Education secretary, David Blunkett MP, has praised a pilot scheme run by British Gas as an example of the type of project through which companies could help play a part in dealing with so-called ‘sin-bin’ pupils. Disaffected youngsters facing exclusion from school can now spend three days a week in a special school and two days in funded work placements. Mr Blunkett announced that the government will provide £2 million to support such programmes as part of a £47 million package of measures. Contact DfEE Enquiries on 020 7925 5555 (http://www.dfee.gov.uk)
Employment
Age discrimination legislation mooted
The government may introduce age discrimination legislation if the current voluntary code of practice proves unsuccessful, suggests a report from the Cabinet Office published April 27. The UK economy is losing £16 billion each year because a third of older people are no longer economically active, while more than two-thirds would actually prefer to work. If the trend continues, Winning the Generation Game says, the numbers of non-working older people will jump from 2.8 million to some four million over the next 20 years. The report makes 75 recommendations including measures to discourage an ageist corporate culture, such as:
• requiring company accounts to show how early retirement affects the cost of occupational pensions;
• reforming pension and tax regulations;
• introducing a national volunteering scheme for older workers.
…And to underline the issue, the government launched a New Deal 50-plus scheme on April 6, which offers training and minimum pay of £9,000 a year to the long-term unemployed if they will take full-time jobs.
Meanwhile the Carnegie Trust says that government attempts to encourage men over 50 to stay in the workforce are failing and calls for legislation on age discrimination. If work patterns were the same as 20 years ago, some 600,000 more men and 200,000 more women over 50 would have jobs. Contact DfEE on 020 7925 5555 (http://www.dfee.gov.uk) or Richard Worsley, Carnegie UK, on 01328 730 297
Corporate citizenship round-up
One hundred best corporate citizens
IBM and Hewlett Packard came first and second in a new US study of companies that serve multiple stakeholders well, compiled by Business Ethics magazine. The survey looked at how companies respond to investors, employees, customers and community – IBM was virtually alone in being judged to serve three of the four well. Intel and Procter & Gamble took third and fourth place.
The 100 Best Corporate Citizens report was conducted by the Carroll Management School, Boston College, whose analysis found the best companies:
• have community programmes driven by employees, not senior executives, and which are focused, rather than scattergun;
• encourage employees to be individuals, and find creative ways to relieve pressure in employees’ lives;
• take a team approach to developing products and servicing customers;
The DTI hosted a report-back session on May 31 from phase one of the Sigma Project, an ambitious attempt to develop a ‘strategic knowledge and management framework’ for sustainable development. Led by the British Standards Institute, Forum for the Future and Accountability, with UK government funding, the second phase will run through to April 2002; one possible outcome is a sustainability standard akin to ISO14001. Among companies involved in testing measures are The Co-operative Bank, KPMG, National Power and Thames Water. Contact Mark Watson, BSI, on 020 8996 7902 (http://www.bsi.org.uk)
Community affairs round-up
Nokia announces global partnership with IYF
Nokia has opted for a youth focus in its major new global charity partnership announced on April 11. Run with the International Youth Foundation, the programme will start in four countries (the UK, China, Mexico and South Africa), will respond to local needs, and gradually scale up to cover all the markets where Nokia is active. The aim is to address specific youth needs in each country; in South Africa, for example, young people will be taught the life skills they need to secure employment. Nokia employees will be encouraged to get involved in each country. Investment during the first year will be 2.5 million euros. Contact David Stoneham, Nokia UK, on 01252 865 209 (http://www.nokia.com)
Meanwhile another global telecom company…
…Ericsson focuses on humanitarian relief with the announcement of a major collaboration with the UN and International Committee of the Red Cross, also in April. Ericsson will provide free mobile phones to relief workers and send technicians to disaster zones to set up mobile telecommunications networks. It will also organise a volunteer programme for its employees, and an advocacy campaign to raise more corporate support for disasters – the company is keen to link up with other companies which might want to get involved. Ericsson Response stems from a review of the company’s social responsibility, which concluded that it could add most value helping to relieve the suffering of disaster victims. Contact Lars Stalberg, Ericsson, on 00 46 8 719 31 62 (http://www.ericssonresponse.com)
Partnerships
Working together with business
A report from the think-tank, Demos, published on May 15 says the government is stifling business / community collaboration – despite Parliament having used the word ‘partnership’ 6,197 times in 1999 – and calls for new kinds of support to cross-sector partnerships, such as making business involvement pay. Measures suggested include:
• shift to local taxation to reconnect business with local communities;
• tax breaks for firms which help their local area;
• experiments with town centre improvement levies;
• returning power to set business rates to local authorities.
Working Together: Creating a better environment for cross-sector partnerships, which is sponsored by Prudential, cites research into the benefits of partnerships and argues that £1 billion of public assets should be transferred to community trusts. Contact Tom Hampson, Demos, on 020 7420 5252 (http://www.demos.co.uk)
Developing World
Nestlé baby milk audit published
Following a local controversy, two management consultants have examined compliance by Nestlé’s Pakistan subsidiary, Milkpak, with the World Health Organisation’s Code for the Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and Nestlé’s own internal guidelines. Commissioned by Nestlé as an independent review, the study looked for:
• breaches of the code and company guidelines;
• a consistent framework for implementation;
• the extent to which the code was embedded in Nestlé Milkpak’s culture and operations;
• the degree of pressure to breach the code, internally and externally.
Pakistan: Infant Nutrition Operational Study conducted for Nestlé SA was issued on May 23 at a seminar in London organised by the Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum. Broadly positive, it called for a closer dialogue between manufacturers and advocacy NGOs, and for better education of healthcare professionals about the WHO code. Contact PWBLF on 020 7467 3600 (http://www.pwblf.org)
Corporations tackle AIDS
The Corporate Council on Africa, a group of American corporations working to improve the interaction between the US and African private sectors, has formed a task force on fighting HIV/AIDS. Launched on May 23, the first goal is to achieve a unified business approach to the issue. More than 15 US firms which operate in Africa have agreed to participate, including Pfizer, Ford, Burston-Marsteller and Chevron.
Meanwhile Glaxo Wellcome provided funding for a conference in New Jersey on May 20-21 which brought together government, NGOs and business to discuss the issue of HIV/AIDS among the African-American population. Contact Chris Alion, Corporate Council on Africa, 00 1 202 835 1115 (http://www.africacncl.org) or Glaxo Wellcome (US) on 00 1 919 483 2162 (http://www.glaxowellcome.com)
Nike in the news again
Sport clothing company, Nike, terminated negotiations with the University of Michigan in April over funding and providing sports goods for varsity teams, after the university tried to add labour standards and human rights policy to matters for negotiation with the company. Nike Chairman, Phil Knight, also withdrew plans to donate $30 million funding to the University of Oregon, because it had joined the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC), a pressure group.
In April, Nike released reports written by 16 students from 14 universities who joined PricewaterhouseCoopers in monitoring 32 Nike college-licensed apparel manufacturers. Nike agreed to publish the results of all factory monitoring visits on its website from May. Contact Nike on 00 1 503 671 6453 (http://www.nikebiz.com)
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