10-10-2014

To our stakeholders:

I am pleased to confirm that LABELCO A/S continuously supports the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact with respect to human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.

With this communication, we express our intent to unceasingly advance those principles within our sphere of influence. We are still committed to making the Global Compact and its principles part of the strategy, culture and day-to-day operations of our company, and to engaging in collaborative projects which advance the broader development goals of the United Nations, particularly the Millennium Development Goals.
We, as an organization, recognize that a key requirement for participation in the Global Compact is this annual submission of a Communication on Progress (COP) that describes our company’s efforts to implement the ten principles. We support public accountability and transparency, and therefore commit to report on progress through this annual report according to the Global Compact COP policy. We also commit to share this information with our stakeholders using our primary channels of communication.

Sincerely yours,

Glenn Wright
Chief Executive Officer

To show commitment to the UN Global Compact, and as a way of communicating it to our employees, we have in the past year put attention on increasing our efforts towards the issue of Children in Denmark with poor social inheritance. Our goal was to economically increase our support with 25% compared to the previous year, and to increase the employee commitment in general. We wanted to attempt to draw out a higher financial amount for an organization that worked specifically with children in Denmark of poor social inheritance. We decided that the amount contributed had to be at least 25 % higher than the amount that was donated the previous year. More specifically, we decided to focus on one organization in particular; the Children’s Camp on Langeland. The financial contribution was going to go to them. This organization hosts children in a camp where they can get away from home for a little bit and get the feel for what it feels like to go on holiday. The camp gives gifts to the children and for that reason they were in need of donations. Therefore, we decided to start a fundraising in our cafeteria where we set up a box where employees could donate things from home (kitchen supplies, toys, etc.).
Additionally, LABELCO A/S still has its human rights policies manifested in the employee’s manual. LABELCO A/S recognizes its responsibility to meet, follow and respect human rights.
Furthermore, LABELCO A/S obeys to the rules of Denmark and of the EU. Both of these require by law that we as a company follow and respect the human rights. Additionally, it should be mentioned that customers and suppliers of LABELCO A/S are all located within the EU, and not in developing countries.

Besides from formally picking the organization we wanted to put our attention to, the practical implementations that were made included presenting information about the organization at staff meetings, urging employees to participate in helping the cause by going through their things at home to see if anything could be spared. A box was placed in the cafeteria where staff could place their donations. The CEO started going through the budget to see how much could be donated to the organization financially.
By the 6 month mark of when the goal was set, the management team evaluated on the efforts that had been made so far in terms of reaching the goal that had been set. By this time, the financial donation that had been provided to the organization was equivalent to a 20 % increase in our contribution compared to the previous year. That is, we were 5 % away from reaching the financial part of the goal. The fundraising was, however, not going well as no employee had contributed with a donation yet. It was planned to continue the efforts to donating more financial support, and a new fundraiser for the camp was to be set up during the last months of the winter.

To monitor and measure the outcomes of the goal, LABELCO A/S has created a table listing the following entities: Goal, Strategy, Tactics, Operational, Follow-up 1, and Follow-up 2. Our goal with regards to human rights this year was: As a company, we want to increase our effort when it comes to Children in Denmark with a poor social inheritance. We want to increase our financial contribution with 25 % and we want to increase the commitment of our employees.
The second and final follow-up and evaluation meeting was held on at the end of June 2014. There, it was made clear that part of the goal had been fulfilled: LABELCO A/S had donated a financial amount that was at least 25 % larger than what had been donated to the cause the previous year. The evaluation also showed that the fundraising that had been started among the employees had not been successful this year. The employees lacked engagement and excitement towards the cause, and it could be concluded that the management and especially the project manager had not done enough to get the employees excited and engaged in the cause. A more active fundraiser might have been beneficial, however, this was taken as something we could learn from, and use this experience for the next goal.

To show commitment to the UN Global Compact, and as a way of communicating it to our employees, we have in the past year worked towards the goal of expanding the number of offers on active social events for our employees. Our goal was to offer participation to a minimum of two events per year.
Furthermore, LABELCO A/S continuously guarantees that all employees can form and join a labour union of their own choice without fear of intimidation or attempt of revenge. This is according to national law. LABELCO A/S is also a member of the Employer’s Association of Graphics which demands that the company only hires printers with a printer’s education. Their education consists of a 4-year long course that requires professional experience as well as study at a vocational school. The Danish public sector assesses health and safety methods at our company. The local community is, through local media, informed with the intentions of the company to respect the UN Global Compact. LABELCO A/S does not use, is not involved in and does not obtain any benefits from forced labour, hereunder slavery and child labour. LABELCO A/S makes sure that its suppliers and their suppliers are not using, involved in or receives benefits from forced labour by requiring that they, through questionnaires, confirm that they are not involved in any of these arrangements. LABELCO A/S disassociates from the use of child labour. LABELCO A/S does not use, is not involved in and does not gain any benefits from child labour. Because the suppliers and customers of LABELCO A/S only are located within Scandinavia and the EU, the company has not reacted with policies and procedures for countries, regions, sectors and economic activities where there is a higher risk for child labour. Child labour is, according to EU law, prohibited, and it can be assumed that companies within the border of Scandinavia and EU obey to this law. Nevertheless, LABELCO A/S sends questionnaires to its suppliers wherein they are asked to confirm that child labour at the supplier and its suppliers does not occur. Should it happen that LABELCO A/S starts a new partnership with a company outside of the EU, LABELCO A/S will be proactive when it comes to making sure the company in question does not have, is not involved in and does not gain benefit from child labour.

The management group picked out one employee to take some time to plan and organize events. The employee did the practical work in terms of scouting out some fitting and active events that were family-friendly and something we thought most employees would enjoy. The planning and organizing happened continuously throughout the year and was braided into the everyday work-life so that it was balanced out well.

To monitor and measure the outcomes of the goal, LABELCO A/S has created a table listing the following entities: Goal, Strategy, Tactics, Operational, Follow-up 1, and Follow-up 2. Our goal with regards to labour rights this year was: We want to expand the number of offers on active social events for employees. We want to offer participation in a minimum of two events per year.
For the final follow-up, it was clear that we had reached our goal.
The company and many of its employees ended up participating in the Ree Park Run which is a family-oriented run with 3 kilometers, 5 kilometers and 10 kilometers. The event included season-tickets to the zoo in which the run was held, as well as a T-Shirt with the company’s name on as well. Also, the company participated in the national campaign “Tæl Skridt” (Count Steps) and many of our employees competed against each other and the rest of the country in terms of who could take the most steps every day for a couple of weeks. The winner (the person who had taken the most steps) won a prize. Furthermore, the company arranged a “make the company ready for Christmas”-day where all employees were invited together with their families to come and decorate, bake, eat and have a cosy afternoon together at the site before the beginning of the month of December. Also, the company sponsored four of the female employeers who wanted to participate in a 5 kilometer run with thousands of other people in the center of Aarhus. The run included prizes, food and drinks.

To show commitment to the UN Global Compact, we have in the past year worked towards the goal of increasing our sales of the environmental-friendly product of PP-liner with 15 % compared to the period of 2012/2013 (from 1.207.590 m2 pr. June 30th 2013).
Furthermore, LABELCO A/S still has a waste sorting system in which paper, cardboard and minor flammable waste each are sorted out in different containers. This way, each type of waste can be recycled as appropriate, and the non-recyclable is handled safely.

In order to reach the goal the following steps and thoughts were put into motion:
By using more PP-liner and less of our original less environmental-friendly paper, we are going to reduce the weight (which is appropriate when it comes to transportation and less strain for the employees that take care of the rolls of labels or paper – both at the customers’ facilities, but also at our own facility). Furthermore, the PP-liner is recyclable. The increase of use of PP-liner was to be implemented in the sales department, where the sales consultants were to make sure that more customers were presented to the choice of PP-liner and to the environmental benefits of producing labels on it. The sales consultants were to cooperate on a strategy to present the choice to customers – it was to be brought up at any relevant occasion.

To monitor and measure the outcomes of the goal, LABELCO A/S has created a table listing the following entities: Goal, Strategy, Tactics, Operational, Follow-up 1, and Follow-up 2. Our goal with regards to environment this year was: to increase our sales of the environmental-friendly product of PP-liner with 15 % compared to the period of 2012/2013 (from 1.207.590 m2 pr. June 30th 2013).
During the first 5 months, we had used 514.158 m2, so we were on our way, but still needed more effort in order to be able to reach our goal. The sales consultants were to try with specific customers as targets for implementing the more environmental-friendly choice. However, by the end of the year, we had reached an increase percentage of 13,46 % which was very good, but not quite enough to reach our initial goal.

To show our commitment to the UN Global Compact, we have in the past year worked to reach the anti-corruption goal of producing a so-called Whistle-blower arrangement with the intention of taking precautionary measures against corruption.
Furthermore, LABELCO A/S still has a policy that states no-tolerance when it comes to corruption in all of its forms. This anti-corruption policy and its behaviour codex include all employees. The purpose of the anti-corruption policy is to ensure and support behaviour and a work-ethic that is characterized by the highest standard for personal and organisational integrity. The anti-corruption policy offers a guide in how LABELCO A/S’s employees shall react if they are faced with corruption and corrupt behaviour, and at the same time marks out guidelines for the work in preventing corruption.

To make sure that potential corruption will be reported, we decided it might be beneficial to have a whistle-blower arrangement so everyone could feel secure by reporting suspicious activity.
The project manager was set to research how a system like this could potentially be set up, how it worked at other companies and to finally fine-tune the arrangement so it fit our factory and set-up in general.

To monitor and measure the outcomes of the goal, LABELCO A/S has created a table listing the following entities: Goal, Strategy, Tactics, Operational, Follow-up 1, and Follow-up 2. Our goal with regards to anti-corruption this year was: to produce a so-called Whistle-blower arrangement with the intention of taking precautionary measures against corruption.
By the first evaluation of the goal half way through the year, a whistle-blower arrangement had been researched and this researched proved the project to be more ambitious than initially estimated. For that reason, the goal was changed to: we want to prepare LABELCO A/S for a Whistle-blower arrangement to be implemented whenever the management see it as appropriate. Therefore, the project manager continued her research on a potential system and on requirements to such a system in Denmark.
By the end of the year and at the final evaluation of the goal, a whistle-blower system had been researched and the project manager is not ready to implement a system if and when the management will see it fit. It has not been necessary thus far.