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Concerns that women are still discriminated in the workplace because they are pregnant has galvanized The Equality and Human Rights Commission to undertake a new research project into the scale of pregnancy and maternity discrimination in the UK workplace.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that some pregnant women experience discrimination while on maternity leave or on their return to work. However, there is no up to date evidence as the most recent data goes back to 2005.

The project will investigate employers’ practices towards employees who are pregnant or on maternity leave, and these employee’s experiences in the workplace to provide evidence on the extent, causes and effects of pregnancy and maternity discrimination. This information will enable the Commission and Government to shape the most appropriate response.

The Commission proposed the project to the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) as part of a package of measures to address Equality and Human Rights, and Secretary of state Maria Miller has confirmed the funding to support this project.

Education for both employers and employees nationally will be key to tackling this issue and the Commission will assess how best to raise awareness of pregnancy and maternity rights.

Mark Hammond, chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: “It is very concerning that in 2013 a number of women are still being disadvantaged in the workplace just because they are pregnant. That would be unlawful discrimination and needs to be tackled.

“We will look at existing research, gather new evidence and carry out our expert analysis to establish the extent of the problem and advise on how best it can to be addressed.”

Picture credit: © Marcio Moraes | Dreamstime Stock Photos

American investment bank Morgan Stanley is to set up an institute for sustainable investing. 

The Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing claims three main focus areas: financial products that enable clients to invest in sustainability-focused strategies seeking risk-adjusted financial returns; thought leadership that will help mobilize capital toward sustainable investing opportunities; and strategic partnerships with the public, private and nonprofit sectors designed to build capacity and best practices within the field of scalable sustainable investing.

The Institute’s first major commitments include setting a goal of $10bn in total client assets through Morgan Stanley’s Investing with Impact Platform in the next five years. By developing new products, thematic portfolios and sustainable investing thought leadership, it is hoped that the platform will meet the increasing client demand for opportunities to invest for positive environmental and social impact in addition to the goal of achieving risk-adjusted financial returns.

The institute will aslo establish an annual Sustainable Investing Fellowship programme at Columbia Business School that will enable a select group of graduate students to pursue thought leadership in sustainable investing, coupled with an internship at Morgan Stanley to gain hands-on experience in product innovation, thought leadership and investment strategy. 

Picture credit: © Dana Rothstein | Dreamstime Stock Photos

Submitted by Guest Contributor

By Joanna and Wolfgang Hafenmeyer

Part of the Future Makers series

Translator, source of information, agent of change, Junko Edahiro of Tokyo, Japan, is a fountain of hope in critical times.

Junko Edahiro grew up in Tokyo, got married early and graduated from the University of Tokyo with a Master of Arts degree in educational psychology. Following that, she accompanied her husband to the US, and learned English well enough within two years that she was able to work as an interpreter and translator.

Inspired by Lester Brown, Environmentalist

On her return to Japan, Junko learned about the ideas of Lester Brown, one of the legends of the environmentalist movement. She got to know him personally when she became the interpreter of his presentations and conversations during his tour through Japan. His conversations often revolved around questions of how to create a system of worldwide sustainability, and were both an inspiration and a rich source of knowledge.

In the following years, Junko translated about 20 books into Japanese, including almost all of Lester Brown’s publications. Translating was, however, only the beginning of her journey.

Junko became a mother shortly after, and motherhood became the spur for her most successful book so far: Get Up at Two in the Morning and You Can Do It All! When she put her daughter to bed at eight in the evening, she started going to sleep with her. And since Junko only needs about six hours of sleep, she took advantage of the new rhythm and got up at two in the morning. After she realized how productive the time between two and nine in the morning was – undisturbed by phone calls and emails – she wrote the much-read book about it.

Spreading the Ecology Good News: Japan for Sustainability

Proud of her bestselling book and still highly interested in the ecological movement, Junko’s started an email newsletter in which she compiled the most interesting and important news on sustainability that she had read and heard about Japan.

Over the next few years, she gathered more than 8,000 subscribers from Japan and abroad. In 2002, Junko therefore decided to establish a permanent news platform under the name Japan for Sustainability.

Junko explained:

The basis of my work is not that I am against something, but rather I am for something. I want to support constructive dialogue. That is why my cooperation with partners from various enterprises and also public administration is so successful.

In practice, this means she and her team report on the positive activities of Japanese companies, the Japanese state and individual citizens in the area of sustainability. There is no time for charges and accusations. In addition, her experience in Japan has shown that when people actively contribute their own information to the organization’s work, the more valuable, highly informative news they receive.

Slow Life, Candle Night and More

In 2003, Junko initiated the “Candle Night” together with the movement Slow Life. Since then, about five million Japanese citizens follow her call twice a year and congregate at night under the free sky, simply to spend a few quiet hours in the light of their candles.

Junko’s other initiatives include EcoNetworks, Change Agent and e’s, which stands for: ecology, empowerment, energy, enthusiasm and Edahiro. The latter organization sells eco-products and offers courses for Japanese women supporting them as they make changes in their careers and lifestyles.

EcoNetworks offers translations and consulting services for Japanese companies in the field of communication. The focus here lies on corporate social responsibility and sustainability.

Change Agent takes things a step further. The aim is to train agents of change at a higher level. With the help of insights from systems theory and systems modeling, people are supported to induce changes in Japan on a large scale. Participants learn about theories and methods and are integrated in suitable networks.

One of Junko’s newest initiatives is the Web platform, “Children for the Future.” With its help she wants to educate the upcoming generation with regard to sustainability.

Mother, Activist, Role Model for Women

With all her activities, Junko wants to create a more livable and sustainable world, as well as be a role model for other Japanese women who still hesitate to become active in an area of their choice because they are afraid of societal pressures and the disapproval of others. Junko wants to show them that they can develop freely, even if this implies not fulfilling all external expectations.

And, even though Junko’s children are too old now to go sleep with her, she still gets up at two o’clock in the morning:

In the coming years, there will be some overwhelming and dramatic developments in the world. In this negative atmosphere, people will give up and despair. But I believe in the power of positive information and I want to provide a fountain of hope.

More Information:

• Japan for Sustainability (JFS)
• e's Inc.
• EcoNetworks
• Change Agent, Inc.

About the Authors:

Joanna Stefanska Hafenmayer is the Managing Director of “MyImpact”, an organisation focusing on helping leaders to realize meaningful careers through coaching and seminars, as well as assessment tools and publications. An expert in the development of corporate responsible leadership programmes, Joanna is also a member of the Board of “Öbu” – the Swiss think-tank for business and sustainability – and leads the Responsible Corporate Leadership (RECOL) Forum, a group of innovative global enterprises in this area. Prior to 2012, she was a member of Microsoft Switzerland’s Executive Board as their Innovation & Sustainability Officer. Joanna was selected as a First Movers Fellow of the Aspen Institute.

Wolfgang Hafenmayer is the Managing Partner of LGT Venture Philanthropy, with a mission to improve the quality of life of less advantaged people. To realize this mission, Wolfgang built a team of 25 investment managers and philanthropy advisors on five continents to identify and support organizations with outstanding social and environmental impact currently improving the quality of life of 7.9 million less advantaged people. Wolfgang has been an Investment Manager with BonVenture, the first social venture fund in German-speaking Europe, and helped set up Forma Futura, a sustainable asset management company.

American bank Capital One is ramping up its Book by Book programme with a new Facebook campaign.

Up until 25 November,  the bank will donate a book for every new Like on its Investing for Good Facebook Page.

In addition, book lovers across the US can enter for a chance to win a custom children’s home library or reading nook in their own home created by designer and television host Taniya Nayak.

“Early reading and language skills are fundamental building blocks for learning and success. Developing a lifelong love of reading fuels the imagination and can open doors to a world of possibilities for children,” said Ken Kido, executive vp, Local Distribution, Capital One Bank. “It all starts with that first great book. That’s why we’re working with The Heart of American Foundation and Communities In Schools to get books in the hands of children, with the goal of helping set more children on a path to future success.”

Capital One and The Heart of America Foundation have worked together since 2001 to help foster reading in students across the US and, so far, have put 1.3 million books (valued at over $10.5m) into the hands of more than 564,000 children through 64 READesign Library Makeover and Reading Corner projects and hundreds of literacy related events.

The Book by Book grand prize custom children’s home library, valued at over $17,000, includes 150 age-appropriate books to stock the shelves in the winner’s new space. In addition to the grand prize, entrants have a chance to win one of four weekly Library-in-a-Box prize packages. The packages include two boxes of books: one for the winner to keep for a young reader in his or her life and another box to give away to a local school or youth organization in their community.

Image credit: Unsplash/Susan Q. Yin

From filling 6,000 backpacks with weekend food for children in the US, to cooking at a homeless shelter in Poland to holding a food collection in Brazil, BNY Mellon employees are engaging in more than 100 food-related charity events around the world.

While BNY Mellon, under its five-year-old Community Partnership program, has previously participated in hunger awareness events, in this bigger, focused campaign centered on Oct. 16 World Food Day, the company is doubling its matching contribution and employee participation surged. Five U.S. offices chose to work on behalf of the Stop Hunger Now charity and packed 100,000 ready-to-eat meals.

“We have just been taken aback by our employees’ desire to help others,” said Kathy Charochak, manager of its Community Partnership program, which encourages employees to work year round with charities to improve social and economic conditions in their communities, not exclusively food. In addition to matching funds raised, BNY gives workers comparable time off.

Last year, without this focused effort, the company raised $1.2m for hunger translating to 6m meals. But this food awareness campaign is expected to far exceed that, with final results in by late November. In 2012, BNY’s Community Partnership raised $15m across all its charitable efforts.

“We allowed our employees to use their own creativity and innovation to develop concepts and ideas that would promote food sustainability amongst themselves and their colleagues,” explained Jim McDonald, global director of philanthropy for BNY Mellon, a New York based financial firm that operates in more than 35 countries. “This is really to promote and highlight our Community Partnership program. It is a time for us to get our employees excited about opportunities they may be involved in.”

One in eight people in the world do not have enough food, while nearly 40% of the food in the US goes uneaten, according to data provided by BNY. Through this campaign, BNY hopes to help raise awareness of global food security issues and waste.

In a related program, BNY is partnering with the Atlanta, Ga.-based Canstruction charity to build food-can sculptures in five of its largest cities – an apple in Boston, a rice bowl in Hong Kong, a fish in London, an apple tree in New York and a globe in Pittsburgh. BNY is donating the 17,000 cans of food which will later be given to local charities. It expects the effort will result in 12,000 pounds of food providing more than 9,000 meals.
 

Japan’s Mizuho Bank is in trouble following admissions that it had loaned money to the country’s organized crime syndicates, popularly known as the Yakuza, with the knowledge of senior management. The bank is a core unit of the Mizuho Financial Group, Inc, Japan’s second largest financial group in terms of assets.

Yakuza gangs are not illegal and register as companies, much like any other business. However, since 2011 it has been illegal to do business with them. New laws have made it increasingly difficult for the gangs to make money and have helped reduce membership to 63,200 last year from a peak of 87,000 in 2004.

As traditional revenues from extortion, drugs, gambling, theft, and fraud, have become more difficult, the yakuza have diversified into finance, construction, and waste disposal, devising new schemes to avoid detection.

One of these has been for individual gangsters to take out consumer loans from credit organisations and default on re-payments. The lenders then have the choice of taking action to recover the loans, thereby admitting they had broken the law, or doing nothing. Since no financial institution wishes to see its name in headlines about business with the mob, nothing was done. Mizuho’s problems only emerged during a routine inspection by the Financial Services Agency this September.

Mizuho's troubles began when Orient Corp. a leading consumer credit lender affiliated to the bank, approved gang members for auto and other small loans. Consumer credit firms are less informed than banks about organized crime. Since 2010, the Japan Bankers Association has gathered information on gangsters from public records and shared it with members but not with consumer lenders, who have been left to make their own checks.

After initial denials, Mizuho admitted that 230 illegal loans had been made totalling ¥200m, and that lending had continued for two years after it was first detected. The bank’s CEO made ritual bows of apology before cameras, as is the Japanese custom.

The FSA has ordered Mizuho to improve its control and compliance functions, describing them as “seriously flawed.”

The bank will establish a new in-house watchdog whose sole purpose will be to keep Mizuho from doing business with organized crime. It will strengthen the bank's loan screening and terminate any loans to underworld groups. Separately, the banks, other financial institutions, and the police will increasingly share databases on gang activities and membership.
 

Picture credit: © Lalan33 | Dreamstime.com

Alliance Boots, parent group of the Boots pharmacies and shops prominent in UK high streets for generations, is now accused of using a legal loophole to dodge £1.1bn ($1.78bn, €1.3bn) in tax.

Critics claim Alliance Boots is avoiding 95 per cent of its UK tax liability by offsetting the interest on £9bn ($14.6bn, €10.6bn) borrowed for its 2007 buyout.

Alliance Boots, the health and beauty group resulting from the merger of the original Boots company and the pan-European wholesale and retail pharmacy Alliance UniChem, was bought in 2007 by the private equity business Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the Italian billionaire Stefano Pessina.

The buyers paid £12.4bn, of which £9bn was loaned by investment banks, including Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Royal Bank of Scotland.

After the purchase Alliance Boots moved its headquarters from Nottingham in the UK to Zug, Switzerland, amid protests that the transfer was made solely to reduce tax liabilities. Last year Walgreens, the largest US drug retailing chain, bought 45 per cent of the company.

The group’s annual revenue is more than £22bn and in the past six years its operating profits have exceeded £5bn, but its accounts show an overall £130m tax credit.

The company insists it complies with UK law, paid the same amount of UK tax as it would have if it had stayed, and even paid more tax last year than before the buyout.

However, the UK’s largest trade union Unite and the anti-poverty charity War on Want claim that without the loan payments Alliance Boots would have made £4.2bn more in profits in the UK, increasing its corporation tax bill by £1.1bn.

Unite maintains this revenue would have paid for 78,000 nurses, two years of medicine prescription charges, or 5.2 million emergency ambulance calls.

Len McCluskey, Unite’s general secretary, said: “The revelation that yet another high street name fleeces Britain, taking work from our NHS while avoiding tax responsibilities, will leave taxpayers furious.”

He said the company had “abused the trust of the British public” and should be denied public service contracts until it “comes clean” on tax.

John Hilary, War on Want’s executive director, complained: “Ministers have allowed corporations such as Boots and its private equity owners to abuse the UK’s tax system.”
Another legal loophole, used by Apple, Microsoft and Google, is to be plugged in the Irish Republic.
At present companies can pour profits into Irish subsidiaries, or “ghost companies” that have no tax residency in the country.
Apple and Google, for example, place funds in their Irish subsidiaries and then switch them as deductible royalties to their tax-resident subsidiaries in Bermuda, which is a zero-tax jurisdiction. This manoeuvre is called the “double Irish”.
The Dublin government aims to stop the practice by making it illegal for companies in its territory to have no residency.

In May a US Senate committee inquiry claimed Apple had avoided tax on $44bn (£27bn, €32bn) during the past four years by declaring its companies registered in the Irish Republic as not resident anywhere. Apple, it said, had used “a complex web of offshore entities” to avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes.

Chief executive Tim Cook responded that Apple had not acted illegally and had paid “every single dollar” of due tax. He said the company had paid more than $6bn last year.

Finance observers maintain the Irish proposals will be ineffective. Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of taxation at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, a London-based global group, predicted that companies would still be able to nominate any country for tax residence, including a zero-tax jurisdiction such as Bermuda.
 

While the threat of being tried for piracy no longer hangs over them, the Greenpeace activists (28 members and two freelance journalists) detained currently in Murmansk are – at the time of writing – still facing the serious charge of hooliganism. If found guilty, they could be sent to prison for up to seven years (though under Russian law punishment could also be limited to a fine). The 30 were detained following a protest against the Gazprom Arctic drilling platform Prirazlomnaya back in September.

There is no doubt that NGOs have become a significant force within the business world today. Long gone are the days when simply pointing out how certain companies are doing wrong/destroying the planet would suffice. However, like big business, NGOs have to exercise their power responsibly and be held accountable. And when working collaboratively, there needs to be mutual accountability.

At the In Good Company with FSC conference in Denmark recently, Daniel Mittler, political director of Greenpeace International admitted they often target companies with CSR policies. According to Mittler: “We do a lot of research and then we consider if we can actually influence the company… Mostly, our corporate collaborations are the result of a controversy.”

No surprise there. Mittler went on to explain: “Even though we collaborate with a company on one issue, we still run campaigns against them, if we do not agree with them on other issues. It is like a marriage. Even though we disagree with someone, we can still talk about it. And often it is the people we collaborate with, that is the easiest to talk with about other issues.”

The marriage theme continued at the event. Edward Krasny, manager of Sustainable Forestry Programs at Kimberly-Clark has been “married” to Greenpeace for some years. After a period of several years of effort, he noted: “It took time but we managed to build trust and to be open with one another.”

Sudhanshu Sarronwala, executive director, marketing and communications at WWF International, spoke about collaborations with major companies, including The Coca-Cola Company. “Corporations can often be part of the problem and part of the solution. We can include them in the solution or not. But if we do, it can influence an entire sector and have great impact,” said Sarronwala.

“Our principles are that there needs to be a strategic fit with companies that we collaborate with. And it is important that both organizations are independent and have their own opinions and can agree to disagree. There needs to be mutual accountability,” he added.

Since 2007, WWF and Coca-Cola have worked together to conserve and protect fresh water around the world. Theo van Uffelen, marketing director, Marketing the Category Europe at Coca-Cola said: “You don’t always get things right the first time. For me it is not so much about being too close but about preserving integrity in a relationship. That is why you need critical voices and inputs as an organization.”

Tass Mavrogordato, ceo of inmidtown, a Business Improvement District, explains how the organisation contributes to the sustainable business model 

At inmidtown we’re striving to make the area between the City and the West End, London’s most sustainable commercial district. In 2012-2013, we helped businesses in the area save over 918 tonnes of Co2, and 1,218 tonnes of waste was diverted from landfill.

Businesses in urban environments face a host of sustainability challenges, but through our industry leading initiatives, we’re helping our members navigate these to achieve competitive advantage. Becoming the world’s first capital city commercial district to eliminate the waste it sends to landfill is just one example of that. In practice, our Zero to Landfill scheme means ensuring every waste stream – from glass bottles to confidential files, food waste to redundant electrical equipment – leads to a sustainable outcome. For instance, general waste is converted into energy and returned to the National Grid network, while white paper is recycled into stationery items, which are delivered back to member businesses. Wherever possible we look to create closed loop processes, for example food waste is broken down and used for compost in the area’s green spaces.

Through our sustainability services, members can show the cost and carbon impact such initiatives are having on their operations, and how that’s benefitting the local environment.

The hyper-local nature of our carbon saving initiatives also make them more effective than typical service providers, which tend to cover a greater geographic area. A good example of this in action is inmidtown’s procurement and recycling services where one truck services multiple businesses within the area. Through this service 33% of our businesses make cost and carbon savings, while also reducing air pollution in the wider area.
So that everyone can see the impact businesses in the area are having on achieving a greener London, as set out in The London Plan’s vision for sustainable development, we track these savings through a real-time Carbon Counter on the inmidtown website. Individual businesses can see their own contribution to the collective achievement too, through a quarterly report which provides individual calculations around cost and carbon savings.

In addition to the ethical impact of these initiatives, businesses that have access to them are experiencing improved employee engagement and workforce productivity, alongside meaningful and real-time results.
This is especially true of the businesses we’re working with to help design and create ‘green roofs’ – helping businesses make use of the vast amount of rooftop and above-street space which can be used to reduce energy use, and even grow food for staff and other local people in the area, another great example of a closed loop economy in the making!

At inmidtown we’ve received a high level of member engagement because our businesses gain competitive advantage from the services we provide. The ease with which businesses can be actively sustainable in the area, with truly quantifiable results, is a key driver for why Midtown is becoming London’s commercial district of choice.
 

Risk management is a cornerstone of running a good, responsible business, writes BITC's Stephen Gee. Investors want to know the level of risk they are committing to and wider stakeholders want to know that the company is being managed responsibly so as to continue to pay wages, taxes, make a positive contribution to society and operate within environmental limits. Some businesses thrive on risk taking, whilst others are more risk averse. What all good businesses should have, however, is an effective process for identifying and managing risk.

CR practitioners should drive change and continuous improvement in a business, and getting issues onto the company’s risk register can be a powerful way to do this.

To start with, CR practitioners need to ensure that all appropriate risks are captured by the company’s risk management system. Looking through a ‘CR lens’ can help identify risks that may not be on the radar of the people traditionally involved in the risk management process.

These could relate to:
• How materials are sourced
• How products are marketed, sold and used by the consumer
• The health, wellbeing, diversity and skills of the workforce
• The environmental impacts of a company’s value chain
• The health and resilience of communities affected by the organisation’s operations

In the absence of a knowledgeable practitioner these potential risks may remain unidentified or misunderstood by the core business.

It’s widely known that risk management has strong links to organisational reputation and the level of trust that customers and consumers have in the business. In this context, it is easy to see how acting well or badly on any of the issues above can enhance or tarnish an organisation’s reputation and directly impact trust. Studies show that consumers are more likely to buy from companies they trust and their expectations of business to behave in a responsible and sustainable way are increasing*.

Despite this, trust in business to achieve this is falling.

When bad news travels fast and events can be broadcast on a global scale within minutes, these areas of CR risk must be managed and acted upon appropriately and transparently. The task of risk management is not to remove all risks but to manage the likelihood of the risk occurring and the potential impact. Social, environmental and ethical risks should not sit in a different risk register or be managed any differently to traditional financial risk. If this isn’t happening in your organisation, then here are the key steps to achieve it.

1. Identify the risk
In order to identify CR risks, Business in the Community recommends the following framework which can be based on these four areas of categorisation: community, marketplace, workplace and environment.
It’s important to remember that identifying risks is not a purely internal exercise; looking outside of the organisation is also critical. External influencing factors on risk could include:
• Political – changes in government and policy
• Governance – are there checks and balances in place and enough independence to challenge bad practice?
• Societal trends – such as an ageing population, trends towards healthy eating and expectations of greater transparency.

To fully understand the external risks, benchmarking tools and stakeholder engagement are key methods that should be used.

2. Evaluate the risk
To understand the context of a risk is important, and for this you should talk to issue owners to understand ‘what is normal’ and why. Bear in mind that history has shown that whole sectors can shift their perception of ‘normal’ to something that is increasingly risky; banking and oil exploration to name but two.
To assess the likelihood and impact you need to be able to describe the risk clearly and assess the potential impact on the business against relevant business criteria, such as impact on market share, customer loyalty or organisation reputation. To prioritise the identified risks, final evaluation should be based on “likelihood” and “severity of impact”.

3. Identify Responses
Based on steps one and two you first need to decide whether or not to act on the risk. Are there social, environmental or ethical dimensions that place a responsibility on the business to address a risk?
Draw up a ‘long-list’ of potential responses and actions and think creatively about all the options available.

4. Agree action
Your available resource and capacity will have to be taken into account. Some of the risks may appear to be beyond your control (for example, climate change), but you should still do what is proportionate for your business – it may damage your reputation not to.

5. Plan and resource your response to the risk
At this point, the risks have been analysed and responses selected so it is now a management exercise. Your goal now should be to embed these specific ‘CR risks’ into the organisation’s central risk management system.

6. Monitor and evaluate
Regularly monitor and re-evaluate the risk. The context, likelihood or impact may all change at any point. Equally, you need to check that the responses that you selected are having the desired effect.

Stephen Gee is a Senior Business Support Manager at Business in the Community, the responsible business charity.

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