, and responsible business practices in their daily business. In practice, our responsible sourcing work is implemented by our procurement department, who meet suppliers regularly to discuss related issues. As part of our supplier requirements program, our procurement managers also visit our suppliers’ production sites to see where the products we use actually come from, and to get a first-hand impression of suppliers’ operations.

Flooring Systems expects its business partners to commit to the SA8000 social accountability requirements. We not only require a written commitment; local audits can also form part of our supplier approval procedures. In fact, suppliers in countries with weak labor protection are always monitored via local audits.