30 Oct 2015

To our stakeholders:

I am pleased to confirm that Pak Oasis Industries reaffirms its support of the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact in the areas of Human Rights, Labour, Environment and Anti-Corruption.

In this annual Communication on Progress, we describe our actions to continually improve the integration of the Global Compact and its principles into our business strategy, culture and daily operations. We also commit to share this information with our stakeholders using our primary channels of communication.

Sincerely yours,

Omar Jilani
CEO

At Pak Oasis the reason for our founding was very simple. To provide access to clean, safe drinking water to the people of Pakistan no matter their sex, race or religion. This we believe to be one of the most important human rights because without water - clean safe water - a human cannot do anything. Indeed it is the foundation of all human life and activities.

Pak Oasis believes it is fundamentally our moral obligation and our duty to take care of the communities wherever we operate and as such we have a rigorous and expansive Corporate Social Responsibility programme that enables us to fulfil our societal obligations and give back to the communities in which we are working.

Pak Oasis continues to donate water treatment plants to communities which are overlooked. This year has been no different as we have continued our good work by providing and running these plants free of charge for minority groups and other people who are most in need.

Pak Oasis has provided further RO and UF plants to schools to help children ensure that they can focus on their education rather than where they can get a clean drink of water. This has seen a reduction in the number of sick days that these children must take, which in turn means that they are more likely to stay focussed at school and keep up with the curriculum.

Pak Oasis have also started providing solar plants to some communities which has seen a massive reduction in the running of generators in these areas and this definitely beneficial to people in the area as this means a reduction in the fumes.

Pak Oasis has also donated more plants at some smaller shrines, not just the most popular ones, as these too are important areas where people deserve equal respect for practising their religious beliefs and thus deserve clean water as much as those worshipping at the larger shrines and places of worship.

Pak Oasis holds regular management meetings where its CSR policy is reviewed. The budget at each meeting is reviewed along with the effectiveness of the CSR work undertaken. A special monitoring team within the company has also been formulated whose task it is to ensure that all our plants are fully operational. Alongside there task to ensure that all plants are working they are also tasked with ensuring that every plant provided as part of Pak Oasis’ CSR programme is fully operational and that water is being provided free of charge at these sites. Undercover employees are sent periodically to report back on whether this is actually the case, and if this is not the case then the head of the monitoring team must present a report to the CEO detailing this so appropriate counter measures can be taken to rectify this situation.

Laid out in Pak Oasis’ Code of Conduct is a very rigid set of criteria regarding the labour rights that the company believes in. Pak Oasis follows the following very carefully and takes these very seriously in all matters pertaining to employment and work with the company. Pak Oasis treats each individual fairly, and recruits, hires, trains, promotes, and pays its workers based on their experience and qualifications, the merit of their work other work-related criteria. The company complies with all laws governing fair employment and labour practices in Pakistan and any other country in which it operates and does not discriminate against any applicant for employment or any employee in any aspect of their employment with respect to age, race, religion, sex, disability and military status. Pak Oasis believes firmly in equality and therefore takes active steps to promote a more gender balanced workplace. Pak Oasis does not engage in any forms of compulsory labour and all our employees have the right to collective action and all our workers have the right to join collective bargaining unions.

Regular consultation continues with our employees by the HR department to discuss ways in which their working conditions at Pak Oasis can be enhanced and improved. The company decision to enroll all staff under a comprehensive Group Insurance policy to cover work related and other medical issues continues to be a huge success, and a very attractive feature for applicants looking to join Pak Oasis.

A suggestion box allowing employees to put in their comments, thoughts and feedback has been put in place. These are periodically reviewed by the HR department and sent up to the senior management. This allows anonymous employees to make suggestions that they may not otherwise feel comfortable doing face to face during the “open door” days where employees can come speak directly to the CEO or COO to air any grievances or issues they night have which they feel their management is not addressing.

Pak Oasis has increased the regularity of its trainings for its staff to ensure development of skills beyond those that they joined the company with. Trainings in areas of health and safety have ensured a safer and healthier workplace for all our employees. Refresher trainings on various issues to do with the Code of Conduct and seminars organised by the HR department are mandatory to ensure that all employees are aware of their rights, their obligations to the company and their colleagues and to the law.


Pak Oasis’ Memorandum of Understanding with NED University to increase the levels of involvement of females within our engineering teams continues to bear fruit. The MOU provides undergraduates with opportunities for paid internships and projects with the company during their summer and winter vacations, as well as career opportunities following graduation.

Pak Oasis has monthly meetings in which senior management review the labour practices and it also provides a forum for the HRDirector to report to the CEO of any abnormalities or inconsistencies in labour standards at the company. This is also the forum in which suggestions placed in the suggestion box by employees are presented before the CEO for review and any changes can be discussed and agreed upon.

Pak Oasis is proud to remain ISO 9001:2008 certified, demonstrating that we continue to implement the highest quality management system requirements across all areas of our business including in the training of and management of all employees.


Pak Oasis’s decision to hire two companies to ensure that the labour rights of its employees were upheld continues to be successful. All our staff have access to bank accounts into which their salaries are paid on time. These two companies also ensure that 100% of our non-management staff are now insured against injury in the workplace, 100% of our non-management staff are registered to receive free medical treatment for themselves and their families with the Social Security Authority, and 100% of our non-management staff are now enrolled with Employees Old Age Benefit, whereby they will be eligible for a state pension when they reach 60 years of age.



Pak Oasis remains committed to reducing its reliance on nonrenewable energy sources and through its partnerships with other companies both inside and outside Pakistan Pak Oasis is taking active steps to reduce and minimise its overall impact on the environment.

Following on from Pak Oasis’s MOU with PCRET to manufacture and assemble solar panels locally in Pakistan, to encourage a nascent domestic industry and to ensure a reliable supply of solar power for its water plants as a number of these are converted to be run entirely on solar power, Pak Oasis has signed a joint venture with CSUN, a NASDAQ-listed leafing company which manufactures solar cells and modules.


Pak Oasis’s pump factory with world leading pump manufacturer Grundfos has enabled it to assemble and fabricate hundreds of solar water pumps which have been put to use in many of the new plants being installed and commissioned by Pak Oasis. This environmentally friendly technology has helped shift our water plants further away from fossil fuels and is reducing the environmental footprint of these plants significantly, as the pump is one of the most energy demanding pieces of equipment in any water plant.


Pak Oasis has begun work on its joint venture factory with CSUN. The initial production capacity is expected to be 100MW per year initially, which shall gradually increase to 300MW per year. Long term this will result in thousands and thousands of tonnes of C02 emissions to be reduced as these solar panels will be first used to replace diesel run plants and pumps in remote areas of the country.

Pak Oasis has successfully achieved its aim of convert over 1/3 rd of its plants to solar power and is now looking over the next two years increase this even further to at least 50%, a task which will be made significantly easier by the solar panel factory being undertaken with our new partners CSUN.

Pak Oasis’s main measurement for our environmental impact is qualified by the two following criteria: firstly the number of plants operational on solar power vs. the number of plants operational on nonrenewable energy sources. Within our annual goals the aim is to increase the rate that this proportion is changing even as we continue to expand to areas where solar may not be possible; secondly within the non-renewable energy sources we aim to reduce the proportion of plants being run on diesel generators vs. electrical connections provided by the client as the efficiency and pollution levels given off by diesel generators are far worse than with regular electrical connections. These measurements help the company as a whole view its progress towards becoming more environmentally friendly and are a useful gauge for measuring progress quarter on quarter and year on year.

Pak Oasis also is proud to remain ISO 14001:2004 certified. This certification by an independent registrar maintains and reaffirms that Pak Oasis has the highest appreciation for our environmental impact and has policies in place to minimise our environmental footprint throughout our business practices.

Within Pak Oasis’ Code of Conduct there is a strict set of rules and criteria which our employees must follow regarding issues to do with corruption, bribery and extortion. More specifically there are also further sections under the following headings: Honesty and Integrity, Personal Conflict of Interest, Exchange of Gifts, and Outside Employment.


All employees are strictly forbidden from receiving or giving any gift. The only exceptions to this rule are if the giving of a gift is a promotional gift given on behalf of the company, for example a calendar, a company pen or other company memorabilia.

All employees are given training on the Code of Conduct by the head of HR and the head of the Compliance Committee when they join the company. Pak Oasis has also implemented annual re-trainings and seminars to remind our employees of the guidelines and rules contained with the Code of Conduct, including a specific seminar dealing with issues of corruption and bribery. These seminars have been devised by the HR department to help employees understand what is not allowed and also to ensure that they understand and are aware that reporting such breaches will not result in any detrimental effects being taken towards them and that it is in fact a matter of loyalty to the company as it is the company’s integrity and image which is at stake if any employee engages in such activities.

In the event that a breach of the Code of Conduct is observed or reported the following actions are immediately initiated: 
The event is immediately reported to the manager of that division and the heads of HR and Compliance Committee, who will jointly take appropriate action, presenting their action plan to the CEO within 2 working days.

In the event of such a breach a complete review will then be undertaken by an independent authority - appointed by the CEO to look into the matter. This report will then be presented to the Heads of HR, Compliance and the CEO indicating if any changes need to be made, and ultimately to the Chairman of the Board if serious enough.
 Appropriate disciplinary action will also be taken for those causing the breach depending on the severity of the breach.