10 June 2019

Subject: Global Compact Commitment

Dear Stakeholders,

I am pleased to confirm that Vivid Economics Limited reaffirms its support of the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact in the areas of Human Rights, Labour, Environment and Anti-Corruptions.

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 sharing this information with our stakeholders using our primary channels of communication.

Sincerely Yours,

Jason Eis,
Executive Director
Vivid Economics Limited

Vivid Economics mission is to put economics to good use. We’ve embraced a refreshed and accelerated approach to diversity and inclusion. Vivid Economics’ strives to create a workplace that reflects the communities we serve and where everyone feels empowered to bring their full, authentic selves to work, creating an environment where everyone, from any background, can do their best work.

Vivid Economics takes the following actions in the area of human rights:

● Vivid Economics implements a safeguarding policy to ensure best practice when working abroad and at home with adults or children who are considered to be vulnerable.
● Vivid Economics implements generous Maternity, Paternity, Adoption and Shared Parental Leave policies to ensure all employees are accorded support and flexibility in parenthood.
● Vivid Economics ensures workers are provided safe, suitable and sanitary work facilities through the allocation of Fire Marshall's, First Aider and a Mental Health First Aider along with related expectations from a daily cleaning service provided by an external company.
● Vivid Economics aims to cultivate a culture of open and frequent communication in all directions between all employees.
● Vivid Economics protects workers from workplace harassment, including physical, verbal, sexual or psychological harassment, abuse or threats. It does so by implementing a strict grievance and disciplinary procedure.
● Vivid Economics provides all employees with access to a 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) which is a helpline service that offers an early source of practical and emotional support for employees facing issues in their home or work life through providing advice on legal, medical, health and well being issues, including counselling. All EAP counsellors are accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.
● Vivid Economics ensures all female employees have access to free sanitary products by placing organic tampon and sanitary pads within each female cubicle.

Employees who do not comply with company policies relating to human rights may be subject to disciplinary action, including termination of employment.

Vivid Economics adheres to all UK laws and conventions relating to labour, discrimination, and the rights of the employee.

Vivid Economics takes the following actions in the area of Labour:

● Vivid Economics ensures the company does not participate in any form of forced or bonded labour by carefully screening and carrying out risk-based due diligence on all partner organisations.
● Vivid Economics has a flexible work approach, our employees can enjoy a life work balance and benefits like working from home scheme, flexible start time, working from abroad and request to work part time.
● Vivid Economics offers a generous annual leave of 43 days per years, up to four months of sick pay and up to 12 months of parental leave.
● Vivid economics complies with minimum wage standards and ensures all employees receive salaries above the London living wage.
● Vivid Economic's recruitment process identifies strong candidates irrespective of factors such as age, gender or ethnicity.
● Vivid economics requests employees submit daily time sheets so levels of overtime can be closely monitored and mitigated if needed.
● Vivid economics assigns employees both a Mentor and Personal Development Manager to ensure they have multiple sources of ongoing support for growth and development as well as safe outlet to raise any issues of grievances they might have with the company or fellow employees.
● Vivid Economics partakes in company-wide team meetings every two months in which employees are encouraged to provide feedback through balanced score cards and showcase their latest projects to the company.
● Vivid Economics partakes in an annual away-day which includes team building exercises, strategy workshops and dining within a relaxed atmosphere.

Vivid Economics prioritises the development of our staff through:

● induction training, where new staff are introduced to the business, our policies, standards and processes, and given basic technical training in core consulting skills (such as project management), key tools and programme packages (such as Microsoft Excel) and specialist subject areas
● regular internal technical training and knowledge sharing sessions. Recent internal sessions have covered Computable-General-Equilibrium modelling and Global Information System Programming
● external training courses to address specific needs and goals. Recent external courses have included cost-benefit analysis, and trade modelling and data, written English, leadership and mentoring.
● paid membership of professional membership organisations, such as the Society of Professional Economists.
● support for individuals wishing to obtain further qualifications, including part funding of professional and academic qualifications, paid study leave and academic sabbaticals. Staff have completed Chartered Financial Analyst and Doctorate degrees in economics with support from Vivid Economics.

Vivid’s culture is diverse. Vivid Economics has 64 employees from five continents and a global presence in five countries. Vivid Economic's gender diversity is increasingly even with 58% of staff males and 42% of staff females.

Sustainability is both a core area of expertise and a central operational concern for Vivid economics. Vivid Economics complies with all applicable environmental legislation, regulations and codes of practice. Vivid Economics ensures that all staff are aware of our Sustainability Policy and are committed to implementing and improving it.

Our Environmental statement sets out our commitment to managing waste generated from our business operations according to the principles of reduce, reuse and recycle. We do this by focusing on the following key areas:

● The office space is equipped with a shower, which allows staff to run and bike to work
● We have encouraged our employees to commute to and from work via bicycle to minimise air pollution. We offer dry, secure storage by providing an indoor bike rack area with lockers. Centrally located, this indoor parking area creates community encouragement for commuting via bicycle
● We strive to use technology in order to reduce travel needs and our Co2 footprint by using telephone and video conferencing facilities and only travel to location where such travel is business critical
● Our office is near to public transportation. This increases the likelihood that employees will choose environmentally preferable commuting options

Some of the actions we’ve undertaken over the last year in relation to premises waste includes:

● Using a Zero to landfill waste management solution. Our waste is collected in carbon-neutral Vehicles, whatever can’t be recycled is incinerated to produce green heat and electricity. Electricity and heat are captured from this process and sent to the National Grid. The heat is used to provide heating and hot water to over 100,000 UK homes.
● Reusing furniture where possible and giving unwanted furniture to reuse initiatives or to charity
● Recycling old tech equipment and used ink cartridges
● Providing reusable cups and bottles to employees to reduce demand for single-use packaging.
● Removing plastic water bottles from offices.
● Providing dedicated bins to recycle paper, glass and plastic

Vivid Economics adheres to both the UK Bribery Act 2010 and the 1977 U.S. Foreign Corrupts Practices Act which both prohibits companies, their local and foreign subsidiaries as well as their directors, officers, employees and third parties from bribing government officials. Vivid Economics also recognises the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Official in International Business Transactions. The management board reviews its anti-bribery and corruption policy every two years to ensure it is up to date and incorporates any new and relevant risks.

Vivid Economics takes the following actions in the area of Anti-Corruption and Bribery:

● Vivid Economics requires all employees sign a declaration of receiving and understanding our induction on anti-bribery and corruption upon joining the company.
● Vivid Economics requires all third-party companies to sign an Anti-Bribery and Corruption Compliance Certificate.
● Vivid Economics requires all expenses to be recorded with a detailed description and original receipt.

Vivid Economics assumes no obligation to reimburse employees for expenses that are not in strict compliance with company procedure. Personal funds, in lieu of Vivid funds, cannot be used to supersede the prior approval requirements and/or incur an expense that would not be allowed under Vivid policy.

Employees who do not comply with this policy may be subject to:
• Delay or withholding of reimbursement
• Loss of company credit card privileges
• Disciplinary action, up to and including, termination of employment, personal monetary fines or imprisonment